No matter your swimming experience or what type of swimmer you are, finding continued improvement in the sport requires purposeful and focused attention. Yes, you can just swim more frequently, and vigorously, but that is the longer path towards improvement. Here are 10 more effective ways to make those leaps in the water:

1. Body Balance

One of the quickest and easiest changes you can make to improve your swimming is to focus on body position. The goal is to reduce your drag and resistance so you can glide further with each stroke. To lift the hips and legs closer to the surface, and gain better overall body balance, keep a constant pressure down into the water with your upper body (without bending at the waist). Picture yourself swimming down a hill — arms, head and chest all driving slightly down. This will pop the hips and legs up and keep your overall body position closer to the surface, thus reducing air drag and making it easier to manuever.

2. Body Rotation

After you’ve worked on your body balance, the next focus should be on using your “body” to swim. Don’t make the mistake of just relying on your arms and legs to move you through the water – they will only take you so far and for so long. Think of your body rotating on a skewer, your hips and shoulders aligned, rolling from side to side. And as you make the rotation, you want to press your arm through the water. Combining these two movements creates maximum forward propulsion!

3. Join a Group

Finding a group to swim with, either a masters-type swim team or a casual group of friends, will help you improve for a variety of reasons. Even better would be finding an experienced coach to help guide you on technique and provide the appropriate workouts. My three top reasons for swimming with a group are: increased and more consistent motivation, a sense of accountability and the fact that you are more likely to push your efforts with someone swimming right beyond you!

4. Breathe to Both Sides

Most people have a favorite breathing side, and that’s okay. But what tends to happen if you only breathe to one side is a lopsided, asymmetrical stroke, which decreases your efficiency. Focus on rolling more as you breathe to the side you’re least comfortable with and ensure that you go for the breath as you finish the arm stroke.

5. Know Your Paces

No matter what your swimming experience is, keep an eye on the clock and your paces will help you improve.

Work on having at least 4 different efforts/speeds:

80% - very easy, could hold this pace forever
85% - put a little more behind each stroke, but still a comfortable speed
90% - here’s where you start adding some speed and increasing turnover
95% - this is your top-end speed

Each of these efforts should equate to different times. If you swim 100 yards, at 80 percent, in a time of two minutes — you can work to knock a few seconds off that as you progress!

6. Catch

Once you have your body balanced and you’re rotating from side-to-side (finding power from your trunk) the next step to technique improvement is focusing on your catch. The front end of your stroke determines how much water you hold onto as you press through the stroke and what muscles you engage. (Many swimmers make the error of pulling through the water with a straight arm.) As you go into your catch, imagine you are reaching over a barrel, pop the elbow up and drop your forearm and hand. This arm position engages your back muscles and keeps your shoulders from taking on too much of the load.

7. Mix it Up

Vary the types of workouts you do. Don’t get stuck in the rut of doing the same thing every time you go to the pool – this will often keep you swimming at one pace (not to mention it can get pretty boring).

3 type of workouts to add to your routine this year:

Speed Work - shorter distances at a higher intensity and with a set amount of rest

Endurance Workouts - longer distances at a more controlled pace with a focus on consistency

Technique & Strength Work - devote a specific workout to technique and developing your swimming muscles

8. Strength Work

Although there is no substitute for time in the water, doing swimming-specific strength work outside of the pool will improve your times!

3 of my favorite exercises are: bent-over lat pulls with a resistance band, pike-reach crunches and flutter kicks.

9. Distance per Stroke

How far you travel with each stroke is a key indicator of your efficiency. As you improve your technique, you will begin to glide further through the water. To measure your distance per stroke all you have to do is count your strokes! A good goal is to be around 20 strokes or better for every 25 yards. Some of the top swimmers take closer to 12 strokes per length!

10. Use Equipment

If you’re a beginner swimmer, I suggest spending most of your time swimming without equipment as it can often be used as a “crutch” for poor technique. But, used properly, swim equipment can help you improve strength, find greater efficiency with speed, and it helps keeps things fun!