Andrew Sheaff (@AndrewKSheaff)

All about the backstroke pull. A visual 🧵. 1. A powerful starts with an effective set up of the stroke. Swimmers have to get as much of their arm facing backward as possible. The more surface area they create, the faster they go. Cont. ...

The pull and rotation. A visual 🧵. 1. Rotation must occur in freestyle so that swimmers can set up the stroke effectively. It allows swimmers to get into an effective position where they can create a lot of propulsion. It’s much harder to do without rotation. Cont. ...

FAST Butterfly skills. A visual 🧵. ALL the key skills. 1. Fast butterfly starts with swimming level in the water. The straighter butterflyers can move through the water, the faster they’ll move through the water. Cont. ...

Lateral alignment in freestyle. A visual 🧵. 1. Swimming STRAIGHT is critical for swimming FAST in freestyle. Simple, not easy. Cont. ...

The faster breaststrokers can recover their arms forward, the sooner they can eliminate drag & the sooner they can create more propulsion. But many swimmers struggle to understand how aggressive they need to be to make it happen. Here’s a set that helps them learn how to do it. ...

I think a lot of the emphasis on undulation in butterfly and breaststroke is misplaced. Undulation should occur because of what the arms and legs are doing, NOT the other way around. That has big implications for how to improve skills....

All fast swimmers create propulsion with the same key principles, but they use different positions to make that happen. That’s even true of individual swimmers. They may execute effective pulling skills on both sides but do so with different positions. Check out this swimmer. ...

Many sprint swimmers fail to achieve the so-called ‘early vertical forearm’. They tend to drop in deep and straight and get there quickly. That’s not a mistake, it’s a deliberate choice to create more speed. ...

One of the most important timing elements in backstroke is the entry. Right when the hand hits the water, swimmers need to rotate to that side to create the necessary space to set up the stroke....