Forget Bernoulli. Forget precise hand pitch angles.

Forget complex angular analysis. Let’s make swimming biomechanics practical for every coach.

The Problem With Traditional Biomechanics Education

Coaching courses love to throw physics at new coaches. Bernoulli’s principle. Lift versus drag propulsion. Optimal elbow angles of 127 degrees. Angular velocity calculations.

Meanwhile, in the REAL world, the coach is standing alone on deck with a whistle, 20 kids in the water and no idea how any of that “hand pitch angle” stuff helps them fix little Timmy’s freestyle.

We’ve made biomechanics ridiculously intimidating. It doesn’t need to be.

The 5 Hs of Swimming Biomechanics

Here’s what you actually need to know. Five things. All start with H. Easy to remember on deck.

1. Head Where the head goes, the body follows. Head position controls body position. Neutral head, level body. Lifted head, sinking legs. Start every technique conversation here.

2. Hands Entry, catch, pull, exit. Newton’s Third Law: push water this way, body goes that way. Where the hands go - the water flows! Watch where they’re pushing water. Keep your hands SOFT so you can catch and feel and keep pressure on the water throughout your stroke. That’s 90% of propulsion sorted.

Forget all that rubbish about albatross wings and how human arms are like the wings of an eagle. (Ask me one day about several conversations with Fluid Dynamics experts who laughed when I told them about Bernoulli and swimming). Keep it simple!

3. Hips The engine room. Hip rotation drives freestyle and backstroke. Hip position determines body line in breaststroke and butterfly. If the hips are wrong, everything else has to compensate. The relationship between the head and the hips is critical in all strokes.

4. Heels (Feet) Kick from the hips, not the knees. Ankles relaxed. Toes pointed but soft, loose and relaxed. Heels should just break the surface in freestyle. If you can see knees breaking the water, the kick is wrong.

5. Huff (Breathing) You’re thinking - why include breathing in a post about biomechanics? Breath control affects everything. Holding your breath creates tension and tightness.

Poor breathing disrupts stroke rhythm and flow.

Poor breathing often means swimmers have to lift their heads too high and for too long resulting in a breakdown of their technique and skills.

Breathing is a skill; train it like one.

Your Best Biomechanics Tool

You don’t need a $50,000 underwater camera system.

Your phone and / or your tablet are all you need. Slow motion video and importantly…. immediate playback on deck to facilitate better learning.

Record. Replay. Show the swimmer right here and right now: “See that? That’s what your head is doing.”

Or even better, ASK the swimmer a question about their technique.

“What’s happening when you do that?”

“What does it feel like?”

“What do you think would happen if you lifted your head a little?”

Real-time feedback. Best coaching tool you’ll ever own.

That’s biomechanics made simple.

Which of the 5 Hs do your swimmers struggle with most?

Coming Next Week: Part 3 of the Simple Science Series; Test Sets for Age Group Swimmers

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We’ve overcomplicated training zones for beginner coaches and it’s time to fix it.

The Problem With Current Models

Most coaching education programs throw 6 or 7 different training zones at first year coaches. Threshold, VO2 max, lactate tolerance, aerobic endurance, race pace, recovery, anaerobic power; the list goes on and on.

Here’s the reality: you’ve got 25 kids in the pool, three lanes, two hours, and you’re trying to remember the difference between Zone 4a and Zone 4b.

It doesn’t work.

It’s not practical.

And it’s not necessary; especially for coaches working with age group swimmers.

The PACE Model

I’ve developed a simpler approach. Four zones. Easy to remember. Easy to apply. Easy to teach.

P: Preparation Pace This is warm-up, cool-down and recovery swimming. Low intensity. Technical focus. Getting the body ready or bringing it back down. No stress. No pressure. Easy, relaxed, rhythm and flow.

A: Aerobic Pace The foundation work. Building the engine. Conversational intensity; they could talk if they needed to. This is where most of your yardage lives. Sustainable, repeatable, technique-focused. And…Easy, relaxed, rhythm and flow.

C: Competition Speed Pace This is where we connect skills to race conditions. Not quite flat out, but close. Focus is on maintaining great stroke mechanics and race quality skills at higher speeds. Think of it as “controlled fast.”

E: Electric Pace Maximum speed (i.e. not effort - because we should aim for effortless speed). Race pace or faster. Short reps. Full recovery. This is genuine speed work; not sort-of fast, actually fast. It is important that we coach swimmers to marry the concept of speed and relaxation, i.e. maximum speed but relaxed and smooth.

