It may seem counterintuitive that by swimming slower, you can swim faster – but it’s true! Drills serve as special purpose in a triathlete’s toolbox. In this post, you’ll find 5 different swimming drills for triathletes that will help you ace the first leg of your next tri, no matter what the race distance is.
What are swimming drills?
Drills are special exercises that break down the stroke to fine-tune a particular aspect of it – such as head position, body position, pulling, breathing, and kicking. There are a variety of drills for each stroke that helps fix an issue in the technique.
Keep in mind, swimming drills are meant to be practiced at a slow and intentional rate. This is not the time to try to sprint down the lane. Instead, slow down and allow yourself to focus on the particular part of the stroke you’re trying to train.
As drills are practiced over time, the body uses muscle memory to incorporate the drills into a normal stroke. Eventually, those drills that were once challenging will feel like second nature.
Benefits of Drills
When you take the time to do these, you’ll reap several benefits:
- You’ll strengthen your core and other accessory muscles necessary to maintain a streamline body position, which can prevent injury.
- You’ll increase strength and power by maximizing distance per stroke. Distance per stroke is the amount of distance traveled by the propulsion of a pull.
- The stroke will become more streamlined and efficient by reducing drag and resistance. Eventually, it will feel like swimming with the water instead against the water.
As you can see, slowing down and focusing on technique will help improve overall strength, speed, and efficiency in the water.
5 Swimming Drills for Triathletes
1. Catch-Up (Beginner to Advanced)
The Catch-Up drill will help you learn when to start each stroke and body rotation. This drill will help make your stroke more efficient by forcing you to slow down and develop a smooth tempo.
How to do the drill:
- Initiate the first pull and rotate onto the non-pulling arm.
- As the pulling arm starts to recover on top of the water, keep the non-pulling arm straight ahead like in streamline position and glide.
- As the pulling arm starts to enter the water, reach that hand in front to “catch up” with the gliding arm. Your body should be horizontal. The key to this drill is to wait for one arm to finish a stroke cycle before starting the next pull.
- Hold for a brief pause, then Initiate the second pull with the opposite arm. Repeat the same cycle while pausing once the hands catch up at the beginning of the stroke.
Tip: Try to make the transition as smooth as possible, it helps to keep a steady kick. Swimmers find it helpful to physically “tag” or tap the hands as they meet in at the end of the stroke cycle; however, use this tip with caution because it can develop a bad habit of crossing over during stroke re-entry.
Here’s an example of a catch-up drill:
2. Fingertip Drag (Beginner to Advanced)
The Fingertip Drag is probably one of my favorite swimming drills for triathletes, because it’s easy for just about any swimmer to immediately add into their routine. This drill is very simple and straightforward; it helps mimic the high elbow recovery over the water. While it is important to focus on the active, underwater part of the pull, the recovery above water helps set up the stroke for a smooth and efficient entry.
How to do the drill:
- Drag the tips of your fingers above the surface of the water while keeping the wrist and forearm in a straight line throughout the recovery above water.
Tip: Combine this drill with the Catch-Up drill for an additional challenge!
Here’s an example of the fingertip drag exercise:
3. Thumb drag (Intermediate to Advanced)
The Thumb Drag drill will help you learn to follow through at the end of the pull. It is a common issue for swimmers to partially complete the underwater pull when the hand barely extends past the torso. Instead, swimmers should extend the hand all the way to the thigh and the arm is completely extended.
How to do the drill:
- While standing, let your arms hang to your side naturally and take a mental note of where the thumb touches the thigh.
- During the underwater pull in freestyle, focus on extending the palm of the hand so that the thumb aligns at the same spot noted before. The palm should be facing up towards the surface of the water.
- Next, drag the thumb from the point of the thigh to the armpit during the recovery. This part of the drill adds the extra focus of the high elbow.
Tip: If you do this right, you’ll start feeling a burn in your triceps. The more you do it, you’ll notice greater strength and endurance.
Here’s an example of the thumb drag:
4. Fist Drill (Intermediate to Advanced)
The Fist drill helps swimmers develop a strong pull. Swimmers often talk about “having a feel for the water,” which is the feeling of the water’s resistance against the palm of the hand and forearm. This how swimmers know that they are catching water and getting the most out of the pull.
How to do the drill:
- Form a fist with both hands and begin swimming normal freestyle.
- Focus on anchoring the fist with the knuckles facing the bottom of the pool. The wrist should be strong so that the forearm is straight, and elbows are at a 90-degree angle.
- As you extend through the pull, feel the water gently pushing back against the wrist and forearm.
Tip: To build the feel of the water, add one finger per lap. Swim 150 yards: the first lap only use your fist, and on the next lap add the pointer finger. Continue adding fingers until all fingers are extended and the palm is open.
Here’s a video demonstrating this drill:
5. 6-Kick Switch (Intermediate to Advanced)
The 6-kick Switch drill will challenge you to engage your core and build a strong and steady kick tempo. There are two ways to approach this drill, depending on your current level:
How to do the drill (intermediate to advanced):
- Start by floating face down on your stomach with your right arm extended.
- Rotate your shoulders, core, and hips to one side while keeping your head facing down for six kicks.
- After six kicks, do one regular freestyle stroke, then rotate your body to the opposite side and complete another 6 kicks. (*Note – some coaches will also have you do either six regular freestyle strokes, or 6 strokes with both arms straight and extended, in between. These are both acceptable variations on this!).
- Repeat this process down the length of the pool.
How to do the drill (advanced):
- Start by floating face down on your stomach with arms pressed against the sides of your body.
- Rotate your shoulders, core, and hips to one side while keeping your head facing down for six kicks.
- After six kicks, slowly roll to the opposite side and complete another 6 kicks.
- Repeat this process down the length of the pool.
Tip: Think of your head and neck as an axis and the body rotates around it. The shoulders and hips should rotate evenly and smoothly in one fluid motion.
Here’s an example of what this drill looks like for the first version I mentioned:
How to Incorporate These in Your Swim Workouts
Try adding these freestyle drills after a comfortable warm up of 200-300 meters. Depending on the race distance you’re completing, you might incorporate drills in different lengths and amounts. Here are a few potential options to get your brain thinking about ways to mix them into your swim session, but there are many other possibilities out there too!
- Quick Drills: 4×25 = Choose 4 drills and complete one length of the pool doing each drill.
- Long Drills: 6×50 = Choose 3 or 6 drills. Complete each x 50 meters, with about 10-30 seconds of rest between. If you chose 3, repeat the block again.
- Short Drill Block: 200 m = Choose 3 drills. Complete each for one length of the pool (3×25), then complete another 25 m with a normal comfortable stroke (making for 100 m total with the drills). Repeat again.
- Long Drill Block: 450m = Choose 5 drills. Complete each for one length of the pool (5×25), then complete another 25 m with a normal comfortable stroke (making for 150 m total). Repeat 3x for a total of 450 m.
I hope this post was helpful in learning more about swimming drills for triathletes, and encourages you to start incorporating them in your workouts.
PS – Did you know we have free triathlon and running training plans available? Whether you’re hoping to do your first sprint triathlon or you’re going to tackle an ironman this year, you can find tons of helpful plans and tips.
Share: Do you incorporate drills? Which is your favorite to work on?
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