Swim Speed Secrets for Swimmers and Triathletes

Book excerpt: In Swim Speed Secrets, 4-time Olympian, gold medalist, and triathlon world champion Sheila Taormina reveals the swim technique used by the world’s fastest swimmers. Over the course of 4 Olympic Games and throughout her career as a world champion triathlete, Taormina refined her exceptional technique as a student of the sport, studying the world’s best swimmers using underwater photographs and video analysis. From Johnny Weissmuller to Michael Phelps, the world’s fastest swimmers share two common elements: high stroke rate and a high-elbow underwater pull. Many swimmers and triathletes neglect the underwater pull, distracted by stroke count or perfecting less critical details like body position, streamlining, and roll. Swim Speed Secrets focuses on producing power—the most crucial element of swimming—to help triathletes and swimmers overhaul their swim stroke and find the speed that’s been eluding them. With a commonsense approach that comes from decades of practice and years of hands-on coaching experience, Taormina shows swimmers how to transition to faster swimming. Swim Speed Secrets includes: The best drills to cultivate a more sensitive feel for the water Dryland and strength building exercises to develop arm position and upper body musculature Crisp photos of Olympic swimmers and variations in their high-elbow underwater pull Clear descriptions of the key moments of the underwater pull Tips that helped her perform at a world-class level for two decades Sheila Taormina’s Swim Speed Secrets brings the focus back where it belongs—to a powerful underwater stroke. With this approach, triathletes and swimmers can stop swimming for survival and break through to new levels of speed and confidence in the water.