Ask The Experts: Swim Technique with Bill Furniss

  Hi everyone,

GB Olympic swimming coach Bill Furniss will be online between 1pm and 2pm today to answer your swimming questions.

Speedo sponsored coach Bill Furniss is Britain’s most successful swimming coach. As a Great Britain Olympic Coach he is best known for coaching double Olympic gold medalist, Rebecca Adlington.

Bill who is head coach of the Nova Centurion swimming squad was also named BSCTA Coach of the Year in 2008 – so we’re thrilled to give you this opportunity to quiz him!

If you're wondering how to make best use of the pool-based winter months, the tricks to refining your swim efficiency or the best drills, Bill’s on hand to help.

Start posting your questions now - that way, Bill will be able to get stuck in straight away at 1pm and answer as many questions as possible!

Alice

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Comments

  • How best can I improve my kick technique?  I am practising a number of kick drills but do not seem to get any improvement.  As hard as I kick, I do not seem to be able to get any propulsion.  If I roll onto my back and kick I seem to move along quite happily.  Any ideas of what I am doing incorrectly?
  • Hi BIll,
    what are your views on 'swim aids'?  I have a pull buoy I use very occasionally, and I'm toying with getting some paddles (to hopefully improve my pull but I have heard that have the potential to cause injury if you don't know what you're doing with them or have an incorrect technique in the first place.

    Thanks.

  • When I turn my head to the side to breathe, I've been told that I lift my head too high out of the water.  At the same time, I tend to push the opposing arm into the water which creates a dead spot. The coach said that I unconsciously push my arm down because I think I have to push my arm down in order to lift my head. 

    I've been told to swim with my head slightly forward and find this works well. As a temporary workaround for a race last year,  the coach suggested I have my head more face down but now that winter training is here, I'm keen to get rid of this dead spot.  Do you have any suggestions on what drills do to stop this deadspot occuring?

    Many thanks.

  • I seem to have a "dead spot" on entry of my left arm. My right hand enters the water, I catch and pull all in one smooth movement, but I seem to have a fractional pause before the catch using my left. Could this be because I normally breath to the left, and if so would bilateral breathing solve it? I don't kick all that much because I'm a triathlete not a swimmer and need to save my legs for the bike and run.
  • Hi Bill, i was wondering if you had any tips on "sighting" while swimming in Open Water. Once i get into a rythm i tend to forget to sight regularly, then, when i do, the glimpse that i get is so brief that it doesnt really help!

     Thanks!

  • Hi No way out,

     Sounds like either a lack of ankle flexibility or bending the knees too much when you kick. I would suggest regular ankle stretching exercises such as kneeling down with your feet underneath your legs and then raising your knees to stretch your ankles and repeat 3 times and hold for about 6-12 seconds.

    To avoid bending your knees try smaller tighter kicks with the kick originating from the hips.

    Bill

  • Hi Ferrous,

     I think all serious swimmers should use equiptment. I would suggest kickboard, pull buoy and fins. Paddles are useful for improving both technique and muscle endurance. The options are finger paddles which will help you to achieve good entry position and normal hand paddles.

     Be careful that the hand paddles are not too big and are only slightly bigger than the dimension of your hand. Avoid really large paddles which are more for very experienced performance swimmers to provide overload- but only because they have exceptional strength and technique.

    Bill

  • Hi Little Ninja,

    Check that you are breathing out gradually under water and not holding your breath. Your coach is correct that you should carry your head slightly high with your eyes looking diagonally forward and the water at about just above goggle line.

    I would suggest single arm freestyle either with a pull buoy or fins for support the arm you are not using in front of your head and practice a very smooth turn of your head as pull back with the opposite arm. Once you have mastered this you can move to pulling and breathing bilaterally on opposite sides.

    Bill

  • Hi Bill

    What's the best way to improve my fitness through swimming exercises?
  • Hi Ultra,

    Difficult one to answer without seeing you swim but I would think that you should shorten your stroke slightly on your left side and breathe bilaterally as this will give you better rotation and more balance.

    Sounds like you have two beat kick which is not a problem - particularly in a triathlon swim provided that you have a constant rate. I would suggest trying to rate slightly faster and let the legs fit in to this natural rhythm.

     Bill

  • Hi Bill,

    How do I go about increasing my speed. I seem to suffer from "Onespeeditus", I consistently swim 1km in 20 minutes, 3.8km in 1:15, 5km in 1:40, and don't suffer from deterioration of speed over the longer distance, I feel I swim fairly efficiently, and get out after a session fairly fresh. I just wish I could be quicker. Any quick tips?
  • Hi Greg,

    That's a hard one Greg because I'm not an open water coach. I would say that if you look at your race tactics you need a constant interval at which you sight.

    Never go into a race without a tactical plan which will involve both pace, awareness, stroke control and in your case sighting.

    Bill

  • Hi Natasha,

    Thanks for the question! It depends on how strong of a swimmer you are. I would start with a controled distance and a certain number of repeats eg. 10 x 50m with 20 secs rest. You would swim these at a firm controlled effort around 50-60 beats below your maximum heartrate. Repeat this set 2-3 times each week. As you get better you can increase both the distance and number of repeats.

