The Navy SEAL Physical Fitness Guide 87
All of these involve repetitive arm use in a pattern that is generally complementary
to a swimmer's stroke. These sports will impart strength to the shoulder and chest muscles
that will help your swimming.
Developing Stroke Skills
Basic stroke mechanics will prohibit you from increasing your respiratory rate
(except during backstroke). Because you can't pant, you will quickly become limited by not
getting enough oxygen or not getting rid of carbon dioxide before it starts building up. This
is different than in running and is the reason for the universal use of interval training in
swim training programs. Runners often go out for long steady runs, but a swimmer who
trains this way becomes a slow and inefficient swimmer. While operational SEAL
swimming is a long, slow activity, it is best for you to acquire a broad base of swimming
skills. This will increase your efficiency during SEAL operational swimming.
This section will discuss three main swimming strokes; crawl stroke (usually called
freestyle or “free”), breaststroke, and sidestroke. These particular strokes are the most
useful to you as a SEAL. Most swimmers use a variety of strokes in a workout to provide
cross training and avoid overuse injuries. Skills must be developed over a long period of
time in order for the swimmer to become proficient. Good stroke mechanics are not only
necessary to develop speed; injury may occur in swimmers from poor technique. A proper
stroke may only be developed by getting feedback from others. This factor makes a buddy
system or partner coaching an essential component of your training program. Obtain
periodic stroke coaching from a qualified instructor - no matter how good you are.
General Stroke Principles
Water causes a large amount of drag on the swimmer's body, thus streamlining
becomes extremely important. The key to swimming fast is reducing drag as much as
possible while maximizing propulsive forces. One specific technique includes rolling from
side to side to clear high resistance parts of the swimmer's body for arm recovery.
Swimming in salt water is faster than swimming in fresh water because of the increased
buoyancy of the swimmer, reducing resistance. There are many other subtle ways to reduce
water drag in swimming, and learning them is one of the benefits of getting coaching from
a qualified instructor or swimming coach.
The Strokes
Freestyle