20 Ways to Improve Your Competitive Swimming

Last Updated on April 23, 2024 by admin

There are many ways a competitive swimmer can improve their performance — **There are many ways a competitive swimmer can improve**

In this article, we’ll look at 20 ways to improve your competitive swimming.

From goal setting to developing mental toughness, through to helping you to train at your optimum intensity.

There’s bound to be at least one thing listed here that you could work on to help you achieve your swimming ambitions.

Often making a small improvement to one aspect of your competitive swimming can make a big difference

Listed below are 20 ways to improve your competitive swimming.

Set Swimming Goals

Goal setting is not just confined to swimming, it’s a life skill, that helps establish clear targets, priorities and expectations.

Setting swimming goals can lead to improved performance, which can lead in turn to increased confidence and motivation.

Keep a Swimming Log

**A swimming log can help a swimmer monitor their progress towards their swimming goals**

Keeping an up-to-date swimming log is a great way to record, monitor and evaluate your swimming development and progression toward your swimming goals.

Develop Mental Toughness

Competitive swimming can sometimes not just be physically tough, it can also be mentally tough.

Training can be physically demanding. Some swimmers moan and complain when the training gets tough.

Many of the world’s top swimmers regularly practice a range of psychological techniques, to help them develop their mental toughness.
This can help to give them a range of competitive advantages.
This includes being able to maintain focus, improving their motivation, reducing their stress levels, and increasing their levels of self-belief.
Listed below are some of the techniques used to help develop mental toughness for swimmers.

Warm-Up

Swimmers need to warm up before training and competition. This ensures that their muscles are warm to prevent injury and to ensure their heart is prepared to pump oxygen-rich blood throughout the body.

During a competition, the warm-up facilities and opportunities may vary.
Therefore it’s important to the swimmer’s performance to develop warm-up protocols.
These can be tailored to the individual swimmer and adapted to most competitive situations.
These should consist of a dry land warm-up, a pool warm-up and a pre-race warm-up.

Cool Down

Swimmers need to be able to recover from each training or competitive session, by dispersing their accumulated lactic acid.

The recovery process should start immediately after each training or competitive session, by way of a proper cooldown.

During a competition, the cool-down facilities and opportunities may vary.
Therefore it’s important to the swimmer’s performance, to develop cool-down protocols.
These can be tailored to the individual swimmer and adapted to most competitive situations, consisting of a post-competition/training swim-down and dry land cool-down.

Talk to Your Coach

The swimmer should establish a rapport with their coach, where they feel confident in asking them for their assistance, support, and feedback. — **Swimmers should talk to their coach often**

The main responsibility of a coach is to impart their knowledge and experience to the swimmer.

Therefore, the swimmer should establish a rapport with their coach, where they feel confident in asking them for their assistance, support, and feedback.

Counting strokes

Stroke count is the number of strokes it takes for a swimmer to complete a given number of lengths/laps.

Stroke count is largely influenced by a swimmer’s technique.
The more technically efficient the swimmer, the longer their distance per stroke and therefore, the fewer strokes they will take to complete a length/lap.

Keep Hydrated

A swimmer needs to be well hydrated to perform at their optimum.

Although the majority of a swimmer’s training is conducted in the water, they still lose a great deal of body fluid through physical exertion.
This lost fluid should be replaced, as dehydration is one of the most common causes of poor performance.

Eat the Right Food

A balanced diet will provide all the vitamins and minerals that a swimmer will need.

It is important to refuel properly during training and competition. This will help both your performance and reduce your recovery times.
An ideal swimming diet is around 60% carbohydrate, that’s bread, pasta, cereal, rice, fruit and vegetables, with about 15 % of protein and the remaining 25% from healthy fats.

Relax and Recover

Swimmers need to actively recover from the exertions of training and competition to ensure they are not overly fatigued to continue swimming at the optimum level.

The ability to be able to relax is a great way to develop as a competitive swimmer.
Relaxation skills can help a swimmer reduce self-doubt and anxieties while increasing concentration and performance.
Relaxation techniques can also be used to aid a better night’s sleep and to help a swimmer to rest and recover after training or during competition.

Get Enough Sleep

Most children require about 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night.

Competitive swimmers may need more to help them fully recover from the rigours of training and competition.
A lack of sleep can have a negative effect on a swimmer’s performance. It can impact their physical ability, swimming technique (cognitive function) and reactions.
Therefore, swimmers should make quality sleep as much of a priority as they do for training and nutrition.

Focus on developing a great stroke technique

A great stroke technique is a fundamental key competitive swimming attribute to enables swimmers to propel themselves through the water efficiently,

While at the same time reducing drag.
Some swimmers tend to lose their focus regarding their stroke technique,
For example, preferring to concentrate on land training to develop their strength,
Although strength is an important attribute and should be developed,
It should not be to the detriment of their stroke technique,
Top competitive swimmers regularly (often daily) work on (consistently and persistently) developing and maintaining their stroke technique, to help them swim faster.

Improve Your Flexibility

Of the 20 ways to improve your competitive swimming listed here probably the most overlooked is a swimmer’s flexibility.

