Effortless Swimming

Russell Smith is the current age group triathlon world champion in Olympic distance & Asia Pacific age group champion in Ironman.  He has been using the Effortless Swimming Workouts as part of his training program.  In this podcast, he will talk about how he is using the Effortless Swimming Workouts to succeed in triathlon. Download […]

Russell Smith is the current age group triathlon world champion in Olympic distance & Asia Pacific age group champion in Ironman.  He has been using the Effortless Swimming Workouts as part of his training program.  In this podcast, he will talk about how he is using the Effortless Swimming Workouts to succeed in triathlon. Download […]

Russell Smith is the current age group triathlon world champion in Olympic distance & Asia Pacific age group champion in Ironman.  He has been using the Effortless Swimming Workouts as part of his training program.  In this podcast, he will talk about how he is using the Effortless Swimming Workouts to succeed in triathlon. Download transcript 00:48 - About Russell Smith’s Triathlon Career 01:36 - About the World Champ Race in Auckland 02:31 - Winning the Triathlon Through the Swim 03:13 - How Russell Uses the Effortless Swimming Workouts Program into His Training Program 4:22 - The Typical Workout Look from the Program 06:00 - Does Warm Ups Set Russell Up to Perform Better for the Main Set? 07:10 - A Common Triathlon Mistake 08:10 - What’s Next for Russell? 09:13 - The London World Championships 10:05 - Get in Touch with Russell Smith at GoBeyondLimits

What changes should you make to your technique if you’re wearing a wetsuit compared to swimming without a wetsuit? Well if you’ve got a good wetsuit then the chances are you’ll be swimming higher in the water than you normally are. 0:14 – Good Wetsuit = Swim Higher 0:25 – Create less Drag With a […]

What changes should you make to your technique if you’re wearing a wetsuit compared to swimming without a wetsuit? Well if you’ve got a good wetsuit then the chances are you’ll be swimming higher in the water than you normally are. 0:14 - Good Wetsuit = Swim Higher 0:25 - Create less Drag With a Good Wetsuit 0:56 - Use Your Hip and Shoulder Rotation When Wearing a Wetsuit So a good wetsuit is very buoyant, and that means that your legs won’t be sitting as deep in the water as normal. And what that means, and it’s good if you’re not a strong kicker, it means that your legs would be sitting high which means you’ve got less drag but also it means you won’t get as much propulsion from your kick. So a change that you might need to make is you reduce your kick. So you just wanna kick your legs to time the rest of your stroke but you also wanna keep your kicks very small. And that’s gonna reduce the amount of drag that you create. And I’ll just mean that you go through the water using your hips and your shoulder rotation and also your pull. So if you’ve got a wetsuit on, then practice doing this. Doing smaller kicks, less kicks but using your hip and your shoulder rotation to drive yourself forward as well as your pull. That’s it for news this week.  See you next week. This open water videos in this weeks news are taken from the Open Water Mastery program.

What changes should you make to your technique if you’re wearing a wetsuit compared to swimming without a wetsuit? Well if you’ve got a good wetsuit then the chances are you’ll be swimming higher in the water than you normally are. 0:14 – Good Wetsuit = Swim Higher 0:25 – Create less Drag With a […]

Over the holidays, I gave a friend of mine The Mastering Freestyle Program for him to try. Now in 4 sessions he dropped his time from a 1:40 down to 1:36 for his 100 meter pace. And dropped his stroke count from 42 down to a 34. 00:11 – 1:40 down to 1:36/100m pace 00:15 […]

Over the holidays, I gave a friend of mine The Mastering Freestyle Program for him to try. Now in 4 sessions he dropped his time from a 1:40 down to 1:36 for his 100 meter pace. And dropped his stroke count from 42 down to a 34. 00:11 - 1:40 down to 1:36/100m pace 00:15 - Stroke Count from 42 to 34/50m 00:22 -  Hip Driven vs Shoulder Driven 00:42 - How to Develop Muscle Memory For Hip Driven Freestyle Hip Driven vs Shoulder Driven The reason he’s been able to do that is because he’s learned how to use a hip driven technique rather than a shoulder driven technique. So if you look at 2 types of freestyle, you’ve got the shoulder driven technique which is very good for sprinting but it’s a lot more taxing on your arms. You’ve got a hip driven technique where you’re rotating your hips a bit more and you use that to propel yourself forward. How to Develop Muscle Memory The first two modules of the Mastering Freestyle Program, they teach you the muscle memory. They give you the muscle memory to learn how to use your body rotation to drive forward. So it takes the pressure off your shoulders and it makes your swimming a whole lot easier and will generally make your swimming a lot faster. If you look at this video of Sam Sheppard swimming, you’ll see he uses a hip driven technique rather than a shoulder driven technique. You can see that he rotates his hips quite a bit and he uses that to drive forward and he gets that little bit of extra length rather than swimming flat. If you look at a barge it’s wide, it takes a lot of energy to drive forward and that’s because it’s not very streamlined. Are You A Barge Or A Yacht? It’s just like a swimmer swimming flat. But if you look at a yacht, it’s streamlined, and it will travel through the water a whole lot easier. So if you think about your swimming that way, if you’re going use a hip driven technique, you’ll be on your side more, you’ll be more streamlined, and you’ll be able to save a lot of energy. Developing A Hip Driven Freestyle That’s why the first 2 modules of the Mastering Freestyle Program are all about getting the muscle memory to learn how to use a hip driven freestyle technique. You’ll find it a lot easier and you’ll take the pressure off your shoulders and you’ll be able to swim a whole lot better for distance. So if you’re a 400+ meter swimmer or you’re a triathlete or then the Mastering Freestyle Program, the first 2 modules, have a look at them and I’ll really help you out with your freestyle.    

Over the holidays, I gave a friend of mine The Mastering Freestyle Program for him to try. Now in 4 sessions he dropped his time from a 1:40 down to 1:36 for his 100 meter pace. And dropped his stroke count from 42 down to a 34. 00:11 – 1:40 down to 1:36/100m pace 00:15 […]

Welcome to swimming news this week; this week we talk about the importance of consistency, why you should get flexibility tested and I have a back stroke and a breast stroke tip for you. 00:21 – Is Your Training Consistent? 01:22 – Flexibility Testing 02:25 – ‘World’s Best Swimmer’ Now Free 02:58 – Supercharging Your […]

Welcome to swimming news this week; this week we talk about the importance of consistency, why you should get flexibility tested and I have a back stroke and a breast stroke tip for you. 00:21 – Is Your Training Consistent? 01:22 – Flexibility Testing 02:25 – ‘World’s Best Swimmer’ Now Free 02:58 – Supercharging Your […]

Welcome to swimming news this week; this week we talk about the importance of consistency, why you should get flexibility tested and I have a back stroke and a breast stroke tip for you. 00:21 - Is Your Training Consistent? 01:22 - Flexibility ...

Welcome to swimming news this week. This week we look at how to pull through with a high elbow, where to enter your hand in freestyle and also we’ll talk about my favorite mindset training that I find most effective for better performance in racing. ...

Welcome to swimming news this week. This week we look at how to pull through with a high elbow, where to enter your hand in freestyle and also we’ll talk about my favorite mindset training that I find most effective for better performance in racing. 0:45 – How To Pull With A High Elbow 0:57 […]

Welcome to swimming news this week. This week we look at how to pull through with a high elbow, where to enter your hand in freestyle and also we’ll talk about my favorite mindset training that I find most effective for better performance in racing. 0:45 – How To Pull With A High Elbow 0:57 […]