June 21, 2023

Learning to swim easy before swimming fast - Swim Coaching with Ray Gibbs

1 hour 16 minutes

Recently I got reacquainted with a swim coach who I've known for a long time. Ray Gibbs is the founder and owner of Swim Canary Wharf, and I had asked Ray if he could help a London-based swimmer I’m working with. You might think it strange that one coach would ask another to help them out but in fact it's quite common. I believe that Ray is a more experienced and knowledgeable swim coach than me, and therefore better placed to provide guidance to my athlete. Ray specialises in observing and assessing a swimmer's technique, and then suggesting simple improvements through the use of a small number of simple drills.

We talk about all of this along with Ray’s values and philosophies around swim coaching. You’ll hear some new stuff and also some themes with which you’ll be familiar if you’ve listened to some of the other conversations I have had with swim coaches.

Key messages from this episode:

You can’t cram fitness

Learning to swim easy before swimming fast

Why technique work makes for a great recovery session

The importance of pool swimming when training for open water events

To find out more about Ray Gibbs and Swim Canary Wharf please visit these social media channels

Website - www.swimcanarywharf.com

Twitter - @swimcanarywharf

We talked about Katie Ledecky and her stroke technique but also ability to change kick patterns for longer distance events (2 beat for 1500m).

This video explains how Katie Ledecky Changes Her Kick for Maximum Efficiency

Ray also had two book recommendations:

John Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections on and off Court.

John Carlin: Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation.

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By Simon Ward

4.5

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