Why PACE Works

Four zones. One word. Every coach can remember it.

As coaches grow and develop, they can add complexity.

For example, PACES adds a fifth zone: S for Sub-Race Pace or Threshold. But start simple. Master PACE first.

The practicalities of coaching age group swimmers; multiple kids, limited lanes, varying abilities; demand simplicity.

Save the complex periodisation models for later. Right now, teach them PACE.

What training zone model do you use? Is it working for you?

Coming Next: Part 2 of the Simple Science Series; Biomechanics Made Simple

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By Wayne Goldsmith

Introduction:

Every swimming coach does drills and skills work at the same time in their practices. We can do it differently and better!

Three Critical Learning Points:

* The typical structure — drills and skills first, main set second — means technique is generally practised when swimmers are fresh.

* Skills that only work when rested aren’t race-ready skills.

* The fix: integrate drills and technique work DURING your main sets, not before them.

Time to Change!

Here’s what I see at pools all over the world.

Warm-up. Then drill work — catch-up, fingertip drag, six-kick switch, whatever your favourites are. Nice and controlled. Good feedback. Technical focus.

Then the main set. Now it’s about fitness. Physiology. Pushing through.

Technique? That was earlier.

Here’s the problem.

When your swimmers are doing their drills, they’re fresh. Rested. Focused. Heart rate is low. Breathing is easy. Everything is controlled.

Then they get into the main set and all of that technique work goes out the window.

Why? Because they’ve (we’ve) never connected those skills to fatigue.

Skills that only work when rested aren’t race-ready skills.

In a race, when does technique matter most?

The last 25 of a 200. The third lap of a 200 fly. The back half of a distance event.

That’s when technique falls apart — because we never trained it to hold together under fatigue.

So here’s what I want you to try.

Stop separating drills from main sets. Integrate them.

Example: 10 x 100 — but every 4th one is a technique-focused 100 at controlled pace. Swimmers reset their form, refocus on one technical cue, then carry that into the next hard reps.

Example: mid-set 50m drill to reset focus and form. Right in the middle of the hard work. Not before it. During it.

Connect skills to fatigue. Connect technique to pressure.

That’s where race-ready skills are built.

Final Thoughts:

We’ve been doing it backwards. Drills first, then fitness — as if they’re separate worlds. They’re not. The pool doesn’t care when you learned the skill. It only cares if you can execute it when you’re dying. Train accordingly.

Two Practical Application Tips:

* Insert a “technique 100” every 4th rep in your main sets. Swimmers drop the pace, focus on one technical element, then return to race pace. Keeps the skill connection alive under fatigue.

* Add a mid-set drill reset. Halfway through your main set, stop and do 50m of your most important drill. Then continue. This teaches swimmers to find their technique when they’ve lost it — which is exactly what racing demands.

Thanks.

Wayne

Introduction:

The non-stop main set is a relic of 1980s thinking — and it’s producing mediocre swimming disguised as hard work.

Three Critical Learning Points:

* Pushing straight through a 20 x 100 set often means technique collapses, bad habits are reinforced and swimmers just swim to survive.

* Splitting the main set into two parts — with a purposeful break in the middle — restores quality skills execution and protects technique.

* We should be chasing consistency of great technique under fatigue, not just pushing kids to mediocrity in the interest of hitting goal times and heart rates.

Why Do We Accept Mediocre Skills and Technique Just to Hit Times and Heart Rates?

Here’s the old school approach.

20 x 100 on 1:30. Straight through. No breaks. Push through the pain. Physiology first.

Sounds tough. Sounds like proper training.

But watch what actually happens.

* First 8 reps — technique is good. Splits are consistent. Swimmers are engaged.

* Reps 9 to 14 — technique starts to slip. Stroke count goes up. Efficiency goes down. Swimmers are just getting through.

* Reps 15 to 20 — technique has collapsed. Bad habits are being reinforced with every stroke. Swimmers are breathing on their first stroke off the wall, not kicking efficiently underwater, “circling” the lanes and breathing inside the flags on their finishes. Swimmers are surviving, not training.

And we call this a great main set?

We’re not building fitness. We’re building mediocrity.

Here’s what I’m seeing from smart coaches around the world.

They’re splitting their main sets.

Example: 12 x 100 — then a 10-minute break — then 8 x 100.

During that 10-minute break:

* Snack to refuel — keep the fuel tank topped up

* Drink to hydrate — don’t let dehydration compromise the second half

* Pressure point or acupressure work — reduce injury risk, release tension

* Mental refocus — reset the technical cues, clear the mind

* Reconnect with the coach!!!

