Whether you’re diving into the pool to shave seconds off your personal best or simply looking to enhance your swimming workouts, speed is the game changer.

For competitive swimmers and those just swimming for fitness, mastering how to swim faster can also significantly impact your performance and enjoyment of the sport.

However, refining your speed isn’t just about working harder. It’s about working smarter. Particularly in popular styles like freestyle and backstroke.

In this guide, we’ll dive deep into the swimming techniques and training tips to help you accelerate your pace in the water.

We’ll focus on how to swim freestyle faster and how to swim backstroke faster, equipping you with the knowledge to make every stroke more effective.

3 Basics Of Swimming Faster

To truly master the art of swimming quickly, it’s important to understand the fundamental principles that underpin every fast swimmer’s success.

The ability to swim faster is rooted in a blend of impeccable technique, optimal body position and strong physical conditioning.

1. Swimming Technique

Technique is the cornerstone of speed in swimming. Efficient movements reduce water resistance and increase propulsion.

Key elements of strong swimming technique include precise hand positioning, effective body rotation and synchronised breathing.

Each component must be honed to perfection to ensure that every ounce of effort translates into faster movement through the water.

2. Body Position

The position of your body plays a vital role in your speed. An ideal body position is one that maintains a streamlined shape, minimising drag and allowing for smoother and quicker swimming.

Keeping the body flat and horizontal, with a tight core, helps maintain this streamlined position and supports faster swimming.

3. Strength And Conditioning

While technique and body position get you far, strength and conditioning carry you further. Enhanced muscular strength and endurance enable swimmers to execute their skills with greater power and sustainability.

This includes the muscles used directly in swimming strokes and the core and lower body muscles that support overall stability and power generation.

Incorporating regular weight training and plyometric exercises, such as jump squats, box jumps and burpees, can significantly improve strength and conditioning.

 

How To Swim Freestyle Faster

Freestyle is the most common swimming style, where small improvements can make a big difference in swim speed. Refining your freestyle stroke and overall technique allows you to move swiftly and efficiently through the water.

Let’s break down how you can swim freestyle faster by focusing on streamlining and optimising your strokes.

1. Streamlining The Body

The first step in speeding up your freestyle is to enhance your body’s streamline. A well-streamlined swimmer reduces drag, allowing smoother and faster movement through the water.

Keep your body as flat and straight as possible, from the tip of your fingers to your toes and align your head and spine to minimise resistance.

Here are core strengthening exercises to maintain body alignment:

1. Plank Holds: Holding a plank position helps strengthen the core, which is crucial for maintaining body alignment in the water.
2. Russian Twists: Sit on the floor with your knees bent, lean back slightly and twist your torso from side to side. This exercise strengthens the obliques, improving rotational movements in freestyle.
3. Leg Raises: Lying on your back, slowly raise your legs to a 90-degree angle and lower them back down without touching the floor. This strengthens the lower abdominals and helps maintain a flat body position.
4. Bicycle Crunches: A dynamic core exercise that simulates the alternating limb movements of swimming, enhancing coordination and core endurance.
5. Medicine Ball Throws: Incorporate a partner or a rebounder to throw and catch a medicine ball while sitting or standing. This engages the core and mimics the explosive power needed for swimming.

 

2. Efficient Arm Strokes And Leg Kicks

Perfecting your arm strokes and leg kicks is necessary for increasing your freestyle speed. Ensure your arm strokes are powerful yet smooth, with your hands entering the water in a controlled manner and pulling all the way back to your hips.

Leg kicks should be quick and tight, with minimal bending at the knees, to propel you forward without causing excess drag.

Here are some swimming drills to improve your arm pull and kick strength:

1. Catch-Up Drill: This drill helps synchronise your arm movement and improves your pull. Using a float or board, keep one arm extended in front while the other completes a full stroke cycle, touching the extended hand before switching arms.
2. Single Arm Drill: Swim with one arm at your side while the other performs the stroke. This focuses on improving the strength and technique of each arm individually, helping to balance your stroke.
3. Paddle Swim Drills: Perform your normal swimming strokes using hand paddles. The paddles increase resistance, strengthening your arms and improving your feel for the water.
4. Vertical Kicking: Perform this drill in the deep end where your feet can’t touch the bottom. Kick vertically as hard as you can, using just your legs, to build kick strength and endurance.
5. Flutter Kick on Side: This drill focuses on leg strength and proper kick technique. Kick down the lane while on your side, alternating sides each lap to build up leg muscles evenly.

