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How many competitive swimmers give thought to the various mental and physical sensations which they consciously or unconsciously undergo while moving through the water? How many consciously direct their attention to what the different parts of the body (head, arms, hips, legs etc) are doing? How many of them pay heed to the body signals received internally and externally while the training session is in progress?

 

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Most competitive swimmers train without giving much thought to their senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. Yet it is through these senses that we all learn and have learnt about this familiar world of ours. This lack of a ‘sense awareness’ in the ‘water world’ of the swimmer, could well be one of the main elements which separate the average from the superior or champion swimmer.

As the young swimmer grows in age and experience, his or her swimming senses should become more acute through continued exposure to training and competition. To hasten this development, young swimmers should learn the sensations to look for, and how to analyse and identify the relationship between these sensations and body movement.

Before this can be carried out successfully, swimmers should take the following factors into consideration:

• The stroke technique must be correct and well grooved. The swimmer must also have a good knowledge and visual image of the stroke pattern.
• The different strokes will give different sensations, as will swimming at different speeds – a slow, medium or fast pace. The senses used will constantly change accordingly.
• Sensations are best developed at first when covering long distances at an easy pace. Speed can be introduced once the sensations become stronger and more acute and the swimmer knows exactly what to look for.
• The swimmer should concentrate for a beginning on one sense at a time, by shutting off or inhibiting all sensations from the other parts of the body. The sense concentrated on, can be changed during the swim, giving the mind a variety of exercises and the body a general stimulation.
• Once this has been achieved, as many senses as possible should be brought to bear upon the ‘feelings’ to be remembered. The greater the number of senses activated, the faster the rate of assimilation. The clearer the sensation felt, the better the ultimate result.
• The swimmer should think through the different sensations or combination of sensations prior to the training session. All sense experience is impossible without the association of thought. To see, hear, smell, touch or taste anything is to think of it.
• Each swimmer must develop his o her own ‘cue’ words and phrases to help focus attention on their body sensations. Each individual will interpret these sensations differently.
  

The following list of cue words and phrases has been prepared as a guideline to assist the young swimmer to learn from and to enjoy the sensations of swimming. Naturally, each swimmer will select whichever phrase appeals to him or her the most. Many will make up their own cue words or phrases.

‘CUE’ WORDS AND PHRASES

• THE BODY SENSATIONS
  • Feeling light and buoyant
  • Riding easy at the surface
  • Feeling poised and balanced
  • The body supported by the water
  • Flowing forward - as far as possible on each stroke
  • Feeling streamlined and stretched
  • Surging forward – sliding forward
  • Power and speed being generated
  • Body moving past the anchored arm/s
  • Body rolling around it’s longitudinal axis (crawl and backstroke)
    
    
• THE ARM PULL SENSATIONS
• The rhythm of the pull
• The hand/s knifing cleanly into the water on entry (except breaststroke)
• Flexion of the wrist/s at beginning of pull
• Elbows high during first half of pull (except backstroke which has an inverted high elbow)
• Acceleration during pull – from a slow ‘catch’ to a fast finish
• Hands feeling for still water during pull
• Keeping hold of the water – feeling and controlling it all the way
• Zig zag pattern of the pull (except breaststroke)
• Sculling action of the hands – sideways, inwards, outwards or backwards
• Changes of hand pitch and speed
• The flow of the water – over the top of the hands and on the palms
• Water pressure on fingertips
• Water pressure on hand and forearm
• Release of muscle tension in arm – at end of pull
• Wrist relaxes at end of pull
• End of pull bends into recovery
• Hand/s slide out of water cleanly (except breaststroke)
  
  
• THE ARM RECOVERY SENSATION
• The even rhythm of the recovery
• Lowering of muscle tension as pull ends and recovery begins
• Easy and smooth arm action
• Lift of shoulder/s
  
  
• THE KICKING SENSATIONS
• The rhythm of the kick
• The kick beginning at the thigh and travelling down to the feet
• Loose ankles
• Sculling action feet
• Feet stroking the water
• Water pressure on top and bottom of feet
• Water felt between toes
• Pushing water backwards or sideways with feet
• The kick stabilizing the body
  
  
• THE TIMING OF THE STROKE SENSATIONS
• Flowing rhythm of the stroke – developing and maintaining it
• Co-ordination – the parts of the stroke blending with the whole
• Even propulsion and recovery action
• Body relaxing into its own natural rhythm
  
  
• THE BREATHING SENSATIONS
• The rhythm and control
• Relaxation – lack of tension
• Deep and sudden inhalation of air
• Gentle exhalation of air
• Explosion of remaining air – just prior to next inhalation
• The head action
  – rising and falling (fly and breaststroke)
  – rolling to side and back under the water (crawl)
  – remaining perfectly still (backstroke)
  
  
• THE MENTAL SENSATIONS
• The pure joy of swimming
• Maximum speed through minimum effort
• The further I go the easier it gets
• The surges of energy flowing through the body
• Forward momentum of body through the water
• Calmness and complete self control
• The ignoring of pain
• The feeling of controlled relaxation
  
  
• SOME GENERAL SENSATIONS
• The feel of the water
• The warmth of the sun
• The touch of the breeze
• Listening to the sounds of the pool (water lapping etc)
• The lights of the pool (night)
• Listening to the sounds of the other swimmers, the spectators, the coach

To reinforce the sensations, the swimmer should spend 15 minutes or so each evening going over the events of the training session and how each sensation was felt. The higher powers of the senses become of real use and value only when they are recognised, realised and more important, USED !

We hope that some of our readers will experiment along the lines discussed in this article. We would like to hear about what you did and what kind of results you achieved. We will publish it and thus share it with all other interested swimmers, coaches and parents.

BOB CAMPBELL