​Kick Boards

The use of a kick board can;

• Allow for the focus on kick, building leg strength.
• Can be used between the legs as an alternative to a pull buoy.
• Ensure they are used correctly as they can cause the legs to drop in the water. Hands should be placed either together on top of the center of the board, or at the bottom of the board. The alternate kick board (yellow) has a small strap to encourage correct use.

Using a pull buoy raises the hip position in the water, this gives extra support.
Extra support allows; 
- The swimmer to focus on their head position, breathing and arms.
- Not using your legs with a pull buoy means your upper body gets a work out.
- By positioning the pull buoy between their feet the swimmer will experience the swimming downhill sensation and allows them to relax and improve their balance.

The use of fins have many benefits;
- Improving body position with the addition of speed.
- Lowering stroke rate allows for more time to focus on technique.
- Adding fins adds resistance in the water increasing load on the swimmer.
- Improves ankle flexibility.
Over use of fins can lead to cramp, in the lower calves. If swimmers suffer from this a larger more flexible fin may help.

​In my 20 years of coaching swimmers, there has always been the debate on what is the correct hand entry and position throughout the front crawl stroke. I hope with this article we can simplify things and show you how you can use a simple piece of equipment to take away the worry of the hand entry, allowing you to focus on other things.
Let’s break down the issues into smaller steps so we can get a better picture of all the complications.

Coaches too often teach hand entry and catch the same way for all swimmers, but everyone is different and have a different experience in the water. This requires a difference in how and what coaches should be doing in their training

• Beginners who have joined the swimming world as masters swimmers will have decreased range of motion and strength
• Youth swimmers, because of their age will have a wider range of motion, but will lack strength
• Elite swimmers may have the strength, a larger range of motion but this will make coaching them significantly harder to correct any issues. This is because they have the ability to fake the correct motion due to their talent and time spent in the water.

Different approaches to how you coach each of these types of swimmers is important, but not something that isn’t always appreciated!

• One size fits none! – Yes there are common faults that many swimmers will need correcting on, but the history of any injury or functional limitations should all be taken into account when coaching. As an example swimmers with history of shoulder pain, may have problems understanding what their shoulder is doing and may therefore, have problems identifying what their hand is doing on the entry. Working on stabilising the shoulder maybe where the focus is needed, which should be considered before focusing on the hand position.
• I have heard so many times from swimmers that they have studied videos of elite swimmers and that mimicking what they do will be the way forward. Although it’s fascinating to watch what these Olympic athletes can do, they have been swimming for years and because of this have developed strength and range of motion that is not possible to reproduce as a novice. By all means watch the videos and look at what they do, but don’t try to replicate what they do.
• Fingers apart or together? – well there have been so many studies discussing this with evidence supporting  that the fingers should be 3.2mm apart. Now I am sure the study was correct, but who has a ruler available to them when swimming?! This is also very dependant on spee , with the fingers needing to be further apart as you speed up. A natural position is fingers slightly apart in a relaxed position, helps relax the muscles and conserves energy.
• Paddles are often used by coaches to improve strength, which for the elite swimmers is important. However they allow swimmers to misuse, to get away with an incorrect hand entry and still move forward at speed but with potential flaws. This would increase the chance of shoulder pain, if not correctly used. Swimmers should only use paddles with care and focus on the correcting of the stroke as a priority.
• Should the hand be flat or cupped? – the answer is flat with a slight cup. A flat hand will introduce a lift at the catch of the stroke, which will make you less streamlined and will this is not natural and requires more energy.

It’s complicated and as I have said, one size fits no one! Coaches should consider all of the above whilst working with their swimmers, but a tool that works on the correct hand entry by taking away the thinking and sending you a message that you need to change things, will allow coaches to focus on some of the above issues, knowing hand entry is taken care of, must help!

​CATCH-it can do this and it’s so simple to use! CATCH-it can be worn throughout your training session and will put your hand in the natural relaxed cupped position and if you have a tendency to flatten the hand will give you the feedback to change and relax.

Wear it for a few sessions to get the feel of the relaxed hand before then trying sessions without it, once you have that feel. Using it now and then the remind yourself how it feels, maybe in the warm up of a training session. Simple!

• Catch-it

Talking of ‘must have’ items for any serious swimmer, you have heard of Catch-it, haven’t you? This simple-to-use device will remind you of the correct hand position to help you “catch” the water. The catch is the initial part of the stroke, where your hand engages with the water and uses the resistance felt to push you forward. Without doubt the most important part of any stroke.

Use Catch-it during the warm up to remind you of the correct feel of the stroke. And throughout your training session, to ensure you get that hand entry right.
Think of it as your own personal coach, gently reminding you. Keep it in your swim bag and use it regularly to keep things going well

Conditioning an athlete requires focus on :-

• Individual differences
• Adaptation
• Overload
• Reversibility
• Specificity
• Progression
• Variation
• Recovery
• Long-term planning

So what do we mean by each of these :-

Individual differences – training has to be as specific as it can as all individuals react differently to training

Adaptation – with a change of demand with training, the body will over time adapt to cope with these stresses

Overload – If we are going to improve, we have to do something different, so training must include changes that exceed that normally experienced.

Reversibility – here we must understand that adaptations made from overload will be lost if the training isn’t maintained

Specificity – the changes the body makes to overcome the stresses, will be specific to the type of training the athlete is exposed to. So it is important that training has a specific focus to improve the elements needed in the relevant competition.

Progression – Training has to develop and increase as the individuals capacity for work is increased - do the same, get the same.

