Andrew Sheaff

Skill Development Systems for Performance Programs
3x NCAA Team Championships | Author
A Constraints‑Led Approach to Swim Coaching

[Andrew Sheaff @AndrewKSheaff]

Change the way you develop skills.

Positively impact your swimmers’ skills, especially when working with large groups.

Build the skills that win races while training hard.

Easily incorporate these ideas into the workouts you’re already doing.

https://t.co/BKhXgst8VH

[Andrew Sheaff @AndrewKSheaff]

Should freestylers kick from the hips or the knees?

Both!

If you watch the kick in slow motion, you’ll see that the leg is lifted up completely straight.

All the movement happens from the hip.

Then at the top of the kick, swimmers start moving forward from the hip and the thigh starts moving down.

In contrast to the upkick, the knee bends, and once the thigh has some speed, then the knee gets into the action and slams the foot down like a whip.

It’s a coordinated movement involving the whole leg.

Attempting to isolate the knees or the hips is going compromise the kick.

The more they can use the whole leg like a whip, the faster swimmers will go.

[Andrew Sheaff @AndrewKSheaff]

Closed fist swimming variations are typically thought to help swimmers learn to use the forearm more effectively by taking away the hand.

And they do work for that purpose.

But they have another important effect as well.

When swimmers close their fist, they’re disrupting the flowing of the water over the hands, and the pressure swimmers are feeling.

The absence of sensation sensitizes swimmers hands to pressure, and when swimmers open their hands back up, they can really feel what’s happening.

It’s a major reason why swimmers’ hands feel like dinner plates.

When this process is repeated consistently over time, it leads to meaningful improvements in feel for the water.

While closed fist swimming can result in short-term improvements in propulsive skill, it also leads to equally important long-term benefits as well.

[Andrew Sheaff @AndrewKSheaff]

3. Beyond creating propulsion, stability is key for helping swimmers keep drag low.

If the upper body is moving through an unnecessarily large range of motion, the means more surface area interacting with the water.

That means more drag and less speed.

[Andrew Sheaff @AndrewKSheaff]

The importance of stability in underwater kicking.

A visual 🧵.

1. Effective underwater kickers have stability in their upper body.

The arms and the head are moving in a deliberate manner, not completely out of control.

Cont.

[Andrew Sheaff @AndrewKSheaff]

2. Undulation starts in the upper body.

It’s a wave that gets bigger and faster as it moves down the body, resulting in a ton of propulsion.

Swimmers need to have stability and control to start that wave.

The more stability and control, the better the wave.

Cont.

[Andrew Sheaff @AndrewKSheaff]

Using different training aids can make drills better and they can make drills different.

I think both are useful.

Targeted training aids can help swimmers become more aware of what they’re trying to achieve.

Performing the same drill with different aids is also just novel, and novelty is key for learning.

Using paddles during breaststroke pulling is going to have an obvious and logical impact on the pull.

Using paddles during breaststroke timing drills is going to require swimmers to adjust for the impact of the bigger hands.

Especially if you take the paddles on and off.

Training aids can be used ‘specifically’ or ‘generally’ to enhance any drill.

[Andrew Sheaff @AndrewKSheaff]

@crissinla Yep!!

[Andrew Sheaff @AndrewKSheaff]

What happens when there’s a consistent system for progressing skill and fitness development?

Swimmers go faster.

It’s not easy, but it is simple.

When swimmers do the right things at the right time over and over again, they will get better.

There are three challenges:

1. Identify those ‘right things’.
2. Identify the ‘right time’.
3. Ensure it happens over and over again.

When those challenges are met, swimmers get faster.

[Andrew Sheaff @AndrewKSheaff]

@GTEdelman Yellow cap? She tends to be a little wide, perhaps because she is pretty shallow. She keeps arm very vertical, which usually means shallow which usually means wide. The video is a little deceptive. Underwater she looks very effective.

[Andrew Sheaff @AndrewKSheaff]

When watching different freestyle races, it’s easy to get confused about which freestyle arm recovery is “best”.

Solve that problem by focusing on the principles rather than the positions.

Great freestyle recoveries are:

Fast
Direct
Effortless

Check out these two swimmers:

Which recovery is higher and which is lower?
Which is bent and which is straighter?
Notice how both are moving through the recovery quickly.
Notice how both are direct with their recoveries.

You can even see differences from arm to arm within the same swimmer.

There are multiple hand paths that swimmers can take, but the principles remain the same.

Rather than focusing on helping swimmers match specific positions, it’s worth ensuring that the recoveries are fast, direct, and effortless.

The principles matter more than the specific positions.

Follow @andrewksheaff for more on the key skills in swimming, and how to improve them.

[Andrew Sheaff @AndrewKSheaff]

I don’t think resisted swimming only strengthens muscles.

I think it strengthens skills.

Swimmers learn to perform skills at a higher level, and those same skills become more resilient in the face of challenge.

If a butterflyer can learn to effectively control their position and their posture with a weight belt, especially with some fatigue, it’s going to be EASY for them to make it happen without a weight belt.

If a freestyler can hold water using a parachute, especially with some fatigue, it’s going to be EASY for them to make it happen without a parachute.

Stronger skills show up under pressure.

[Andrew Sheaff @AndrewKSheaff]

The arm has to move backward to move swimmers forward.