Then return for part two with quality restored.

The total volume is the same. But the quality is transformed.

We’re not just chasing physiological adaptation. We’re chasing consistency of great technique under fatigue.

Physiology matters — but not at the expense of everything else.

The swimmers who win aren’t the ones who can survive a 20 x 100. They don’t win races because they can hold their heart rates at 185 bpm for 40 minutes. They’re the ones who can hold their technique together when it matters.

Isn’t it time we looked at main sets differently?

Final Thoughts:

The non-stop main set was designed in an era when we thought more suffering meant more adaptation. We know better now. Quality matters. Technique matters. It’s about accuracy and precision under pressure and fatigue.

And a strategic break in the middle of your main set might be the smartest thing you do all week.

Two Practical Application Tips:

* Split your next main set in two. Whatever you were planning to do straight through — break it at the 60% mark. Give swimmers 8-10 minutes. Fuel, hydrate, refocus. Then complete the set. Compare the quality of the second half to what you usually see.

* Use the break for mental reset, not just physical recovery. Have swimmers identify ONE technical focus for part two. Write it on the whiteboard. Make the break purposeful — not just rest, but preparation.

Thanks - let me know how it goes.

Wayne

By Wayne Goldsmith

Every swimming coach does some form of skills practice in their training sessions every day.

For the most part, coaches focus on learning and practicing skills — but rarely test whether those skills are actually race-ready.

The challenge is that there’s a big gap between doing a skill well in training and executing it under race conditions.

Here are four steps to bridge that gap:

1. Learn the skill — Understand the movement. Get the basics right.

2. Practice the skill — Repeat it. Refine it. Build consistency.

3. Test the skill — Add speed. Add fatigue. Add pressure. Can they still do it?

4. Race the skill — Execute it in competition conditions - both simulated racing in training and actual races in Meets. That’s the real test.

Most coaches live in steps 1 and 2. The best coaches make sure their swimmers get to steps 3 and 4.

I’d be interested to know — how do you make sure your swimmers’ skills are race-ready?

Wayne

By Wayne Goldsmith

One of the hottest topics in swimming is always Dryland Training.

When I speak at conferences, it’s inevitably a question from the audience. Swimming coaches have more opinions about dryland than just about anything else.

Here are the three most commonly asked questions:

* What are the best dryland exercises and programs?

* When should we do dryland — before or after pool workouts?

* At what age should young swimmers start strength training?

My answers:

1. Best exercises / best programs

It doesn’t matter as much as you think.

Free weights, machines, body weight, pilates, yoga, a hybrid of everything — the method is less important than the outcome.

The key is to vary your dryland program so that:

* The swimmers enjoy it

* They complete it with the same focus and commitment as pool training

A program they hate is a program they won’t do properly.

2. Timing — before or after pool?

Simple answer: it depends on your focus.

If you’re doing a precise, accurate, speed or technique-focused pool session — it makes no sense to fatigue swimmers with heavy dryland beforehand.

Match the dryland timing to the pool session goals.

3. Age to start dryland

It doesn’t matter what age. It matters what they do.

Seven year olds can start a dryland program — IF it’s age and stage appropriate.

Running. Jumping. Throwing a light medicine ball. Body weight exercises like lunges and step-ups. Seeing how high they can jump.

Not heavy weights. Movement. Fun. Foundation.

Watch the video and let me know — what are YOUR answers to dryland training’s three hottest topics?

Wayne Goldsmith

By Wayne Goldsmith

Let’s get this right from the start:

There are NO 7 year old backstrokers.

There are NO 9 year old freestylers.

There are NO 10 year old IMers.

There are just kids who swim — who, at that point in their development, swim one specific stroke a little better than the other strokes.

Now I know coaches and parents everywhere are reading this and thinking “He’s wrong. Johnny the 8 year old just broke the club record for 50 backstroke. He’s a backstroker.”

WRONG x A MILLION.

Little Johnny is just an eight year old kid who, for whatever reason, happens to swim backstroke faster than the other eight year old kids.

Coaches — we need to stop referring to young kids as stroke specialists.

Why?

Because parents and swimmers develop the expectation that:

a. My child / I am a “champion” backstroker or freestyler or breaststroker — and there are NO 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 year old champions.

b. My child / I don’t need to do the other strokes or learn the other events because I’m a “backstroker” or “freestyler.”

The truth is this.

A young swimmer could be brilliant at freestyle this year. Then they grow, their limb lengths change, and POW — they can’t swim freestyle very well anymore.

