I made it for a long time, so you’re probably making it as well.
The answer might surprise you..
When you look at almost all swimming education, it’s geared towards the mechanics of freestyle.
What the arms are doing, what the head is doing, what the legs are doing, and so on.
As a result, coaches focus on these same concepts- they start off teaching the arms, the legs, and the head, trying to replicate the movements of freestyle.
And athletes follow suit.
Whether they’re following the instructions of their coaches, or trying to figure it out on their own, it’s all about the mechanics.
That’s not to say this doesn’t work.
It certainly works…sometimes…with some people.
I don’t know about you, but sometimes isn’t good enough for me.
I want consistent results regardless of the individual.
When I can achieve that, I know it means what I am doing is effective.
For much longer than I’d care to admit, I was focusing on the mechanics of freestyle.
I was able to help people improve, but the results weren’t as significant or as consistent as I’d like.
So, I started questioning my approach, and I started looking for alternatives.
After a lot of searching and a lot of reflection, of all places, I found the answer in an advertisement for a swimming school that teaches toddlers to swim.
They had the kids practice floating.
I’m not sure what the teachers were trying to accomplish, but I instantly recognized the importance of what I was seeing.
It hit me- all of the mechanical teaching in the world is USELESS if there isn’t a solid foundation of comfort and stability in the water.
That’s the big mistake- teaching mechanics before teaching water comfort.
It doesn’t matter who you are.
If you can’t float, you can’t swim!
That’s why the results I was getting were inconsistent.
It was like building a house on a foundation of sand.
I didn’t want sand, I wanted my foundation to be rock solid!
So, I set about developing a system for helping people learn these foundational skills as fast as possible.
Again, some people can skip the is step and do really well.
They’re exceptions.
Some people figure it out after a LONG time.
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not waste ANY time.
Others can skip this step and survive.
I’d rather thrive!
To recap, the biggest mistake is trying to learn freestyle mechanics before working on learning how to float.
So, what do you do?
These are my heavy hitters.
Spend some time working on them and you’ll find your ability to improve your swimming accelerates.
Just float for 10seconds, then swim a lap.
Repeat.
You’ll avoid the biggest mistake in freestyle technique, and you’ll save yourself a LOT of time and effort on your way to accomplishing your goals.
And you just might achieve goals you didn’t think possible.
Whenever YOU are ready, there are 2 ways I can help you take your swimming to the next level:
1. If you’re looking for pre-made solutions to improve your swimming, check out my resources Freestyle Made Simple and Addressing Adult-Onset Swimming.
2. If you want a more personalized learning experience, we can work together to analyze your stroke or develop a technical training plan.
Keep it simple...
Andrew
Comments