 

3. Breathing Techniques

Effective breathing is a pivotal part of freestyle swimming skills that directly affects your speed and stamina.

To improve your breathing technique, practice turning your head to the side to breathe, rather than lifting it forward, to maintain your body position.

Time your breaths with your strokes to create a rhythm that enhances rather than disrupts your swim speed. Follow these exercises to improve your breathing techniques in freestyle:

1. Bilateral Breathing Drill: Practise breathing on both sides by alternating your breathing side every three strokes. This helps balance your stroke and improves your ability to breathe efficiently under different conditions.
2. 3-5-7 Drill: Swim a length of the pool breathing every 3 strokes, then another length breathing every 5 strokes and finally, one length breathing every 7 strokes. This drill increases lung capacity and teaches you to control your breathing rhythm.
3. Breath-Holding Sets: While swimming at a moderate pace, try to extend the number of strokes between breaths gradually.
   Start with breathing every 3 strokes and aim to increase to 5, 7 or more as you progress. This builds endurance and confidence in your breathing capability.
4. Hypoxic Pyramid: Swim sets where you increase the number of strokes between breaths in a pyramid fashion—2, 4, 6, 8, then back down to 6, 4 and 2. This drill challenges and improves your lung efficiency and breath control.
5. Freestyle Pull with Buoy and Snorkel: Use a snorkel to focus solely on your stroke mechanics without worrying about turning your head to breathe.
   This can help maintain a consistent body position and reduce drag, allowing you to focus on breathing rhythmically and deeply through the snorkel.

5 Common Mistakes When Swimming Freestyle And How To Avoid Them

Improving your freestyle swimming often means addressing and correcting common technical mistakes. Here are five frequent errors along with tips on how to fix them to swim freestyle faster and more efficiently.

1. Overreaching During The Stroke

• Mistake: Extending the arm too far forward, causing the shoulder to rise and the body to roll excessively.
• Correction: Focus on reaching forward just under the surface, not above it. Keep your hand entry in line with your shoulder to maintain body balance and reduce unnecessary rotation.

 

2. Inefficient Breathing Technique

• Mistake: Lifting the head too high out of the water or turning too far to the side disrupts the body’s alignment and increases drag.
• Correction: Practise keeping one goggle in the water while you breathe, and turn your head only enough to get air. This helps maintain a low and streamlined head position.

 

3. Inconsistent Kick

• Mistake: Using a kick that is either too vigorous, causing quick fatigue or too weak, providing insufficient propulsion.
• Correction: Develop a rhythmic and controlled flutter kick focusing on kicking from the hips, not the knees. Keep your ankles flexible to maximise propulsion.

 

4. Poor Arm Pull Technique

• Mistake: Pulling the hand through the water with a straight arm or dropping the elbow which decreases the effectiveness of each stroke.
• Correction: Work on keeping your elbow higher than your hand during the underwater phase of the stroke, commonly referred to as the ‘high elbow’ technique. This position maximises the power of your pull.

 

5. Incorrect Body Position

• Mistake: Allowing the hips and legs to sink creates drag and slows you down significantly.
• Correction: Engage your core to keep your body flat and horizontal in the water. Think about swimming “on top” of the water rather than through it, and use a slight downhill angle from head to toe to keep your hips up.

How To Swim Backstroke Faster

Backstroke offers a unique challenge compared to other strokes, as it requires precise control while you are essentially swimming blind.

Let’s explore how you can swim backstroke faster by refining several key elements of your swimming form.

1. Arm Motion

Effective arm strokes in backstroke involve a continuous, alternating motion that resembles a windmill. Each arm should enter the water with a slight bend and a pinky-first entry above your head.

As your arm sweeps through the water, it should pull all the way down to your side, maximising propulsion. Strengthening your shoulder muscles through specific exercises can enhance this motion, leading to faster swimming.

