"Most men will not swim before they are able to."

- Novalis

In this essay I want to simplify as much as possible the essentials of front-crawl swimming. This is the first talk I give in my Intro Triathlon classes. I feel it is important that the swimmer, whether new or advanced, has a clear idea of what propels him or her through the water. Please also be aware that this essay ignores strength and aerobic conditioning which are very much crucial in swimming faster. Here we are only concerned with the technical aspects of swimming. Okay, here goes.

There are 5 technical elements that matter while swimming.

The 5^th element, represented by the red lines in the grid, is TIMING. One needs the 4 boxed elements present and perfected in order to swim efficiently, and Timing is their synthesis. Lack one, and you're consigned to being an average swimmer, at best. Lack two, and you're really in trouble, I'm sorry to say.

The trouble with most swim coaching, in my opinion, is that coaches tend to lean too heavily on one or two elements and focus exclusively on these, regardless of the student's shortcoming. But what's worse is when coaches fail to respect the interconnectedness of all 5 elements. For example, to work on a swimmer's poor alignment without considering his kick is an irreconcilable mistake. I have written more in my essay Types of Swim Coaching. For now let's discuss the 5 technical elements of swimming.

BALANCE
Imagine you are watching the swimmer from the side, at a waters-edge view. From this viewpoint you could observe the swimmer's balance. In other words, we speak of balance as maintaining a horizontal body position (with respect to the surface of the water) through all rotations of the stroke. Ideally, you want to appear flat in the water with your feet about as high as your hips and head.

ALIGNMENT
Alignment can best be thought of by imagining you are watching from above someone swim down the lane. From this birds-eye view you would only notice their vertical alignment, or, how parallel they stay with the lane lines on either side of them. Correct alignment is when the swimmer can maintain this parallel position (with the lane lines) through all rotations of the stroke.

PULL
By Pull, I'm simply talking about what you do with your arms and hands. I don't care what anybody says, its our arms and hands which propel us through the water. If you don't have any arms, then you're a kicker, plain and simple, and you don't swim very fast. Or, when I hear coaches say "the hips move you down the pool" I cringe. (The hips have everything to do with Timing, written below, but if one would have to choose between having hips or hands - you gotta go with hands!) So here we care about the arms/hands with the entire pull phase being from the catch, through the various sweep and pitch motions, to the finish. (And possibly the arm recovery.)

KICK
Self-explanatory, I think. The freestyle kick is too underrated in triathlon circles. Somehow the rumor got started that kicking doesn't matter in distance freestyle. Rumor somehow became fact. Let me tell you rumors from facts. It is a fact that kicking a length (of the pool) takes 80% more effort than pulling a length. However, from this fact it does not follow that kicking is inefficient and not a worthwhile use of our energy! FAULTY LOGIC!! As I said above, Pulling is our method of propulsion, not kicking. No, kicking plays a far more subtle role in swimming besides propulsion: it gives us our balance and alignment. (And, if you're a great kicker, it does even contribute to propulsion!)

TIMING
While the previous 4 technical elements can be broken down, described, pointed to and videotaped, Timing, to me, represents the "Art" of swimming. In contrast to the volumes of books, videos and systems written about Balance and Alignment, you won't find much written about the element of Timing. Why not? Well for one because Timing is a more complex, advanced element to swimming. There's no denying that Balance and Alignment are necessary before improving one's Timing can have any benefit. (Yet, as I said above, ALL the elements are interconnected --Timing impacts Balance and vice-versa--but some swimmers can only work on one thing at a time.) Most likely, if you swim a mile in over 28 minutes you probably are still working on your fundamental relationship with the water, encompassed in Balance and Alignment and haven't heard of Timing and/or given it much thought.

Another reason you won't find much written about Timing (in my opinion) is because nobody really knows how to quantify and articulate what proper Timing looks like and to achieve it. Natural swimmers just have it. The evasive "IT".

Well, I think "IT" can be taught and learned, and of course I think I'm the one who can teach it! In my swimming progression, I've personally had to focus mostly on Kick and Timing, and think I've made some significant discoveries. I will teach you these findings in my Aqua Forza program; especially to swimmers who are stuck in the hour to 1:12 range (Ironman swim) or :24 to :28 range (Olympic dist. swim.)