The WORST Swimming Advice I've Ever Heard

This is the worst swimming advice I've ever heard! Keep watching to figure out which "tips" are totally terrible and how to fix those bad habits that you picked up from Joe Schmo swimming over in lane 8.

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[klecan]

i laughed at S curve. And “arms faster, kick harder” was always the response I’d get from an old masters coach many years ago. So happy that my current coach is up-to-date on all new swim techniques. Now as a disabled swimmer (car accident) speed is not necessarily my goal even competing in local and national Senior games, but the more I heed coach’s feedback and concentrate on technique and correct body position, speed automatically improves. Also less pain anywhere in my body when I follow his advice.

[AF-pwct]

I agree with all of that except for the part about not kicking. Yes, kicking takes up a lot of energy. But it also allows you to ride higher in the water, which makes you more efficient. There's a reason why kids and college teams do a lot of kick sets. If you're a long distance swimmer, then yes, a two-beat kick is great. But if you're a sprinter, or even middle-distance, then yes, you need to kick. And train for it.

[JokerScribe]

Water is also 800x more fun than air. 😜

[Emoisforlovers]

Every youtuber is baiting the intro but this guy literally giving it away in first second of the video. Subscribed ❤

[eolle]

This fits into a couple of your "bad advise" categories. Last year I overheard a local pool coach tell the swimmers "just swim faster!" This lead to a lot of them shortening their stroke (decreasing DPS) or kicking harder. causing sinking. They didn't swim faster.

[robohippy]

Kicking harder can make your feet sink lower???? I would like an explanation of that please.

For sure, there are huge differences between swimming the 50 meter freestyle sprint and a 1500 meter or longer swim. One is kicking. The other is stroke rate. Most of your swim mechanics seem to be aimed at distance swimming. As for breathing, breathe when you need to. For me, that is every other stroke. I have never been able to swim freestyle breathing every third stroke for more than 100 yards. I run out of oxygen if I try. Some distance swimmers will swim in a 2, 2, 3 pattern like Ariarne Titmus. I do breathe on one side for one length, and the other for the next. Doesn't hurt to be able to breathe on either side. Not sure what the breathing pattern is for marathon type swimmers. If you start running low on oxygen, it is pretty much impossible to catch back up to that level.

[Alysean]

You just had to sneak that last one in didn't you 😂

[Dragon_GamingX]

If you want to go fast you still have to move your arms fast. that’s not to say dps and stroke count isn’t important, but how fast your stroke rate is, is directly related to your swim time: swim time=stroke rate x stroke count.

[abdo]

My legs were a little weak during free style. So, I had to make hard kick drills to enhance my legs and I feel the difference.

[swimbearuk]

We have a coach who always wants us to breathe every 3 or 5 strokes, and will do 400s with 3, 5, 7 breathing. Completely pointless for me because I want to breathe every 2 and work on the loping action in my stroke. It's just so much quicker for me than breathing bilaterally.

[petermolnar]

Actually bilateral breathing is a default for me, i rather struggle with breathing on one side. When i breathe on every two stroke I allways lose my rythm, it is simply too fast for me (i’m a 1:40/100m swimmer)

[UrRandomKiwi]

And this is why i don’t listen to my mom when she judges my stroke 😂

[damemester]

Thanks for the advice my coach actually tells us to reach instead of moving our arms fast and once you get the technique right you naturally go faster amazing video

[SenorJuan]

Looking at the ceiling during backstroke is so intuitive that I'm surprised it's even an issue.

[Lantean]

I think that the rate of kicking (more or less) depends on many factors such as distance, technique (of the leg work), tension in the legs' muscles, swimmer's time of practice (is he/she a beginner or not), general conditioning e.t.c sSo telling somebody "to kick less is to swim faster", not to consider what I wrote above is simply a big mistake! Especially from a swimming coach🤔🤔

[Aquachico]

I am going to stick with the 2/4 breathing patterns, I notice when the do 3/5 breathing pattern, I feel like a swimming snake, the 2/4 pattern keeps me on the straighter pace. I enjoy all of your swimming videos, I always take time to watch them !🏊‍♂️👍🏼

[ASDLondon]

1.30 "you'll swim faster if you don't use your legs at all" - maybe a bit of overstatement here, though I have seen distance swimmers use very little leg kick. I've often wondered how fast they could go with no leg kick (perhaps just a float). E.g. what time could Finke or Ledecky swim 1500 this way??

[joshuaoeth]

I agree but I also don’t. I have got some of my best times kicking harder than I ever had before. Kicking hard is a way to go faster you just have train it

[adhajamil]

i’ve been swimming for 1 year & a half now.back then when i begin, one guy who a ironman finisher said, “ if you don’t sign up for any event, you a wasting time swimming” .what the …. 😅😅

[luc]

Not convinced about the flip turn part. What transferable skill can you possibly learn, focusing on a technique that you won't be able to use in competition? Sure flip turns look cooler and are faster, but they are still irrelevant for triathletes.