Exercises To Boost Arm Motion

1. Single Arm Backstroke: Swim backstroke using one arm at a time while keeping the other arm at your side. This helps isolate and strengthen each arm’s stroke.
2. Double Arm Backstroke: Perform backstroke with both arms moving simultaneously. This exaggerates the arm motion and increases upper body strength.
3. Catch-Up Drill: Keep one arm extended straight above your head until the other arm completes its stroke cycle and catches up. This drill enhances coordination and arm stroke timing.
4. Paddle Drills: Use hand paddles while performing backstroke to increase resistance and build arm strength.
5. Resistance Cord Pulls: Out of the pool, use resistance cords to mimic the backstroke arm motion, focusing on power and extension.

 

2. Leg Kick

The kick in backstroke should be steady and controlled, originating from the hips with minimal bend in the knees.

Your feet should flutter quickly and consistently, which helps to stabilise your body and contribute to forward motion. Keep your kicks under the water’s surface to avoid unnecessary splashing and energy waste.

Exercises To Boost Leg Power

1. Vertical Kicking: Perform rapid flutter kicks in a vertical position in deep water to improve kick strength and endurance.
2. Board Kicks: Use a kickboard held out in front while kicking to maintain focus on leg action and hip rotation.
3. Kick with Fins: Use swim fins during backstroke kicking drills to enhance leg strength and improve kick technique.
4. Alternating Speed Kicks: Alternate between fast and slow kicking speeds to improve kick effectiveness and endurance.
5. Underwater Kick on Back: Kick on your back underwater across the pool to focus purely on the kicking motion.

 

3. Body Rotation

One of the most critical aspects of fast swimming in backstroke is effective body rotation. Your core muscles play a significant role here, helping to rotate your body smoothly from side to side.

This rotation should be initiated from the hips, with each shoulder rolling in turn to augment the power of your arm strokes, thereby driving you forward more efficiently.

Exercises To Improve Body Rotation:

1. Shoulder Roll Drill: Emphasise rolling your shoulders fully with each stroke to maximise reach and power in the water.
2. Hip Rotation Practice: Use fins and focus solely on rotating your hips with minimal arm movement to enhance the contribution of the core.
3. Medicine Ball Rotations: Out of the water, use a medicine ball to perform standing rotations to strengthen core muscles relevant to backstroke rotation.
4. Core Stabilisation Exercises: Perform planks and side planks to improve core strength, directly benefiting body rotation.
5. Streamline Roll Drill: Streamline off the wall and practise full-body rotations without arm strokes to focus on smooth, controlled rotation.

 

4. Head Position

The position of your head can significantly impact your speed in backstroke. It should remain still, with your eyes looking straight up.

This helps maintain a straight trajectory and ensures your body stays horizontal, reducing drag and allowing for a faster swim. Misalignment in head position can lead to an increase in resistance and a decrease in speed.

Exercises To Improve Head Position:

1. Static Head Drill: Swim backstroke while keeping your head still, using a snorkel if necessary to eliminate the need to turn your head to breathe.
2. Laser Pointer Drill: Attach a small laser pointer to a swim cap aimed at the ceiling and swim backstroke; keep the laser steady to train stable head positioning.
3. Head Position Markers: Place visual markers along the sides of the pool and use them to ensure your head stays in line as you swim.
4. Balancing Object Drill: Balance a small, light object like a cup on your forehead while swimming to train stability.
5. Video Feedback: Regularly record your swim to visually check and adjust head positioning for optimal alignment.

5 Common Backstroke Errors And How To Avoid Them

Backstroke requires precise technique and balance, making it easy to fall into common pitfalls. Here are five typical mistakes made in backstroke swimming and strategies to correct them.

1. Poor Head Position

• Mistake: Allowing the head to tilt forward disrupts the body’s alignment and increases drag.
• Solution: Focus on keeping your head back so that your ears align with your arms and eyes looking straight up. This maintains a more streamlined position and reduces resistance through the water.

 

2. Over-Rotation Of The Body

• Mistake: Excessively rolling the body from side to side can lead to an inefficient stroke and loss of rhythm.
• Solution: Practise controlled rotations, ensuring that your shoulders rotate just enough to allow the arm to recover and enter the water efficiently. Use drills like the shoulder roll drill to develop a sense of how much to rotate without overdoing it.

 

3. Inconsistent Arm Entry

• Mistake: Arms entering the water too wide or too close to the head, leading to increased drag and less effective pulls.
• Solution: Work on entering your hands in a straight line from the shoulder at about a 30-degree angle to the water surface. This helps maintain balance and propulsion. Drills like the single-arm backstroke can help focus on correct hand entry.