It’s necessary to create propulsion.

But the more surface area swimmers can get facing backward, the more ‘resistance’ to backward movement they’ll create, and the more they’ll move themselves forward.

It’s a bit of a paradox.

The arms need to move backward to move forward, but the more swimmers can use their arms in a way that makes them difficult to move backward through the water, the more they’ll move forward.

Bigger surface area, more speed.

[Andrew Sheaff @AndrewKSheaff]

There is one key skill that makes effective breaststroke timing possible.

Breaststroke timing works when the arms pull when the legs are straight and the legs kick when the arms are straight.

That maximize propulsion while minimizing drag.

It also creates a gap.

The only way to keep that gap as small as possible is to recover the kick fast.

That’s the key skill, and if it’s not executed, it leads to slow breaststroke.

Watch the legs.

They do nothing and then all of a sudden, they snap up into position.

The recoveries are lightning fast.

This minimizes gaps in propulsion which maximizes speed.

When working on timing, make sure the legs are patient, and then when it’s time to go, they snap up into position as fast as possible.

Follow @andrewksheaff for more on the key skills in swimming, and how to improve them.

[Andrew Sheaff @AndrewKSheaff]

The same old drill is going to feel completely different when swimmers are using different hand postures and positions (closed fist, OK, etc.).

It doesn’t just have to be with drills for creating more propulsion.

It’s a novel stimulus in any context, and that means the opportunity to learn something new.

The hands are so important in swimming that changing them has such profound and widespread impact.

Beyond the ability to create propulsion, a lot of swimmers are (improperly!) using their hands to create balance and stability to control the trunk.

Take that away and you’ve totally changed the nature of any drill.

[Andrew Sheaff @AndrewKSheaff]

What helps people take action?

When they know exactly what needs to happen and exactly how to make it happen.

If the goal is to help coaches improve their swimmers’ skills, then it’s critical to help them take action.

Let them know exactly what needs to happen and exactly how to make it happen.

Follow @andrewksheaff for more on long-term skill development.

[Andrew Sheaff @AndrewKSheaff]

I see too many swimmers go crazy with their stroke rate when they add resistance.

In many cases, I’m using stroke counts with resisted swimming because it ensures they move water with each stroke which is the whole point.

Working at lower stroke counts is going to encourage swimmers to move a TON of water with each stroke.

Working at higher stroke counts is going to help swimmers learn to move more water FAST.

Both are important, and it’s an example of how to use stroke counts STRATEGICALLY.

[Andrew Sheaff @AndrewKSheaff]

Resisted swimming is one of the best ways to accelerate improvements in skills.

Swimmers have to position their limbs more effectively if they want to move forward, and they have to apply force more effectively if they want to move forward.

It’s not about the loading.

It’s about helping swimmers better feel what they’re doing and how to do it better.

It can be used with full stroke swimming, and it can be used with pulling, kicking, and drilling.

By alternating resisted reps and unresisted reps, swimmers get more information about how to swim effectively, and then they can learn to apply that information when it really matters.

Click below to learn more practical strategies for developing skills in big groups that apply across every stroke. It’s free.

https://t.co/oxTbQltIYx

[Andrew Sheaff @AndrewKSheaff]

While it’s great if swimmers can create speed underwater on the first wall, it doesn’t mean anything if they can’t hold that speed.

It’s a skill that needs to be trained.

Here’s a set that helps swimmers learn how to make it happen.

They start off each round emphasizing kicking hard and whipping the kick.

They have to work against the resistance of the DragSox, the wall, and then while controlling the kick board underwater.

We’re developing strength and skill, as well as creating fatigue.

Then, it’s a matter of applying those skills while swimming, first over shorter distances with exaggerated underwaters, and then over longer distances with shorter underwaters.

The set develops the skills to kick effectively while simultaneously challenging swimmers to execute that skill under pressure.

Just like they’ll have to do in races.

Click below if you’re a coach and you want to learn how to build sets like this for free.

[Andrew Sheaff @AndrewKSheaff]

Between undulation, range of motion, foot speed, and foot position, there is a lot going on in terms of creating propulsion during underwater kicking.

Rather than trying to explain it, I try to put swimmers in positions where they can feel it.

Resistance work, either resisting the body or resisting the feet can help swimmers learn how to create pressure and hold water.

Drills like vertical kicking while moving backward can help them feel the appropriate range of motion.

Having them kick fast in lots of different contexts can help them put it together.

[Andrew Sheaff @AndrewKSheaff]

The most important skill in butterfly isn’t holding tons of water or creating a ton of power.

While these skills are important, they’re made possible by one skill that’s even more important.

Timing.

Swimmers have to kick when the hands enter the water and kick when the hands exit.

Without it, swimmers create more drag and less propulsion.

The challenge is that it can be very difficult to learn effective timing while swimming butterfly itself.

That’s what makes one arm butterfly so effective.

It has the same rhythm and it has the same timing as regular butterfly, but without the physical demands that come with the overwater recoveries.

Challenge the drill.

Add speed, stroke counts, and stroke rates.

Change the hand postures.

Add resistance.

It’s a simple way to help swimmers develop bulletproof timing that transfers to full stroke swimming.

Follow @andrewksheaff for more on the key skills in swimming, and how to improve them.