Happens over and over all around the world. We know this. As coaches we’ve seen it a million times. Yet it keeps happening.

My friends — here are five practical tips:

* Do not refer to any swimmer under about 14 as “the butterflyer” or any single stroke specialisation.

* Take a balanced approach to development — all strokes, all events, speed training, aerobic work, great skills, underwater kicking, dives, starts, turns, finishes. Balanced.

* Discourage parents from entering their kids only in specialist stroke events at meets. “My 8 year old is a breaststroker so we’re only entering 50 and 100 breaststroke” — no.

* Build an overall stroke development philosophy in your team. Focus on events like:

* 50 metres all strokes (develops real speed)

* 200 IM (develops all strokes, turning skills, endurance)

* 400 freestyle (develops endurance, sustained speed, discipline)

* Relays (fun, team spirit, speed development)

* Educate parents and swimmers. Prepare them for the reality that bodies and minds change year by year — and it’s perfectly normal to change stroke focus right up until mid-teens.

The bottom line?

Don’t build a 9 year old backstroker.

Build a 9 year old who loves swimming, learns everything, and becomes whatever they’re meant to become — when they’re ready.

That’s how you develop swimmers for the long game.

Swimming coaches — if you want to develop swimmers this way but need help making it work in your program, that’s exactly what I do in CoachTED.

One-on-one mentoring for swimming coaches who want to coach for the long game — not just the next meet.

Contact me through Swimming Gold or email [email protected]

Wayne Goldsmith

By popular demand — let’s talk about speed.

There’s a lot written about it. A lot talked about it. And a lot of confusion about how to actually develop it.

Here are my five fundamentals of going fast, fast, fast:

1. Forget “throw your arms”

I’m not a fan of that old drill where kids get on their back and just throw their arms as fast as possible. Some call it overspeed training.

I don’t buy it — physiologically, biomechanically or from a skill learning perspective.

It doesn’t teach anything except throwing your arms really fast.

And our sport isn’t just about moving your arms quickly. It’s about moving your arms quickly with great technique and good skill — under fatigue, under pressure, in competition.

All of those things together.

Just thrashing your arms isn’t speed development. It’s just thrashing.

2. Speed is relaxation

Here’s a core principle I believe in deeply:

The faster you want to go, the more relaxed you have to be.

So how does a coach apply this day to day?

When you’re at the end of the pool about to send them off for a fast 50 — watch your language.

Don’t say: “50 metres hard.”

Don’t say: “All out effort.”

Why? Because we want speed to feel effortless. Easy. Smooth.

Try this instead:

“This one — as fast as you can go, but easy, smooth and relaxed.”

“Maximum speed, no effort, totally relaxed.”

You’re marrying two concepts: maximum speed and maximum relaxation.

Look at anything that moves fast in the animal kingdom. Look at track and field sprinters. The ones who move really quickly are loose, relaxed, smooth.

You can’t swim faster by trying harder.

Swimming isn’t an effort sport. It’s a technique sport. A skill sport. A relaxation sport.

3. Speed is speed is speed

Just because you’re doing 25s or 50s doesn’t mean you’re doing a speed workout.

It’s all about the rest. And the intensity.

A real speed set might look like:

* 8 x 25 on 3:00 - longer rest if needed.

* 6 x 50 on 3:30 - longer rest if needed.

Complete rest. Easy, relaxed recovery — static or dynamic, your choice.

Short distances. Maximum speed. Lots of rest.

Speed is speed is speed.

Yes, there’s a case for doing speed work at the end of a session when they’re tired — technique under fatigue. That’s real. That’s what heats and finals feel like.

But if you’re trying to develop genuine speed — short distances, long rest, not too many of them, great speed.

4. Fast + Long = Best

When kids are starting out, we think about moving arms quickly. Fine.

But as they develop, we need them to move their arms quickly with maximum distance per stroke.

It’s no good if they can thrash their arms really fast but they’re taking 30 strokes per 50.

We’re looking for the combination: fast and long.

Fast is good. Long is good. Fast and long is best.

Long strokes at maximum speed. Pressure on the water throughout the stroke. Maintaining length while moving quickly.

That’s what we’re chasing.

5. Speed work all year round

This might be the most important one.

I see coaches around the world obsessed with what I call exclusion blocks. The first seven weeks of the season — endurance only. Then pre-competition — a bit of speed, lots of threshold. Then they throw speed in at the end and hope it comes back.

I totally disagree.

Speed is the most precious thing in our sport.