 

4. Sinking Hips

• Mistake: Allowing the hips and legs to drop below the surface creates significant drag.
• Solution: Engage your core muscles to keep your hips up and maintain a flat body position. Practising backstroke with a pull buoy can help train your body to keep hips elevated without leg movement.

 

5. Erratic Kicking

• Mistake: Either kicking too hard and splashing excessively or too softly, providing insufficient propulsion.
• Solution: Develop a consistent, small and fast flutter kick. The kicks should come from the hips, with only slight bends at the knees. Using fins during practice can help improve your kick technique and strength.

3 Main Benefits Of Having A Personal Swimming Instructor

Investing in a personal swimming instructor can dramatically change how you swim fast. Here are three unique benefits of having one-on-one coaching tailored to your swimming goals.

1. Customised Technique Correction

Every swimmer has different strengths and weaknesses, and a personal instructor zeroes in on these with precision.

By customising drills and feedback to address your specific needs, a coach helps you correct your strokes and techniques in a way that group lessons simply can’t match.

This personalised attention is crucial for swimmers looking to refine their skills and swim faster.

2. Strategic Skill Development

A personal swimming instructor can develop a strategic training plan that aligns with your swimming goals, whether mastering the backstroke or improving your overall speed.

This plan often includes advanced techniques and racing strategies that most swimmers don’t access in regular swim practices. With a coach’s expertise, you can unlock new levels of speed and efficiency in the water.

3. Accelerated Learning Curve

Working with a personal coach can significantly speed up your learning process. Immediate, targeted feedback helps you make quick adjustments and avoid spending weeks or months ingraining bad habits.

For swimmers eager to advance quickly, this means faster improvements and more efficient training sessions.

These benefits make personal coaching a powerful tool for anyone serious about learning how to swim fast and effectively. With the right instructor, you can achieve your swimming goals more quickly and with greater precision.

 

Conclusion On How To Swim Faster

Improving your swimming speed involves more than just spending hours in the pool. It requires a focused approach to fine-tuning your technique, enhancing your strength and conditioning and overcoming common mistakes in your preferred strokes.

Through targeted drills and personalised feedback, you can make significant strides in how quickly you move through the water, whether in freestyle or backstroke.

The guidance of a personal swimming instructor can further streamline this process, offering customised training that is specifically tailored to your individual needs.

If you’re ready to take your swimming to the next level, our NROC-certified swim coaches are here to help.

By signing up for our private condo swimming lessons in Singapore, we’ll match you with the perfect coach who aligns with your skill level and personal swimming goals.

Contact us now and find the ideal swimming coach to help you swim faster and more efficiently!

 

Frequently Asked Questions On How To Swim Faster

Are There Swimming Lessons In Singapore Specifically Designed For Those Who Want To Swim Faster?

Yes. There are swimming lessons for individuals looking to enhance their swimming speed. In fact, at SG Condo Swimming Lessons, we offer swimming lessons in Singapore for individuals of all skill levels.

Whether you’re a beginner aiming to learn the basics of efficient swimming or an advanced swimmer focused on optimising your technique for competitive racing, our NROC-certified coaches are equipped to guide you.

What If The Swim Coach’s Methods Don’t Align With My Personal Swimming Goals?

Most professional swim coaches, especially those who are NROC-certified in Singapore, are skilled at adapting their coaching methods to fit the individual needs and goals of their swimmers.

When you sign up for lessons, you’ll be matched with a coach who understands your specific objectives and can tailor their training approach accordingly, ensuring that you are working towards the same targets efficiently.

What Strategies Can Help An Experienced Swimmer Break Through A Plateau In Their Swimming Times?

Advanced swimmers can break through plateaus by incorporating intensity variations in their training, using resistance tools like paddles or fins and focusing on specific technical improvements such as enhancing the high elbow catch or reducing unnecessary drag.

What Are Some Common Causes Of Unnecessary Drag In Swimming?

Unnecessary drag is often caused by poor body alignment, incorrect head position and inefficient kicking. Focusing on maintaining a streamlined body position, keeping the head down and optimising your kick technique can significantly reduce drag.