We can learn a lot from elite and professional triathletes by simply observing what they do. Sometimes you may not know exactly what to look for in order to emulate and improve your skills.

I took some of the guesswork out of this for you by grabbing some screenshots of a recent open water swimming video posted on YouTube by Chris Leito. The clarity of the water in Kona provides a fantastic opportunity to study the strokes of those who have worked hard to get to Kona in October.

Watch this sequence of still shots where you can clearly see a few of the same excellent swimming techniques that we teach in Total Immersion swimming programs. These fundamentals are key…if you can get a video of yourself or a partner to watch you, see if you can match these three swimming ‘checkpoints’. Can you get a ‘stroke score’ of three out of three?

Stay Long on Wide Tracks

In this still shot you can see several things going on, the most important being that his lead arm remains on a wide track, and waits there while he ‘cultivates’ his grip on the water. In the side view at nearly the same point in the stroke, you can see his palm ‘searching’ for a solid feel, and waiting until the momentum of moving forward creates solid leverage in his stroke.

Side view at same moment in the stroke. Visualize the lead arm still remaining on a wide track here as shown above.

You can finish reading the rest of this post over on my blog at Steel City Endurance…