Swimming Smooth With Paul Newsome

Hannah started out her swimming life as a Bambino, a clever term coined by Paul Newsome of SwimSmooth.

We believe Paul's new Swim Types system, which breaks down the freestyle stroke into six different styles, is creative, educational, easy-to-understand and spot on.

As Paul explains, "Bambinos suffer from very poor rhythm and timing in the stroke and poor feel for the water. Their hands just tend to slip through at the front of the stroke and so developing a better feel and connection with the water is a priority for them over reducing drag."

"The footage (below) of Hannah made for extremely popular viewing at our clinics - more so even than our footage of Olympic swimmers. Sometimes watching the greatest swimmers in the world is just too big a jump for most people and watching a nice stroke of a 'normal' swimmer like Hannah is easier to target in your mind - especially if they have the same build and body type."

While Paul's system may not be for everyone, the feedback of his innovation has been good among swimmers and triathletes.

Type 1 is Arnie who has plenty of power, but needs more control. Type 2 is Bambino who needs more confidence and rhythm.

Type 3 is Kicktastic who needs to move from leg to upper body propulsion. Type 4 is Overglider who overdoes their stroke length. Type 5 is Swinger who has less of a body roll and more of an arm swinging than optimal. Type 6 is Smooth who moves effortlessly and gracefully in the water with long strokes, excellent body rotation and high elbow recovery.

Check out what type Hannah is...and how Paul explains his swim type breakdown:



"Swim Types is aimed predominantly at the age-group triathlete and open water swimming communities, helping them identify what stroke correction aspects of their stroke they may need to consider with respect to the gender, build, experience and even personality. It aims to build on the information and approach we offer through Swim Smooth with the animated swimmer, Mr Smooth. The The Swinger, like [7-time world champion] Shelley Taylor-Smith is the type of stroke often favored by the world's best open water swimmers and ITU triathletes. We're hoping that we can raise the awareness within the general population of how and why this type of technique can be so efficient."

What type are you? And, more importantly, how do you get better, faster and swim more efficiently?

Copyright © 2010 by Steven Munatones