THE IMPERATIVE - IMPROVED TECHNIQUE DEVELOPMENT
Volume 1: EDDIE'S THOUGHTS, TRACK COMPARISON, HIDDEN VISUAL CHALLENGE, WHAT IS IMPROVED TECHNIQUE
In this series of articles, I challenge the tendency of coaches to sacrifice technique for yardage under the assumption that the technique is “good enough.”
While technique matters in all sports, it is critical — often career-defining — in swimming.
EDDIE’S THOUGHTS
There have been so many articles, discussions, and stories told about the development of swimmers at Texas under Eddie Reese. Most of the reports revolved around the training - the specific yardages, general philosophy, the magic kick sets, etc.
If you’ve ever seen a before and after of Ian Crocker’s butterfly - high school to college - you understand that Eddie Reese is a technician.
Volume 40 of Swimming Technique (page 3) contains an interview with Eddie Reese, where he shares his view on technique:
"My second theory is that swimming technique is like yard work. If you don’t tend to it, it looks bad as hell. And the longer you let it go, the harder it is to fix. In my program, we work on technique every day. We go over and try to perfect all the little things — stroke, starts, turns, breakouts. But these little things add up to one monumentally big thing: the ability to swim fast…and up to one’s potential."
I encourage everyone to read the full article HERE.
Eddie Reese, coaching some of the best swimmers in the world, works on technique every day.
If that's necessary at the elite level, how much more critical is it at developmental levels - 8&U, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, 15-18?
My contention: club coaches are responsible for 95% of a swimmer’s development; college coaches mine for the final 5%. Understanding this distinction matters. The skillsets, methods, and outcomes differ dramatically. Technique is foundational at every level, but the heavy lifting ought to happen at the club level.
And many coaches are skipping this crucial portion of development.
TRACK COMPARISON: LEVERAGE THE DIFFERENCE
Track is a sport that mimics swimming in both race length and energy systems used. Both track and swimming coaches draw on the same physiological science to design training regimens and race strategies.
Yet, a glaring difference highlights the comparative importance of technique in swimming.
When a track runner plants their foot, they rely on two billion-dollar industries:
Sneaker companies refine shoes for maximum grip.
Track surface companies optimize materials for interaction with shoes.
The runner exerts force without worrying about creating traction — it's provided.
In swimming, the equivalent moment is the catch. But swimmers must create their own leverage. Their work involves two surfaces: one solid (hand/forearm or foot) and one liquid (water).
Essentially, swimmers must do the work of two billion-dollar industries — with one arm tied behind their back — just to get their foot "on the ground."
Every pull and kick has a "catch"—a moment when the arm or foot is sculpted into a fulcrum or propeller with the distinct purpose to displace water. How well swimmers shape their body lines, fulcrums, and propellers often determines whether they ascend to elite levels or remain secondary competitors.
HIDDEN VISUAL CHALLENGE: SEEING THROUGH THE SURFACE
Once a swimmer leaves the block, 100% of propulsion happens underwater. Coaches understand this—but collectively, we must improve not just our knowledge of technique, but how we deliver and reinforce it.
One of the most overlooked difficulties in coaching swimming is simply seeing things clearly. A swimmer’s body, moving at speed, is partially hidden by the water (and other swimmers), distorted by glare, bent by refraction, and masked by ripples.
Water acts like a shifting lens, complicating even the most trained eyes' ability to diagnose and refine technique. This visual difficulty of assessing technique from above comes from three main sources:
Distortion: Water in motion bends and blurs body lines, making angles harder to read.
Glare: Reflections off the surface mask posture and stroke mechanics.
Perspective: From five or six feet above the deck, coaches peer down at swimmers submerged two feet underwater, warping their view of posture, body line, and stroke.
You can see clearly the importance of digging beneath the surface for technique feedback in the next two videos.
WHAT IS IMPROVED TECHNIQUE
Improving technique boils down to two things — sometimes both:
Decreasing drag, or
Increasing propulsion.
Rarely, like squeezing the groin and finishing a breaststroke kick, both happen at once.
For now, let’s focus on propulsion.
Every time you ask a swimmer to "hold more water" — whether through a better catch or stronger kick — you’re asking them to work against greater resistance.
Consider a vertical forearm:
A swimmer who previously dropped their elbow now achieves a vertical forearm, grabbing much more water.
Where muscles once may have acted against 10 pounds of force, they now may be acting against 20.
What happens when you double the weight in the gym?
Repetitions slow down.
Stability decreases.
Failure happens faster.
If that’s true in strength training, why would we expect a swimmer to instantly sustain perfect technique across an entire aerobic set?
Application: Why Technique Fails During Sets
Take a common set: 10 x 200 Free.
If a swimmer takes 20 strokes per lap, they’re executing 1,600 repetitions in one set. I often see swimmers make a change, and then successfully demonstrate the desired change in a 50. Then they are asked to hold it during a set.
In the case of executing a newly-learned vertical forearm over 10 x 200 FR after you’ve demonstrated mastery at 2 laps, you’re essentially doubling the resistance and asking them to hold form over 40 times the repetitions.
That’s not skill re-automation. That’s skill erosion, and that skill erosion is being committed to memory by the nervous system.
Other physiological factors also impede re-automation — but even at a basic level, this shows why the frequency, intensity, and repetitions must be carefully reconsidered for real skill development or skill enhancement.
Final Thoughts
Technique isn’t something you "touch up" and hope holds together. It’s a foundation on which everything else should be built.
It’s importance first must be understood and acknowledged. Then it must be tended daily, seen clearly, and strengthened progressively — just like any other physical skill.
If you want real, sustainable gains, see through the surface distortion — and start where true propulsion happens: under the water.
I often hear the reasons that coaches don’t use underwater video feedback: difficult, disruptive, expensive, time consuming. Totally get it - Swimpler is partnered with Sideline Scout because the feedback is quick, easy, reliable, and because I’ve been using this system for as long as I can remember. There are many systems out there. Reach out to me if you have questions about implementing Sideline Scout into your program’s developmental system.
NEXT:
Base Position for Teaching Technique
Skill Layering
Automation
An Alternate Model
Doug Cornish! Love ever bit of these posts.