Swimming requires a wide range of motion in your joints and limbs to achieve optimum power and speed through the water.

Not only does increase flexibility and improve your range of motion, but it also protects you against injury and should be a key part of a competitive swimmer’s warm-up, cool-down and land training programme.

Dryland Training

Many competitive swimmers regularly undertake dryland/land training.

This is to gain additional benefits beyond those which can be achieved by training in the water alone.
These include increased power, strength, endurance, speed, and coordination.
Dryland/land training can also help increase a swimmer’s range of movement and make them more flexible.
It can help correct muscle imbalance caused by poor stroke technique or overuse.
The combination of increased flexibility and balanced muscle groups can lower the risk of injury.

Improve your Kicking

Kicking is an important and sometimes undervalued key skill, which is an effective way to improve your competitive swimming.

An effective leg kick raises the swimmer’s legs to a horizontal/prone position, thus reducing drag.
As leg muscles are amongst the largest in the body, having a trained, effective leg kick minimises energy and oxygen consumption, whilst maximising propulsion.

Train with a Swimming Partner

Training with a training partner can help to improve a competitor's swimming performance — **Training with a training partner can help to improve a competitor’s swimming** performance

To consistently perform well in training day after day can be tough and demanding.

Having a training partner to share the workload with, often makes training sessions more enjoyable.
Having someone swimming hard alongside you can help you both improve your competitive swimming.

Develop your Swimming Core

A swimmer’s core is the muscles in their abdomen, hips and lower back.

A developed swimming core ensures the swimmer’s body is supported, stabilised and balanced.
This enables the swimmer’s body position to be correctly aligned, helping them to reduce drag and perform many swimming drills and skills more effectively.

Sculling

Sculling is often overlooked as a key competitive swimming skill and a great way to improve your competitive swimming.

Efficient sculling skills give the swimmer ‘a feel for the water’, which helps them place their hands in the correct position to achieve maximum propulsion during the completion of the arm stroke.
Sculling is a great drill to introduce during a warm-up, cool-down or recovery swim.

Train at the optimum intensity

**Monitoring their heart rate can help swimmers ensure that they are training at the optimum intensity**

It’s important during training swimmers to ensure that they are training at their optimum intensity, to help ensure they can compete at the desired level.

Therefore many swimmers monitor their heart rate and use a pace clock to help achieve this.

Be consistent and persistent

Competitive swimming can be a gruelling sport,

Requiring swimmers to undertake many hours of repetitive training and competition each week.
When I first started swimming coaching, one of the first books that I read was the excellent ‘Coaching Swimming Successfully’ by Dick Hannula.
In this book, he underlines the importance of a swimmer being determined and dedicated.
That they should always perform at their best and do it regularly,
Summing up this key competitive swimming attribute by his mantra,” Be consistent and persistent”.
It’s a mantra that I still coach my swimmer’s by today

Underwater Dolphin Kicking

The underwater dolphin kick is a fast and powerful underwater technique.

It has become an increasingly important swimming skill, playing a key part in the development of butterfly, backstroke and freestyle starts and turns.
Many coaches refer to underwater dolphin kicking as the ‘fifth stroke’.
Many of the world’s top swimmers regularly practice and develop their underwater dolphin kicking technique during training.

Improve Your Competitive Swimming: Takeaways

In this article, we’ll look at 20 ways to improve your competitive swimming.

From goal setting to developing mental toughness, through to training at the optimum intensity.
There’s bound to be at least one thing listed here that you could work on to help you achieve your swimming ambitions.

Swimming resource library

We have provided a swimming resource library, containing links to all of our publications and blog articles. To access any article simply click on the attached page link: Swimming resource library

Swimming Publications

We produce a growing range of publications on a wide range of swimming subjects.

These include competitive swimming drill publications for backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.
Which are now available in both Amazon Kindle and paperback formats.
For information regarding our portfolio please follow our link: Swimming publications

The Competitive Swimming Exchange – Facebook Group

The Competitive Swimming Exchange. Is a Facebook group to help exchange ideas and information to collectively improve the sport we love.

It’s an international group for all swimmers, coaches, teachers, masters, triathletes and swimming parents.
In fact, it’s for all those who are interested in competitive swimming, either in the pool or in open water.

For more information about joining this group please use the following link: The Competitive Swimming Exchange

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Set Swimming Goals

Related article on the benefits of setting swimming goals

Keep a Swimming Log

Related article on the benefits of keeping a swimming log

Develop Mental Toughness

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Warm-Up

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Cool Down

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Talk to Your Coach

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Counting strokes

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Keep Hydrated

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Eat the Right Food

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Relax and Recover

Related article on dryland relaxation techniques

Get Enough Sleep

Related article on the secrets of a good night’s sleep for swimmers

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Focus on developing a great stroke technique

Improve Your Flexibility

Related article on swimming ankle strength and flexibility

Related article on developing and maintaining breaststroke hip & leg flexibility

Dryland Training

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Improve your Kicking

Related article on Improving your freestyle kicking

Train with a Swimming Partner

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Develop your Swimming Core

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Sculling

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