Swim in a one piece
Improving the integration of your whole body has an immediate impact on speed and power.
A recent swim in an endless pool really brought this home. My hips rotated a fraction earlier than my hand entry. By holding my core rotation just a fraction longer I soon beat the current. It took more concentration, but my effort levels didn’t increase, in fact it felt easier. I had just put on a better one piece.
How can you integrate your body movements to utilise your core?
- Time hand and hip driving forward together
- Time hand entry and extension with a turn of the head for a breath
- Lengthen body to engage core
- Engage stomach and bottom muscles to maintain a streamline as you rotate
- Time catch and kick
- Time hand entry and kick
- Kick in the same direction as rotation
As we focus on organising our body parts to work better together, we learn to swim in a one piece, one body, more like a dolphin. This allows your body and mind to become better connected with the water. You can’t kick and pull the water, it will only kick and pull you back with drag and resistance.
You can spear the water with your hand entry, rotate and drive your weight forwards, use your leg to help drive that rotation. None of that works in a two-piece, it all requires the most important part. The Middle.
With a better connection, comes greater control. When we’re controlled, we’re calmer, less erratic and importantly for humans with our many independent moving parts we become more streamlined and change shape less frequently. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, always aim to be streamlined, moving forwards, swimming with the rhythm of your weight shift. Swimming in a one-piece.