Superhero swim drills to get you in front of the pack

By Grant Burwash
Photography by Brian Buchsdruecker

Getting off to a good start in the water could give you the edge you’re looking for to boost your standing in your next triathlon. Swimmers who pay attention to their stroke, and maintaining a strong and solid body position throughout each stroke, will find themselves climbing out of the water at the head of the pack.


The catch: The beginning of the freestyle underwater pull needs to be initiated with a high elbow and the athlete needs to think of pulling through with their palm and their forearm as the two main pressure points on the water. The catch should be deep in the water with the fingers pointing towards the bottom of the pool. Make sure you are not pulling through with the elbow, but keeping pressure on the water with the palm and the forearm. Two drills to perfect this catch are the Fist Drill and the Superman Drill.


Fist drill: This drill is designed to develop the skill of pulling through with the forearm. Clench the hand into a fist and take your regular swim stroke. You may notice your stroke count increase. Focus on getting a deep catch where you feel the pressure on your forearm, not on the hand.


Superman drill: This drill involves an underwater recovery where the arms never come out of the water. As the hand reaches forward, let the body roll onto its side and glide out with the hand. Then, with the elbow high, bring the hand and forearm down towards the bottom of the pool as if reaching over a barrel. With the fingers still pointing towards the bottom of the pool, and the elbow high, pull through with a deep catch. When the hand is at the back of the stroke, bring the hand up to towards the body and take the path of least resistance under the water and glide forward again. The focus is on elongating the stroke, rolling with each stroke and keeping a high elbow throughout the catch.

To maintain a straight solid body position practice this drill.


Six Kick Switch: In this drill, take one stroke and hold a side-kick position while you do six kicks. Then take one stroke and quickly roll onto the other side where you hold a side-kick position for six kicks. Make sure the transfer from side-to-side is quick and along a straight axis that passes through the head, straight spine and ends with the legs tracking straight behind the body. This focus is on keeping a straight body position during the swim stroke and elongating the stroke.

It is a great idea to alternate these drills with swimming. This allows the athlete to focus on a specific aspect of the stroke during a drill and then try to incorporate this into their regular swim stroke. One of my favourites is to do 5-10 x 100m done as 50m drill/50m swim. Keep the length of a drill to 25-50m so you can focus on doing it properly without fatigue setting in or losing focus.

An example of the set would be to do 6 x 100 drill swim as:
2 x (50m fist drill/50m swim)
2 x (50m superman drill/50m swim)
2 x (50m 6 kick switch/50m swim)

Be patient, improving your swim stroke takes time and energy. The frequency of drills should be a couple times a week depending on how often you swim. Usually the winter is the best time to do stroke correction, but drills should be used year round to emphasize the importance of technique. There is no magic time to incorporate technique work into a swim workout; any time is beneficial. However, my favorite time to do drills is just after a short warm-up set, before you get into the hard intervals for the day.

Grant Burwash is a professional triathlete and coach with the Talisman Centre Triathlon Club and Endurance Training Systems in Calgary. www.grantburwash.com

May/June 2011 Issue