Six Tips to Swim Better
Swimming is actually a great form of exercise, but many people do not do it correctly, and therefore don’t get all of its benefits. In fact, swimming has been called the “perfect form of exercise” because it increases your flexibility, endurance, muscle tone, strength and cardio-respiratory conditioning without straining your heart, and with a low risk of injury.
If you want to try your hand at swimming for exercise, here are the principles that made the biggest difference for Tim Ferriss:
1. To propel yourself forward with the least effort, focus on your shoulder roll and keeping your body horizontal (least resistance), not pulling with your arms or kicking with your legs.
2. Keep yourself horizontal by keeping your head in line with your spine -- you should be looking straight down.
3. Think of swimming freestyle as swimming on alternating sides, not on your stomach.
4. Penetrate the water with your fingers angled down and fully extend your arm well beneath your head and extend it lower and further than you think you should.
5. Focus on increasing stroke length (SL) instead of stroke rate (SR).
6. Stretch your extended arm and turn your body (not just head) to breathe.
There are a couple of drawbacks, though. Swimming will not give you the weight-bearing benefits that land-based exercise will, so it should not be your sole form of exercise.
Swimming is actually a great form of exercise, but many people do not do it correctly, and therefore don’t get all of its benefits. In fact, swimming has been called the “perfect form of exercise” because it increases your flexibility, endurance, muscle tone, strength and cardio-respiratory conditioning without straining your heart, and with a low risk of injury.
If you want to try your hand at swimming for exercise, here are the principles that made the biggest difference for Tim Ferriss:
1. To propel yourself forward with the least effort, focus on your shoulder roll and keeping your body horizontal (least resistance), not pulling with your arms or kicking with your legs.
2. Keep yourself horizontal by keeping your head in line with your spine -- you should be looking straight down.
3. Think of swimming freestyle as swimming on alternating sides, not on your stomach.
4. Penetrate the water with your fingers angled down and fully extend your arm well beneath your head and extend it lower and further than you think you should.
5. Focus on increasing stroke length (SL) instead of stroke rate (SR).
6. Stretch your extended arm and turn your body (not just head) to breathe.
There are a couple of drawbacks, though. Swimming will not give you the weight-bearing benefits that land-based exercise will, so it should not be your sole form of exercise.