Variation – the training should vary over time, training the same all the time will return a diminishing improvement and so training has to include variety, covering relevant components of fitness

Recovery – One of the most important element, this allows the body to replenish energy stores and repair / replace damaged tissue. In preparation for the next phase of training.

Long-term planning – Used to develop a structured and controlled development plan for individuals, allowing them to deliver on their long term goals.
The above makes up the principles of conditioning and are aimed at delivering increased performance. A managed development program will deliver improvements demonstrated in the diagram below. This is called the over-compensation model.

Developing all aspects required to improve fitness at the same time would be crazy. Time and energy would not allow it and the training required for some components, would interfere with the training required for others.
To overcome this we break the training period into separate training periods each of which will have separate goals and training methods. These different periods are designed to maximise the gains in the different components of performance.
This process is called Periodisation and can be characterised by changes in goals, training focus, volume and intensity over time. The time period can vary and is normally talked of as the Macro cycle. This macro cycle is then broken down into several training phases :–

• Recovery
• Preparation
• Pre-competition
• Competition

Each training phase having a specific goal / aim, with the overall aim to deliver the best performance at the end of the cycle.

Recovery phase – usually at the end of a cycle, but can also be seen as the start of the next macro cycle. This involves a break from any serious training, usually lasts about 3 – 6 weeks, consists of fun exercise and is focused on both physical and mental recovery

Preparation phase – Low intensity training with high volume, so slow aerobic work, long swims, runs or bike rides at a slow pace. The focus is on physical conditioning, technique and practicing scenarios. Involves aerobic endurance, strength, technical and mental skills training. This forms the basis of all other training.

Pre-competition phase – Here there is an increase in intensity, with a decrease in volume. Normally a 4 – 8 week period with some possible pre-season competition. Can include some tactical and more specific technical and mental training. The rate of change in this period is dependent very much on how individuals respond to changes in intensity and therefore can tend to be more specific.

​Competition phase – This phase sees a further increase in intensity, with a subsequent reduction in volume. The training intensity is more specific to the selected events. Some increased focus is also given to nutrition, recovery, warm-up and cool down routines for competitions.

​What are nose clips?
​A small device, designed to keep your nose closed, whilst swimming. Made from various materials, such as metal, plastics and silicon or rubber. When placed on the nose they hold the nostrils closed. These will prevent breathing through the nose.
Why use a nose clip
Commonly used to help all levels of swimmers, some swimmers can have allergic reactions or irritations after swimming. Allegies to the chemicals used in some pools and bacteria of fungus in open water venues. A nose clip can help prevent these reactions.

Also useful when learning to swim, when water entering the nose is a frequent occurance, preventing the early swimmer gaining confidence in the water.
Also useful when kayaking, rafting or surfing and often used with a nose clip strap to prevent the loss of the nose clip.
What to look for in a nose clip

• Nose clips vary in size so make sure you choose an appropriatly sized clip. Check out any reviews posted on any particular nose clip to help determine the right sized clip for you.
• If you plan to swim regularly, look for a clip that is made with strong and durable materials. Plastic clips may loosen over time so a good metal clip will retain the shape longer.. Make sure the padding is made of a durable material like silicon so the nose clip remains safe for your skin.
• If you plan to do a lot of open water swimming, rafting or kayaking, fit a nose clip strap. Either a short one to the bridge of your googles, ideal for swimmers, or a longer strap that can easily attach to the strap of your goggles or helmet. A strap will prevent you from losing the clip in the mayhem at the start of an open water competition, or the rapids in your kayak. Tri-trained sell a strap containing one strap, made of very fine durable dacron that means you hardly no the strap is in place.

​Videoing your swim is an excellent way to look at what you are doing and to use the video to identify any corrections. Using specific drills to help address any issues found. Tri-trained will analyse your stroke for you and supply you example drills, along with details of where you should focus.

Where do I start ?
The starting point is the videoing and getting the right shots to get the most from an analysis. This article has been written with this in mind and will allow you to get the best shots. If you then want to send this into Tri-trained and have one of our coaches give you feedback or to analyse the video yourself, I am sure this article will help.
The best place to get the right video shots is down at your local pool. Make sure you have permission to video before you start and then ask a friend to record around 10 seconds of your stroke from these angles.

​From above
Follow the swimmer with the camera directly above the swimmer looking directly down, as in the image. The best way to do this is by mounting the camera on a pole and holding it above the swimmer following them along the side of the pool

From the side above the water
​As in the image follow the swimmer along the side of the pool and record several strokes, try and keep the camera nice and steady and to keep all of the swimmer in the frame. Try and keep the camera as close to the water surface as is possible.

From the front underwater
This one requires you to use a camera that can record underwater, something such as a GroPro would be perfect. Here we are looking for a front shot through several strokes, underwater. As per the image.

From the side underwater
As above this video will require a camera that can be placed underwater, As before record the swimmer from the side, but this time with the camera just under the surface. Remember to try and keep the whole of the swimmer in the frame and to record several strokes.

​Summary
​You will need…

• a camera capable of reasonable quality video. Preferably one that is waterproof
• a selfie-stick, or camera pole to be able to frame the shot correctly
• a friend to do the videoing part for you while you swim

Don’t expect to get great video footage at the first attempt. It takes a bit of practice to judge how fast a swimmer moves in the water and to frame them properly in the shot, all while holding the camera steady!
And don’t change your swim stroke ‘just for the camera’. Swim like you do when nobody is watching.

​Now I have the video what should I do?
Once you have the four videos, please check you are happy with them and that you have included if you can all the four angles. You now have what you need to allow a coach to perform an analysis of your stroke.