Not everyone can warm up to technical swimming exercises. Motivation can be increased with new interpretations of classics.
Swimming with a high elbow can be trained with specific exercises.
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Opinions differ when it comes to technical exercises. Some argue: Why swim with fists, crossed legs or backwards when the ultimate goal is to complete a distance as quickly as possible? After all, there is no B grade for beauty or creativity in competitive swimming or triathlon!
Others benefit from specific technique training and consider the time to be used profitably. What speaks for this from a scientific perspective?
Swimming is considered a coordination-demanding sport. High strength and good endurance alone are not enough to move quickly in the water. Rather, arm pulls, leg kicks, head and body should work together in such a way that effective movement sequences with minimal resistance and high efficiency in propulsion result.
Technical exercises help to control parts of the overall movement in an isolated and controlled manner: for example, to consolidate complex sequences of movements using gross motor skills or to perfect them using fine motor skills until an individually optimized swimming technique with high precision and maximum propulsion is achieved and automated.
Inefficient movement patterns increase water resistance, which ultimately results in a loss of speed and energy. In addition, coordination units are scheduled at the beginning of training in order to activate the neuromuscular interaction and to prepare the body for the upcoming stress.
The following technique exercises are part of the basic repertoire for freestyle swimming. In order to increase efficiency and break out of the usual rut, we present valuable variations of these classics.
Side position instead of board
The “crawl legs with board” exercise has the disadvantage that the leg kick is consolidated in a position that does not correspond to the final form. From a technical point of view, an overextended neck and low hips are of little use.
It is therefore better to perform the front crawl while lying on your side, with your lower arm stretched out in the direction of swimming and the other arm close to your body. Only those who regularly kick up and down and know how to tense their torso can create a straight line. Beginners practice with fins, experts stretch their upper arm towards the ceiling.
Tee off without high five
In the classic front crawl, the right arm performs a full arm stroke before the right hand claps on the back of the left hand and now the left arm in turn completes a full arm stroke. Problem: The high-five position encourages crossing over in the dunking phase.
It is therefore better to swim with your shoulder-width tee-off without high-fiving, or hit with your thumbnail spread apart to get tactile feedback. Variation for advanced players: tee shot on the thigh.
Furrows instead of zippers
With the popular zipper, you run your thumbnail along the side of your body during the return phase of each pull of the arm: from the thigh to under the armpit.
The “high elbow position” exercise with a relaxed forearm can be practiced closer to the final form with “furrow swimming”: in the retrieval phase, pull three fingertips through the water parallel to the body axis. Variation «E. T.»: just drag your index finger through the water.
Finger games instead of paddles
Paddles are used in technique training to experience the impression in the palm of the hand. There’s nothing wrong with that. It is even more profitable if, instead of using paddles, you vary the hand and finger position creatively and, for example, with fists, with like thumbs (fist with outstretched thumb), with folded thumbs or in “James Bond style” (fingers in the shape of a pistol). swims.
Beginners combine a paddle with finger games in the other hand, while experts incorporate it into one-armed crawl swimming (resting arm).
quality before quantity
Before you jump into technical training with high motivation, there are a few basic rules: Only carry out technical exercises when you are rested. Pre-fatigue carries the risk of storing unfavorable movement patterns on the neuromuscular hard drive. Choose a few exercises per training and work on them for a few minutes before implementing the internalized aspects in the main series, increasing the difficulty from simple to complex.
The focus is on the quality of movement execution, not the quantity of exercises completed. Those who regularly add new variations to their range of techniques keep the training stimulus high and prevent performance stagnation.
Aids for a varied training
Swimmers like to use utensils such as boards, paddles or fins to add variety to their training or to increase the training effect. Anyone who wants to break new ground, save costs or travel on holiday with less luggage will find a collection of worthwhile alternatives from everyday life here.
Discarded tennis balls: Swimming with a tennis ball in each hand has a comparable effect to the use of anti-paddles: Since the water cannot be grasped on the palm of the hand, the impression in the stroke of the arm must be created primarily on the inner surfaces of the forearms and upper arms and in the case of Crawls and back crawls can be combined with significant body rotation. Challenging but extremely effective!
Old bike tube: In order to train maximum push-off in the arm pull, you can immobilize the legs by tying them together with a piece of old bicycle tube. If arm strength and body tension are not enough to move forward, it helps to clamp a pull buoy between your thighs.
Retired Multi-Bags: Swimming coach Lukas Mundelsee presents a special idea for resistance training in the latest volume of “Learn and optimize swimming” (Vol. 48 / 2023). The vice president of the German Swimming Coaches Association recommends cutting open the bottom of old veggie or multi-bags and knotting them around one ankle. These nets replace expensive “drag socks” from sports retailers and are an excellent tool for all those who want to train their flex feet that slow down when crawling and suboptimal veering out of the streamline with their legs and feet.
As with all aids in swimming training, the following applies here: it is essential that you only use the tools briefly and moderately when you are warmed up in order to practice partial movements in isolation, increase resistance or keep motivation high.
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