‘Body Position’ is not a static concept. It’s dynamic and swimmers...
Andrew Sheaff@AndrewKSheaff
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Feb 18, 2026
~1 min read
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‘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.
Pressing the ‘T’ is a common suggestion in freestyle for effective body position, and while it’s not wrong, it’s incomplete.
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Swimmers have to learn to actively control their position while the arms and legs are moving rapidly.
Here’s a simple, introductory option for helping swimmers learn this skill.
From a floating position, have them move their arms up and down like performing a jumping jack.
Here’s a simple, introductory option for helping swimmers learn this skill.
From a floating position, have them move their arms up and down like performing a jumping jack.
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This forces them to use their lungs to control their position in the water, and they have to continue to do so as the limbs are moving.
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For swimmers that are just learning to control their position, or swimmers who never learned how to do so effectively in the first place, this is a useful option.
Body position is a dynamic skill, and swimmers must be able to maintain effective position at high speed.
Body position is a dynamic skill, and swimmers must be able to maintain effective position at high speed.
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Helping them feel the skill can help them build it into their stroke.
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Achieving high stroke length at low stroke rates isn’t hard.
Just about anyone can do it.
Achieving high stroke length at high stroke rates is very hard, and very few swimmers can do it.
But it’s what’s required if swimmers want to go fast, especially over shorter races.
Just about anyone can do it.
Achieving high stroke length at high stroke rates is very hard, and very few swimmers can do it.
But it’s what’s required if swimmers want to go fast, especially over shorter races.