The Top Ten Reasons Why Your Swimming Isn't Improving - according to Boost Swimming

10. You Swim Alone.  For most people, swimming with a masters team or training group will help you get to the pool, to push yourself and to have more fun training

9. You don’t swim often enough. Elite swim specialists swim 8 – 12 sessions per week. While that isn’t possible for multisport athletes, realize that much of your adaptation will come through frequency. Finding a way to add a session or two per week could help you improve.

8. You don’t swim enough volume. In swimming, efficiency is acquired through volume. Even with lots of technique work, there are some things that you just need to swim to acquire. Bump your workout volume up by 20% for a while and see what happens.

7.You don’t utilize interval training. Always swimming long distances or just jumping in and lap swimming will not help you improve beyond the bottom of the learning curve. Interval training works. Do it.

6. Your training plan does not push progression. Your main set each day should have a specific goal attached to it that is part of a larger plan. If your sets do not contain a specific interval and a specific time goal for each repeat, you will plateau quickly. Descriptions like “medium effort or “fast” are ambiguous and not specific enough to push progression past the beginning stages of your potential.

5. You don’t swim fast enough. Even though you may be training for a long distance swim, you need speed work to push the ceiling of your capabilities and make room for your improved pace at longer distances. If you can only go a 1:20 100 all out, you are not going to be able to hold 1:25’s for a mile. Bring that top end speed down to 1:15 and it becomes possible.

4.You don’t take enough rest on your speed work. Don’t be afraid to take lots of rest of your speed work. If you are trying to improve speed, it is better to go 1:10’s with 2 minutes rest than 1:12’s with :30 rest.

3. You don’t stretch. If you can’t get your arms comfortably over your head or plantar flex your foot past the line of your shin bone, you are fighting your own flexibility. Spend some time after each training session addressing any mobility issues you may have.

2. You are frustrated. The secret to swimming efficiently and fast is RELAXATION. There is a tension and relaxation rhythm in swimming that highly skilled swimmers use. Although nothing can take the place of many years in the pool, learning to relax and not battle the water will speed the process. Sometimes you make things happen, sometimes you let things happen. Know the difference.

1. Your technique is holding you back. Because water is around 800 times denser than air, technique errors can have catastrophic impacts on your swimming speed. One meaningful stroke correction can have a larger impact on your speed than almost any amount of training. If you can, swim with a coach that has a proven track record of success. If you can’t find a program nearby, find a coaching resource that you can work with periodically to keep your technique sharp.