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Speed Tips: Getting Faster as a Masters Swimmer
By Wayne Goldsmith | In Training
Many masters swimmers take up the sport of swimming for fitness. They start swimming a lap or two. Then three. Then they start aiming for their first 1 km or 1 mile non-stop swim. They may even join a masters team.
But, eventually they ask themselves this question: How do I get faster?
What is speed?
Speed is defined in physics as:
The rate or a measure of the rate of motion, especially:
- Distance traveled divided by the time of travel.
- The limit of this quotient as the time of travel becomes vanishingly small; the first derivative of distance with respect to time.
- The magnitude of a velocity.
But in learning to swim fast, speed has three key elements – the mechanisms of speed:
- Physical speed: Which comes from fitness, strength, power
- Technical Speed: Developing an effective stroke which is capable of propelling the body fast through water
- Mental Speed: The ability to think “fast”
How can you improve your swimming speed?
1. Swim faster
Now this seems like a dumb thing to say but one of the key principles of training is called specificity note the first 8 letters: “specific”. Specificity means that your body adapts to the specific training loads you push it through. For example, if you lift heavy weights, you get really good at lifting heavy weight. If you run long distances regularly you get really good at running long distances.
To learn how to swim fast, you need to practice swimming fast.
2. Allocate time to speed development
We know that the best time to work on speed development is at the beginning of training sessions.
This is because the ideal conditions to stimulate those three key speed mechanisms is at the beginning of training when you are fresh, relaxed and not fatigue and importantly “mentally” fast.
So you might write your workout plan as:
- Stretch
- 10 x 10 metres maximum speed (no breathing in freestyle or fly) with one minute rest between each swim
- Stretch
- Warm up and then the rest of the workout.
First things first – if speed development is your priority, give it priority in your workout.
3. “Holding Speed”
This is a critical concept. Many swimmers can sustain, long powerful strokes at slow speeds. Then, as speed increases they lose control and their stroke technique becomes short and inefficient. Coaches will often says “They can’t hold their stroke” at speed.
This means that in the effort to move their arms faster, the swimmer loses feel and “grip” on the water as the pressure (resistance) of the water gets greater.
A good way to improve this is to practice “builds”.
A “build” is a swim which starts out slow then gradually builds in speed. A good way to look at it is to think about changing gears in manual car. Over a one hundred metre swim a “build” effort might be:
- 1st 25 metres at 800 Pace (1st gear)
- 2nd 25 metres at 400 Pace (2nd gear)
- 3rd 25 metres at 200 Pace (3rd gear)
- 4th 25 metres at 100 Pace (4th gear)
However the crucial concept is not just changing pace, it is stroke efficiency as the pace increases. Ideally aim to maintain the minimum number of strokes per 25 as the speed gradually increases.
4. Wrists: Don’t break them!
The start of any movement is important. In swimming as you start to catch then pull with increasing speed, your wrists need to be strong to “hold” the water and keep your elbow in a high catch position.
The general idea is Fingers lead, Wrist leads, Elbow. Fingers lead with feel, the wrist and fingers start the catch, then the elbow position is high for maximum force production.
Some swimmers “break” their wrists i.e. they lack wrist strength so their fingers actually face up at the beginning of the pull – the exact opposite of what they are trying to achieve.
A really good way of improving wrist strength is to grab a large piece of newspaper by the corner and hold it in one hand. Use your fingers and hand only to gradually “scrunch” the newspaper up into tight little ball. Grab another sheet and do it again with the other hand.
Another good wrist strength technique is to take a small piece of wood and tie a piece of string one and a half yards long to middle so that is hangs down loosely to the ground.
To the other end of the string tie a small weight no more than ¼ pound. Now holding your arms out straight in front of you parallel to the ground that is, start rolling the stick so that the string begins to wind and the weight gets lifted from the ground. When you have rolled up all the string and the weight is almost to the stick, reverse the action and un-wind the string using your wrists only. As an added load, make sure your abdominal muscles are tight and strong throughout the movement.
5. Hand Speed = Swimming Speed
Don’t underestimate the importance of hand speed – or rather hand acceleration in fast swimming. Your hand speed will largely determine how fast you swim providing you are accelerating them while maintaining feel and pressure on the water. Just moving your hands fast achieves nothing – it is maintaining feel and pressure on the water as your hands increases speed that makes all the difference!
6. Think Fast
The mental side of fast swimming is rarely discussed but it’s your mind and your muscles working together that generate real speed.
When doing speed development work think “fast” – focus on words like “power”, “explode” “drive” “zoom” etc. Imagine yourself “flying” through the water. Thinking “fast” is a key element of going fast.
Speed is the most precious element in swimming – it’s what the drills, skills, technique work and training are all about. Give it priority and work on it every session.
Wayne Goldsmith
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