Free Flow Teaching Progression: “Pressing” into Efficient Swimming

Regardless of your swimming goals or skill levels, there are some aspects of efficiency in swimming that are universal. Whether one is training for a high level of competition or just improving their fitness swim abilities, body posture plays an important role in energy conservation and ease of motion. In the Free Flow Teaching Progression, the mantra we repeat constantly is “Relax, Breathe, and Press“. This concept of “Press” refers to how we interact with the water in a non-energy consuming way to ensure a proper body position. The ultimate goal in all swimming of all strokes is to keep the hips as close to the surface as possible and eliminate as much frontal resistance.

What makes this so challenging is the anatomical structure of the human body. The heaviest part of the body is the pelvis, as this is where most of the bone mass is centered. The most buoyant part of the body is the chest as the lungs inflate. So the body wants to naturally sit with the hips low and the chest high, creating a great deal of frontal drag and resistance to moving forward. The most common thought to providing a solution is to kick harder to raise the hips and legs to the surface.

The largest muscles in the body are in the legs and require a lot of energy to do this, which for the beginner swimmers is highly unsustainable. Learning to “Press” into the water with your chest, as if you were walking into a stiff wind, will help to teeter, or buoy the hips up. It does not take energy. It does take practice! That is why from the very first lesson of our teaching progression, this concept is introduced and stressed throughout the series. “Relax, Breathe, and Press” yourself towards a better,
more efficient, more sustainable freestyle.