Mastering Swimming Flow Is About Learning To Let Go

Generally speaking, when there is a keen desire to achieve a result, we tend to throw ourselves fully into making sure we’re successful. Often this ends up being in the guise of doing more. More work, more energy, more speed, more strength, more effort. Surely if the objective has yet to be reached, we must have to do more and work harder to get it? 

Sometimes this might be the required approach; however, when it comes to swimming, it’s likely to hinder progress as opposed to assist. Instead, we need to learn to let go. It goes against the grain of our learning and society; however, doing less in the water often gives you a far better result. Learning to let go is really all about trust. 

We obviously need to understand the principles of swimming.  The timing and technique involved in order to perform the skill of the stroke involved. Even with this knowledge, it’s common to see swimmers struggling to find and master the flow of swimming. 

Remember, you are in an environment that gives you many positive properties. Bouyancy, support, weightlessness, and leverage (when we apply force through it as we might with a breaststroke pull). Pick a fight with your environment, and none of these properties will prevail. Ironically, this in turn evokes a greater fight response (more effort, more speed, more energy, etc., as outlined above) leading to an all-out exhaustive scrap where the swimmer never wins! 

So start to take a step back. Let go of the reactive approach and start to feel the positive properties assisting you. Use the water, exploit it’s properties and begin to work with it. It’s up to us to change the usual approach and allow this to happen. It may not come instinctively, but with practice, it soon starts to pay off.

CreateFit Swim Coach: Mark Durnford

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