Why Aren’t I a Faster Swimmer?
And what to do about it
You’re fit, and you’ve put in the hours refining your technique, but you’re not seeing the results you think you deserve. What’s going on?
I’m far from being the world’s fastest swimmer. In the pool, I don’t even come close to the fastest swimmers in my age group. However, in open water events, I sometimes find myself at the front of the field and occasionally still win races. Consequently, people ask me for advice. They want to know if there is a secret to speedy swimming.
Trying to become a faster swimmer as an adult can be frustrating. Most of the people I know who swim fast now, swam fast when they were a child. I’ve met hundreds of adult swimmers who train hard and work diligently on their technique, yet struggle to make the improvements they desire. They feel they should be faster and that, perhaps, they are not as fast a swimmer as they should be given the effort they’ve put in. Why is this? And what can you do about it?
Unfair comparisons
Fast swimmers typically make what they do look easy. It really does look like there is some magic secret to swimming fast. However, when we watch them, we’re only seeing a snapshot. We don’t see the hours they’ve spent refining their swimming technique, building strength in the gym, working on…
