Week 5 of 8: Short-Turning Could Be Severely Harming Your Swimming
In Summary (TL;DR)
This is week 5: the cumulative effect of short-turning
What makes us do it?
What is it telling us?
How can we stop it?
How was last week's session, mixing it up with the pull buoy? Discover anything new? Or just re-affirm what you already knew?
So here goes for Week 5: short-turning
Guidance
Simple pointers for all swimmers, triathletes and their coaches
We've all seen it. We've all done it. Sometimes we've been forced to do it. Other times we've snuck it in when no one is watching. The cheeky short-cut - turning short of the wall and chopping off a good 5-10 meters each turn.
In short, don't do it.
Understanding
Deeper insight into how to improve this aspect of your swimming
Without a doubt this is the biggest habit to crack once it's set-in. I see so many people habitually doing it in my Squads. I act like a baseball referee - 3 strikes and you're…well, no, you're not out, but you've been told.
It can be super disruptive for the rest of your lane buddies (which is not cool), but most importantly, it messes with your rhythm and that 3,000m set you just uploaded to Strava, yeah…it was only really 2,700m 🤣.
The most common ‘reason’ I see people ‘displaying’ is to adjust their goggles or swim cap. But really, it's usually just an excuse to grab a breath and catch-up again with your swim buddies. But this all goes back to making sure you're in the right lane and at the right speed in the first place.
If you're constantly getting ‘dropped’ and feel the need to short-turn, you're in the wrong lane. Pure and simple.
Now of course, some people like to swim in the same lane as their best friends (and that's cool), but if you're also wondering why you're not improving despite “swimming with faster swimmers”, this might be why.
Only you can break this habit - goodness knows I've tried to help countless number of swimmers in Squads all over the world with varying levels of success. This change has to come from within you.
Routine
Actionable advice with a practical program that works
So, guess what? We're going to do that same session for the third week in a row! Consistency counts though, right?
In all seriousness, you can mix it up a little bit this week. How about a simple pyramid for your main set?
Either:
25-50-75-100-125-150-175-200-175-150-125-100-75-50-25 (a total of 1,600m) with 15s rest, or
50-100-150-200-250-300-350-400-350-300-250-200-150-100-50 (a total of 3,200) with 20-30s rest
💥 Here's the kicker:
You have to start this week's session from the deep end of the pool, such that your resting spot is (where possible) at the deep end of the pool. Whilst this doesn't preclude you from still short-turning at the shallow end, this “flick of the switch” to the other end of the pool, might just prompt you to make a positive change!
✅ Already coach's pet?
Cool. Thank you. And thank yourself. Why not have a go doing a few short-turns and seeing how disruptive it is for a bit of fun? It'll likely play havoc with the accuracy of any swimming device you're using too.
Ultimate
Nothing beats direct - and truly individualised - coaching from one of our Swim Smooth Coaches
Sw-improvers:
Nothing Beats a Real Coach!
The empathetic and expert coaching service being offered to the Sw-improvers is very much what you can expect when visiting any of our Swim Smooth Coaches - consider booking a session with one today by following this link.
Rightio, let's hear from our Sw-improvers - who from the group is an habitual short-turner and can we convince them to make a positive change for the future? As Frankie rightly pointed out:
“I do wonder if the people who are motivated enough to be reading the emails are the ones who do it?”
