Online Swim Resources

A few online sources to help you become a better swimmer this season.

Written by: Sara McLarty

Welcome to the 21st century of triathlon training: the Internet and free access to hundreds of sites, videos, forums and workouts. But where do you begin? What do you watch? Whose advice is best? We scoured the Web for three of the best sites (and one printed book) to improve your swimming.

YouTube is a great place for swimming advice. Try goswim098’s channel for swim videos starring Olympians, world record holders and famous swim coaches. Here, you will find videos demonstrating freestyle drills, equipment instructions, open-water tips, flip-turn directions and other strokes.

Click over to Swimsmooth.com for the best animated swimmer on the Web! Download the app for free and watch the freestyle stroke technique. Find your swimmer personality like Bambino, Kicktastic and Overglider, and discover ways to improve like Mr. Smooth. The tips for open-water swimming and injury prevention are also worth checking out.

Once you have developed good technique in the water, head over to NTCMastersswim.blogspot.com for swim workouts. Creative and challenging workouts for three levels of ability are posted Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Also, the waterproof “Workouts in a Binder: Swim Workouts for Triathletes” by Gale Bernhardt and Nick Hansen is very practical for use on the pool deck and storing in your equipment bag.