Swimming Souplesse

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In the world of cycling, great riders pedalling techniques are studied and admired. Through training for tens of thousands of hours and turning millions of pedal strokes, a professional cyclists movements are a finely tuned model of efficiency. By applying just the right pressure, in the right direction, at the right time, they make pedalling look deceptively easy - in fact almost effortless.

The French have a word for this - Souplesse - which is hard to translate perfectly into English but speaks of a rider's pedalling suppleness, a fluidity of movement, the smoothness of transition from one pedal stroke to the next and a sense of seamless rhythm. All time cycling greats such as Coppi and Anquetil were famous for their souplesse and the sense of artistry it brought to their riding.

This of course is how great swimmers swim with a finely coordinated continuous sequence of fluid movements. And just like with cycling all that hard training has - ironically - brought their stroke to a point where it too can look deceptively effortless.

If you've been focused on trying to take as few strokes as possible per length then it's quite likely you've started to lose touch with the smoothness and continuity of your stroke. Perhaps you need to work a little more on your swimming souplesse, making your movements relaxed but continuous, smoothly transitioning from one stroke to the next.

As you do this, still use the full range of your stroke but keep things smooth and continuous - without any hitches or pauses - and you'll soon be on the way to becoming a faster and more efficient swimmer.

Swim Smooth!