Andrew Sheaff (@AndrewKSheaff)

To swim fast freestyle, swimmers need to swim straight. Side to side motion creates drag and it also makes it more difficult to create propulsion. That’s bad news. ...

The freestyle kick. A visual 🧵. 1. The freestyle kick serves three key functions, all of which help swimmers go fast. The most obvious is that it creates propulsion to power swimmers down the pool. Cont. ...

There is no perfect underwater kicking amplitude for all swimmers, but there’s a perfect amplitude for each swimmer. The key is to help them find it. Larger kicking amplitudes have the potential to create more propulsion, but also less drag. ...

It is very, very difficult to swim fast butterfly without an effective entry kick. The quality of the kick matters, and the timing of the kick matters just as much. A great entry kick serves 2 key roles. ...

Swimmers have to learn to undulate effectively if they want to create speed under the water. They need to learn the stability necessary to start the wave of undulation. ...

The key breaststroke pulling skills are simple, but they’re not easy to do. Swimmers have to use their whole arm to move water backward over an appropriate range of motion, accelerating throughout. ...

The key skills of underwater kicking. A visual 🧵. 1. Great underwater kicking starts with great alignment and posture. The more swimmers can keep drag low as they travel underwater, the faster they’ll go. Straight lines great speed. Cont. ...

Backstrokers need a powerful pull if they want to swim fast across any distance. They also need to be able to sustain those skills throughout their races. A lot of coaches have used backstroke pulling with a band to develop backstroke pulling skill and fitness. It works. ...

Too many swimmers can’t create speed with a gallop stroke timing because they make one key mistake. They don’t rotate BACK to the non-breathing side. While a gallop stroke is going to be asymmetrical with timing, it shouldn’t be asymmetrical with rotation. ...