If you are a professional swimmer or a beginner in the field of swimming, then maybe you are one of the people who are desperate in looking for ways on how to swim faster than the rest of the swimmers. It is just natural for every swimmer to aim for more advantages against your competitions. For this, you might be overdoing your practice routines without even looking through the things that must be improved in your swimming techniques. In fact, you might be doing the wrong thing instead of focusing on your weaknesses and improving them. To determine whether you’re on the right track of making your swimming faster, here are some powerful tricks and tips that would be very useful to you.
Assess your swimming ability.
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As swimmers, you aim to develop the techniques that you really desire to acquire. Because of this, you sometimes ignore and forget to assess your swimming abilities. You should first determine whether you have acquired the prerequisite skills that are necessary for acquiring new swimming techniques.
You should always start to assess your swimming abilities. Determine your strengths, as well as your weaknesses. Afterwards, you have to determine whether to focus on enhancing your strengths or on improving your weaknesses. But most of the time, professional swimmers would prefer to enhance the positive aspects of their swimming ability and do something to transform their weaknesses into strengths before acquiring new techniques in swimming.
Acquire new techniques one at a time.
Aside from improving your swimming abilities, it is also necessary for a swimmer to acquire new techniques in swimming. However, swimmers sometimes make mistakes in acquiring new techniques. Because you are aiming to have more advantage than the rest of the swimmers, you tend to hit the goal of developing more techniques in swimming simultaneously, rather than focusing one technique at a time.
If you easily get tired while swimming, then it is a must that you find appropriate techniques on how to swim fast without getting tired first before starting to learn other techniques. If you have some difficulties in some swimming strokes, then jump into the swimming pool and do something about that specific stroke. Master it, and then proceed to another swimming stroke. Always remember to master one technique before jumping into another.
Ask someone to critique you.
There are some instances wherein we have done something inappropriate, but we were not able to see it. Asking someone to critique your swimming ability is very helpful for instances like this. It could be a friend, a co-swimmer, or better yet, your swimming coach.
Ask them to observe your swimming performance. With someone watching your swimming performance, it would be easier for you to determine whether you have made a mistake while swimming.
Set the mood.
Setting the mood before swimming is very important. No matter how good you are in your swimming techniques or how fast you swim, it is necessary to set your mood for the activity. Avoid being angry when you swim. This will never help you focus on your swimming performance. Also, it is not advisable to be stressed and nervous before leaping into the water. This will decrease your swimming ability.
To help you set the mood before swimming, instead of wearing the usual ear plugs for swimming, other swimmers would prefer to have the mp3 player for swimming. This is very useful in setting the mood. With this device, you can listen to music before diving into the swimming pool or even while swimming. You might be hooked up into a song with a beat that can regulate your stroke tempo and cadence. This will make your swimming less boring and improve your overall swimming performance.
Listening to music is also proven to help a swimmer relax before diving into the water. This is a great way of getting rid of your stress and nervousness before starting to kick the water.
Choose the appropriate swimming equipment.
Always make sure to choose the appropriate swimming equipment, gear, and accessories. You should be comfortable in wearing these so that it would not be awkward to swim. If you are uncomfortable wearing tight swimming goggles, loosen it to the extent that it is already comfortable for you.
It is also very important that you choose a tech swim suit and a swimming hat that exactly fit your body structure. To choose the swimsuit appropriate for your body, you have to consider first your body type. Do you have a pear-shaped body, apple-shaped, hourglass-shaped, or a straight type of body?
Afterwards, you have to identify the right cut for your swimsuit. Having the right cut will cover most of your body flaws. Furthermore, you also have to consider the type of fabric for your swimsuit, the color, and especially the purpose for your swimsuit. Never go for string bikinis if you go surfing or swimming competitions. This might embarrass you. Sports swimsuits are preferable for swimming competitions rather than any other types of swimsuits.
Build up your muscles.
Swimming is a strenuous activity. If your muscles are not that ready, you might experience muscle pain and some injuries like swimmer’s shoulder. Professional swimmers highly recommend doing regular exercise like cable push-pull. This type of exercise prepares the upper muscles of the body for the strokes that will be performed during swimming.
Others also sort to using special equipment during their training like swim fins to improve their body posture and other techniques on how to swim faster. In addition, swim fins also increase load and resistance to the water, making your muscles work more when you swim.
It is also highly recommended to do some warm up exercises before diving into the pool. You may do few rounds of the Russian twist, hip bridges, or the V-sit kicking.
Exercise proper breathing.
Breathing is a very important aspect of swimming. Professional swimmers highly recommend having long deep breath to relax before diving into the water. However, proper breathing would be a little bit difficult when you are already in the water kicking your ankles and aiming to swim faster.
To do this properly, inhale when your face is above the water. Then, you exhale when your face in under the water. Do not do both inhaling and exhaling very quickly when your face is out of the water since this may result in the accumulation of carbon dioxide in your lungs which is very undesirable. Then, develop a pattern of your breathing like after three strokes, or you may do bilateral breathing. You also have to figure out which side is more comfortable for you to breathe. It could be on your left side or your right side.
If you have some trouble with the water getting into your nose while swimming, you have to more efforts in mastering the proper breathing exercise in swimming, or you may also use swimming nose clips when you swim.
Always plan a healthy meal.
It is highly recommended to eat healthy foods if you are a swimmer. You should have good stamina and endurance for swimming. Eating nutritious foods are considered necessities for building good stamina. These are very important to fuel up the body and to prepare the stamina appropriate for swimming.
Other swimmers also believe that the leaner your body, the faster you’ll swim. People with lean bodies are believed to fight the resistance of the water easier. So, why not keep your body lean by eating healthy and nutritious foods like low-fat yogurt, baked potato, fresh fruits, whole grain foods like whole wheat cereal or wheat bread, and some energy foods like cereal bars, energy drinks, or protein shakes.
A healthy diet for swimmers should consist of the right amount of carbohydrates, calories, protein, and fat. To keep track of your health, you may wear a waterproof fitness tracker. This will help you keep track of your heart rate during swimming, which is very crucial in determining your health status.
Practice regularly.
Even though you are already good with your new swimming techniques, it is still vital to train yourself regularly. Always practice your skills so that these can become a natural part of your swimming system.
It is not necessary to practice every day. Just choose your preferable schedules. Also, take note not to overdo your practice. If this happens, there is a tendency that instead of improving your skills these may regress due to over exhausted body parts and muscles.
During training, also take note of the time record of your swimming. Always measure it and do something to progress over time. This will greatly improve your swimming techniques, especially your speed.
Provide a recovery period for your body.
Although hard training is necessary to improve your swimming performance, your body still needs enough time to recover. Depriving your body of recovery, you would be missing out the 100% improvement of your swimming abilities that are developed in your training sessions.
Aside from having a full rest at home for your body recovery, it is also essential to have recovery period during training. You just have to let yourself relax in or outside the pool, and take a long deep breath for few minutes. These will make your body, especially your lungs, feel relaxed from the strenuous movements.
Whatever types of training and techniques that you plan to accomplish to improve your swimming abilities, it is still very important to have enough rest and give your body a break. Never go beyond what your body can do. This may hamper your health. Instead of being a swimming pro, you may end up staying in a hospital for health breakdowns and some injuries if you insist on training hard without having enough time for your body to rest.
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