Andrew Sheaff (@AndrewKSheaff)

While there are a lot of similarities between freestyle and butterfly pulling, there is one key difference. In butterfly, swimmers will often angle and pitch their hands out. In freestyle, they won’t. Here’s why. ...

‘Body Position’ is not a static concept. It’s dynamic and swimmers need to be able to manage their body position during every aspect of the stroke. Pressing the ‘T’ is a common suggestion in freestyle for effective body position, and while it’s not wrong, it’s incomplete. ...

If the goal is to help swimmers go fast, they should not be encouraged to straighten their arm under the water and finish their stroke. It sounds good in theory, but there’s one small problem. The best swimmers don’t do it. ...

Rotation is critical for swimming fast freestyle, but the solution is rarely to rotate more. The solution is to rotate at the right time. Rotation is important on the top side as it allows swimmers to recover the arms effectively. ...

The breaststroke finish position is just like every other stroke, even if it doesn’t look like it. Pay attention the elbows, not the hands. While the hands are obviously out in front rather than down by the hips, the elbows are very similar. ...

Underwater kicking propulsion. A visual 🧵. 1. Swimmers have to create a ton of propulsion if they want to go fast. It starts with using a full range of motion. Swimmers need to kick well in front of their body to maximize propulsion with the kick. Cont. ...

The easiest way to go faster in freestyle is for swimmers to change their timing. At slower speeds, with a front quadrant stroke, there are significant gaps in propulsion, where neither arm is creating propulsion. ...

If you want to help your butterflyers go fast, you they need to develop a powerful pull. But it’s not only about power. Swimmers need to time the pull with the kicks to maximize the impact. Kicking upon entry helps swimmers set up the stroke effectively. ...

While good drills can help swimmers learn skills, the real difference maker is how those drills are used in sets. Here’s a simple rule I always follow when using drills. Whenever I have swimmers perform a drill, I will pair it with full stroke swimming....