Nobody lies in bed at night dreaming of doing 40 x 100. Kids are lying in bed thinking: how do I go faster?

Olympic gold medals. World records. PBs. Qualifying for the next level.

This whole sport is about going faster.

It makes no sense to kill speed off for months with huge volumes of training and then hope it magically returns.

Wishing, hoping and prayer do not represent a solid strategy.

Do speed work at least two or three times a week. All year round. Even in the middle of your so-called endurance block.

More and more coaches around the world are moving away from exclusion blocks toward holistic, balanced programs that include deliberate speed work throughout the year.

The One-Second Test

Here’s my rule of thumb:

Swimmers should never be more than one second slower than their PB 50 time — at any point in the year.

Middle of an endurance block? They should still be able to touch speed.

If you kill it off and just hope it comes back — chances are, one day it won’t.

Speed is the most precious thing in this sport. Protect it.

Over to you

What are your favourite speed sessions?

How do you talk to your swimmers about going fast?

How do you generate real speed in your workouts?

I’d love to hear from you. Drop a comment below.

Wayne Goldsmith

By Wayne Goldsmith

A lot of coaches, when they start out, focus on one thing: physiology. The body. The physical elements of swimming.

They spend years looking for drills, workouts, training programs, session plans. They go to conferences. An elite coach stands up and talks about their sets and reps, their periodisation. Everyone writes it down or takes a photo of the PowerPoint. Everyone’s looking for the secret formula, the magic pill, the quick fix that’s going to turn their program into a high-performance machine.

Colleagues, that’s not where your advantage is going to come from.

Because of the internet and AI, you can get anything, anytime, anywhere — mostly for free.

Type “top 10 freestyle drills for age group swimmers” into ChatGPT or Google and you’ll get solid answers in seconds. That stuff is everywhere now. There was a time when coaches guarded their best drills and workouts. Not anymore.

You are no longer limited by your knowledge of the sport. You are no longer limited by what drills you know or how much you understand about heart rate or lactate. Those things are not limits anymore because everybody knows what everybody knows.

There are no secrets.

When I travel, people ask me: “What’s the secret to the Australian program? What are they doing differently?”

The answer is nothing. Everybody is doing more or less what everybody else is doing.

The one thing that will give you an advantage is YOU.

Your coaching.

The way you connect with your swimmers.

The way you build relationships.

The people factors are more important than ever.

There is no app, no drill, no download that’s going to fix every problem you’ve got.

There is no coach in the world — regardless of how many Olympic gold medals they’ve won — who holds secrets in their workouts. That is not the secret to success.

Your edge is your ability to connect with kids.

To put smiles on faces.

To make them fall in love with the experience of swimming.

To create friendship groups so they keep coming back.

Some coaches hear this and say I’m getting soft. I’m not.

If swimmers love what they do, they work harder at it.

They come more often.

They commit more fully to training and competition.

Measuring VO2 or counting laps is nowhere near as important as you think it is. Coaching is far more important than you think it is.

Believe in your coaching. Believe in yourself. Believe in your way of doing things.

It’s your relationships, your personality, your energy, your character, your values. The things you already have.

Not equipment. Not apps. Not downloads. Not AI.

The difference is you.

What do you do to connect and inspire the swimmers in your program?

Wayne Goldsmith

By Wayne Goldsmith

Coaches and parents often ask me: “How do I help my swimmer develop confidence?”

Here’s the equation I use:

Confidence = Belief × Evidence

Think of confidence as a can — the Confidence Can.

Our job as coaches — and as swimmers — is to fill that can with experiences. Evidence that proves “I CAN do this.”

Every quality training session. Every race where they held their technique under pressure. Every time they got back on the blocks after a disappointing swim. Every early morning they showed up when they didn’t feel like it.

That’s evidence. And evidence fills the ‘can.

But here’s what most people miss: evidence alone isn’t enough.

The other half of the equation — Belief — is what parents bring.

Your unconditional love. Your complete acceptance of your child, win or lose, PB or DQ.

Your child needs to know — with absolute certainty — that they are loved for who they are, not for what they achieve in the pool.

Belief × Evidence.

When coaches and swimmers fill the Confidence Can with great experiences, consistent training, quality recovery and healthy habits — AND parents provide that most powerful gift of all, unconditional love — something magical happens.

Your swimmer stands behind the blocks, in any pool, at any meet, and thinks:

I can. I can. I can.

Know a swim coach or swimming parent who'd find this useful? Share this post or send them to swimminggold.substack.com

Wayne Goldsmith