Recognise Any Of These Swimming Personality Traits?

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The Swim Smooth coaching team have just had a social get together here in Perth trading experiences about coaching different Swim Types. Below is a list of some of our more left-field observations about the personalities of each of the different Swim Types.

Cyndy, being a classic Swinger, likes her bright bathers.

If you're a coach and have used the Swim Type system we're sure you'll immediately recognise many of these traits, or as a swimmer you might recognise something about your own personality! If you've not seen our Swim Type system before, check out how you can use it to develop your own swimming or coaching at : www.swimtypes.com

The Arnie/Arnette (full profile and videos here)

- May arrive for sessions late and in a bit of a fluster.
- Often shortens their name as much as possible (e.g. Robert becomes Bob).
- May use their partner's email address and write with caps-lock on.
- Has a tendency to say "yes... yes... yes..." or "yip... yip... yip..." to hurry along a coaching conversation.
- Tends to see the coaching relationship as a means to an end.
- Often frustrated with swimming and why they're not faster than they are.
- Responds well to a subtle ego massage.

For some unknown reason, Smooths like to get in the pool and start swimming this way.

The Bambino (full profile and videos here)

- The first thing they tell a coach is "I'm really not very good".
- Values the coaching relationship for its own sake.
- Dislikes leading a lane (opposite of the Smooth).
- Gets a huge buzz from small improvements.
- Generally warm and open personality.

The Kicktastic (full profile and videos here)

- Quite quiet and may appear aloof.
- Dislikes cameras and having their photo taken.
- Likes taking notes (can anyone explain why this is...?)
- Often wears ankle bracelets or foot jewellery.
- Often turns up late for swim sessions.
- Gets bored easily (needs variety in their sessions).
- May be a bit "earthy" or "hippy".

The Overglider (full profile and videos here)

- Tendency to wear long (jammer) style bathers.
- May prefer use of their full name (e.g. Jonathan instead of John), this is the opposite of the Arnie.
- Enjoys long technical discussions.
- Struggles not to constantly analyse an area of their stroke or their performance.
- Often wears a large watch or heart rate monitor when swimming.
- Likes stroke technique work.

The Swinger (full profile and videos here)

- Hates when people stand around the end of lanes and get in the way (everyone dislikes that but especially Swingers!)
- Lives "in the now" and likes to get on with things without undue discussion.
- The first on the pool deck and dying to get in the water.
- Dislikes clutter in their houses (we said this was going to be left-field!).
- Can easily turn the brain off and just swim (opposite of the Overglider).
- Likes wearing bright bathers.
- Finds stroke technique work boring.

The Smooth (find out more here)

- Likes to lead the lane and have clear water.
- Doesn't like having swimmers on their toes.
- When entering a shallow pool, likes to jump in feet first and then immediately bounce forwards into a dive (odd but true!).
- May have trouble motivating themselves and training consistently as an adult.
- Often likes to enter the pool by jumping in feet first and diving forward straight into their freestyle.
- Always well groomed.

Do any of them ring any bells with you or do you have any observations of your own? Post them on the comments section of this blog here. This is just a bit of light hearted fun and not to be taken too seriously. :)

Swim Smooth!

The Gradual Crescendo

Upcoming Swim Smooth Clinics / One to One Consultations: Prague Kids Swim Camps Enjoy Prague this August whilst your kids improve their swimming! Full information here New Lancaster SS Squad Full information here Lancaster UK, Video Analysis Consultations Full information here South Coast Clinics May & August Full information here Loughborough SS Squad Full information here Richmond & Wimbledon Sunday Workshops Full information here Acton UK, Video Analysis Consultations Full information here Loughborough, UK May Clinic Full information here Alicante, Spain June Clinics Full information: here Swim/Tri Camps Alicante September 2013 Full information: here For more info on SS Certified Coaches see here

Olympic Triathlon Gold Medallist Alistair Brownlee ran a 28:32 10,000m on the track at the Payton Jordan Invitational in Stanford a couple of weeks ago. If you're a runner or triathlete you'll appreciate that's serious running speed:


After the event Alistair tweeted: Learnt that 68s felt easy at 3k and 69's felt hard at 8k. Can't wait for another go.

Alistair's referring to his lap time per 400m on the running track, where in the early stages of the race 68 seconds per lap felt easy but later in the race 69 seconds per lap felt hard. We call this progressive increase in how hard a well paced effort feels the "gradual crescendo" and it should feel this way in all sports, including swimming.

Approximately 80% of world records are set this way with even pacing or a slight negative split (with the second half quicker than the first). However, most age group swimmers and triathletes pace things out like this in their races and training: http://bit.ly/4e1Hk2

How Training Sets And Races Should Feel

If you swim a hard effort (say a 400m or 1500m timetrial) and you pace it out evenly (with every 50m swum at the same speed) the feeling of effort should rise throughout the swim like this:

The first quarter of a well paced effort feels pretty easy and in fact it's possible to go significantly faster over this initial distance. However by the half way point of the swim, the effort has risen and you are aware you are working hard to stay with the pace. By the last quarter of the distance you are getting close to maximum effort, working very hard to finish off the effort.

Remember, this is all at the same actual speed, you're not speeding up through the swim. The same pace is gradually feeling harder and harder - this is the gradual crescendo.

If I Can, Shouldn't I Work Harder Earlier?

In a word, no. For two reasons:

- It feels easy to do but by going faster in the early stages of a race you will do damage which you cannot recover from. It takes a while for your breathing rate and heart rate to catch up but by starting fast you will slow down in the second half of the race and be much slower overall. This is why nearly all world records are set with an even or slight negative split.

- In a training set, if you start too fast and then blow up and slow down you will not get the training benefit that you would by pacing out your training sets well. If you feel that your swimming fitness is on a plateau this could be where you are going wrong. By pacing things out properly your fitness fill continue again on an upward curve; as a bonus not only are well paced swim sets more beneficial but they are less painful too.

To help get your pacing right, we strongly recommend the use of a Tempo Trainer Pro in mode 1 or 2. This will beep to you when you should be turning at the end of each lap helping you pace out your training sets perfectly. Many swimmers find that it's only when you use a Tempo Trainer for the first time you fully appreciate how bad your pacing skills are!

Pacing Is An Essential Part Of Swimming Technique

At the moment when you think of your swimming technique you might just think of your stroke mechanics but your pacing skills are also a critical part of your technique to swim at your best. Pacing out training sets and races is critical to reach your potential in the water, it's something that elite swimmers and triathletes have developed and honed during thousands of training hours in the water and on the running track.

Get your pacing right and you will experience that gradual crescendo yourself, and you might well set some personal bests right away without any other improvements in technique or fitness.

Swim Smooth!