     Finally the speed by which you complete each training session- I would advise a medical check-up with your doctor before undertaking exercise if you are not used to it.

     Hope this helps!!

    Bill

  • Hi Bill,

    I always seem to have trouble when swimming because my left arm is weeker than the right. What's the best way to strengthen my weaker arm?

    Archie

  • Hi Bill

    I have limited pool time [life getting in the way] quite often only getting in one proper swim in per week but that 1 time can be up to 3 hours ...

    .. how to my maximise this training to help with my long swim?
  • Hi M.Tri,

    Sounds like you have excellent endurance and like you've done a lot of long steady swimming. In order to improve your speed you need to incorporate a speed session each week where the volume is much less but the intensity and speed is much higher.

    Example set- 16 x 25m- each one at max speed with good recovery- eg one every two mins.

    Another trick is to do this set with fins as you can move much faster than your normal swimming speed which encourages the central nervous system to contract the muscles more forcefully with resultant improvement in power and speed.

    Bill

  • Hi Bill,

    there are many sources on the interweb which show various swimming drills.

    What would you consider to be 'standard' drills which you would recommend as part of regular training*?

    What kind of regularity or frequency would you recommend?

    Thanks


    *regular training of adult swimmer training for long distance triathlon
  • Thanks Bill.

    I had a coach that told me to breathe out from the second stroke underwater when doing bilateral breathing. Another coach though told me I should breathe out consistently. I didn't realise the timing of the breathing out could make a difference.

    And if you have time for another question image

    My stroke rate is quite slow and I think I need to speed this up in order to improve my speed. At the same time, I was told to slow down my kicking. I'm not the most co-ordinated person at the best of times!. I have tried  to do drills just focussing on or the other but any tips on how to bring them together?

  • Hi Bos1,

     There are thousands of swimming drills and many of them of dubious merit. I would suggest using three or four standard drills and performing them as part of each training session to ingrain good technique.

    The 4 I would suggest are:

    Tricle freestyle to develop correct high elbow recovery

    Kicking with and also without a board to develop leg strength and balance

    Single arm freestyle working on keeping the breathing as low and smooth as possible.

    Catch up freestyle to develop front end stroke length and provide you with maximum contact time during prepulsion.

    Bill

  • Hi Archie,

    It sounds like you have a pause when you breathe. I would suggest lots of pulling only using a pull buoy and importantly breathing bilaterally which will give you better rotation and balance in your stroke.

    By breathing alternatively to your right side then left side you should be able to get your stroke back in sync.

    Bill

  • Hi Wild Will,

    I think 3 hours in one go is a bit excessive. I would suggest if possible two swim sessions of 1 1/2 hours so that there is a better mix between the different training regimes. You swim session should consist of a 20min warm up. I would then go with an interval training set instead of just swimming lap after lap.

    But I don't know how good of a swimmer you are. An eg of a top performance swimmer set of this type would be:

    30 x 100m at 1:30. Hold a constant pace which gives you a heartrate aprox 40 beats below maximum. Try to hit the same time for each repeat and the same stroke count for each lap.

    I would suggest using the above set as a template. You could reduce the no of reps of increase the rest to suit your standard. I would finish the session with some sectional work such as kicking and pulling and include a 20min cool down.

    Bill

  • Hi Kate,

    Body type is relative to particular sports. Sounds like you a more of a runner with a runner's build. Generally speaking swimmers have broad shoulders and narrow hips with large pecs and lats.

    Body fat in swimming can be adventageous particularly in distance events. I would suggest working on your upper body strength- both in the pool and gym to develop your pulling power in swimming.

    I think this will give you an improvement in your swim speed without jeaprodising your running and cycling.

    Bill

  • Thanks Bill - thats really usefull.

    Is there any particular brand of pull buoy that you would reccomend?

  • Hi Ninja,

    It's not possible to slow down kick and increase rate. An increase in rate will always be accompanied by an increase in kicking speed.

    You need to find your optimum rate as it's different for each individual swimmer. I would suggest swimming a test set of:

    5x50m at the same effort with good rest. Ask your coach to time them and progressively increase your rate on each repeat.

    You should then be able to identify a tempo which gives you both a good time and feels as if you can maintain for a race distance.

    Bill

  • Hi Archie,

    I would reccommend Speedo pull buoy. all my swimmers use speedo products- they are very durable, they do the job and are long lasting.

    See speedo.co.uk

    Bill

  • Hi Bill,

    whenever i increase the cadence of my stroke i find that my technique fall away , are there any drills you can suggest that will encourage me to maintain the length of the stroke while increasing cadence?

    Thanks

  • Hi Mr Zuvai,

     Rather than drills, I would suggest doing sets where you count your strokes and accelerate on each repeat trying to hold the increase in stroke count to a mimimum.  for eg you could go 5 x 50m with an increase in effort and cadence on each one but trying to hold your stroke count to an increase of no more than one or two strokes per 50.

    I would also suggest doing accellerating 25ms starting with a short stroke and increasing both your cadence and your stroke length as you progress through the 25. The above two practices will help you to find your ideal rhythm without loosing stroke length.

    Bill

  • Shall give it a go. Thanks again Bill. I think what the coach was trying to do in, now that I think about it more, was aim towards a two beat kick. You've given me a lot to think about image
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