Technique training needs to be part of your regular workout schedule. Most successful distance swimmers perform technique training at least once a week.

Why mention technique and recovery together? Because most freestyle technique drills should be performed at a low intensity level, so you can perform a technique workout on a recovery day – the day following a high-intensity workout of any type (not just swimming). In fact, low intensity swimming can speed physiological recovery processes, in the same way that walking can speed recovery following a high-intensity running or cycling workout.

Why the constant need for technique training? It will never be natural, and it will never be perfect. Your natural posture, breathing and movement patters are the ones you practice most – on solid land. Moving your body smoothly in a horizontal position through an unstable fluid will become easier over time, but it will never be natural!

Also there’s no right way to swim freestyle for all people, or for you to swim freestyle for different distances or speeds. We’re all different sizes and shapes, we have varying levels of strength and endurance, different amounts of time to practice and train, and different training objectives (fast or long, open water or pool, win or cruise).

So there’s no best freestyle technique for every person, for every speed or distance, or for every set of swimming conditions. As you train to swim faster or longer (or both), or as you age or gain or loose strength or fitness, you will need to adjust your swimming technique, or develop multiple techniques for different speeds, distances and conditions.

In other words, you always need to focus on swimming technique.

So on a regular basis (most commonly, weekly), the bulk of one swimming workout should be focused on technique.

In addition:

• During a threshold workout, you can include a technique focus or drills in the warm-up or cool down, or between main sets.
• During an endurance workout, you should cycle through various technique focus points, to keep your swimming smooth, your pace steady, and your mind sharp.
• On a recovery day (the day following any high-stress workout), you can usually perform swimming technique drills at a relatively low level of intensity, to not only to improve your technique, but also to assist in your body’s recovery.

(to be done: sample technique workouts and how to build a technique workout)