The Effortless Swimming Podcast
Faster times and better technique aren't a guarantee when you train hard. What really makes a difference to your speed and efficiency in the water? The Effortless Swimming podcast helps make a complex sport really simple to better your swimming. We cover open water swimming, triathlon swimming and pool swimming. Hosted by Australian National swimmer and coach Brenton Ford.
Episodes
My guest today is Seb Wichmann, who attended one of our clinics in 2022. He was averaging around a 2:05 to 2:10 per hundred and said he was happy to survive a 1K swim at the pool and has now got himself down to around a 1:45. Tune in to the episode now!
01:02 What challenges did you face transitioning from cycling to triathlon and swimming?
02:02 In the beginning, did you teach yourself or did you have a coach to help you?
02:59 W...
My guest today is American swimmer Ryan Murphy, who has achieved incredible success in the Olympics Games, winning multiple gold, silver, and bronze medals. Ryan discusses how his motivation and training have evolved over the past decade, enabling him to stay competitive. We explore his unconventional beliefs, the obstacles he has overcome, including an injury before the Olympic trials, and the rituals that have aided his success i...
I'm excited to introduce my guest, Ben Geard, from Element Swimming. Ben and I go way back as great friends, and he was one of the coaches during the Maldives Camp last year. At Element Swimming, Ben offers lessons for beginners and helps swimmers progress from beginners to an intermediate level. That's what we will talk about today—strategies and techniques for individuals who are complete beginners or relatively new to swimming, ...
Our guest today is Marc Evans, a former National USA Triathlon team coach. In this episode, we will introduce the M25 Lift Paddle. We will discuss the paddle's purpose and why it differs from others in the market. Specifically, we will focus on how it helps improve the catch, which is an essential part of the swimming technique.
00:49 Kickboard Is A Great Tool
04:02 Skinny S
4:42 Pass or Fail Coaching
5:59 Learning Engages Additio...
My guest today is Mark Evans, who is returning to the podcast after eight years. He is a former coach for the National USA Triathlon team and is widely recognized as one of the most knowledgeable and extensively researched individuals in this field. In today's episode, we will explore the catch and techniques for continuous improvement. (Listen to the PART 1). Link in bio.
03:54 Triathlon and Swimming Background
07:32 Triathletes...
My guest today is Mr. Sam Ashby, a coach who has trained swimmers to national medals. In this episode, we will talk about the benefits of practicing different swimming strokes. It helps the body move differently and can aid in recovery and developing swimming skills. We will also discuss common mistakes that occur during clinics for butterfly, backstroke, and breaststroke.
03:58 Swimming Background
10:00 Refining Your Knowledge
13...
My guest today is Scott Dickens, a two-time Olympian. And now director of Business Development at Form, who is one of our sponsors of the podcast. We will talk about the 8-Week Faster Freestyle course, how you can ensure you're making progress and the improvement you would want to see. Tune in now!
01:02 Technique Change
09:51 Change Doesn't Feel Good
12:18 Long Dog Paddle Drill
16:15 The Kick
21:05 8-Week Course Is now in Form Gog...
00:30 The Greatest Analysis Tool
02:32 Why Was The Skillest Created?
06:48 A Marketplace That Allows You To Be Discoverable By Students
12:18 How Do You Film Yourself?
15:02 Student-coach Relationship
16:39 24-hour Access
19:05 There's No Pressure To Perform On The Spot
23:27 The Best Tools In Skillest
24:51 The Visual Is Everything
27:17 Analyzing The Stroke
33:14 Join the Skillest Now!
In today's episode, I got professional triathlete Joshua Lewis to talk about swimming, training sessions, and most importantly, opening yourself up to opportunities and experiences.
01:10 Swimming background
06:21 You've got to be able to prioritize correctly
10:34 Switching to Pro Triathlon
15:18 Coaching role
16:40 Putting yourself out there
18:49 Getting into a sport like swimming can be a big decision for people
21:07 Taking t...
My guest today is Brian Johns who is a three-time Olympian former world record holder in the 400 IM and, the head of coaching science at FORM. In this episode, we will talk about improving your technique using FORM goggles and how important reliability and consistency are to transform your swimming.
00:47 Best achievement: Coming back from injuries
03:52 Focus on the process and getting better every day
07:18 Get yourself in a squa...
In this episode, we talk about magic words and how you can use the power of language to become a faster swimmer.
00:23 Swim Camp
01:41 Identify Yourself As A Swimmer
04:50 Cues
06:41 Replace Can't With Don't
08:10 Replace Should With Could
My guest today is Andy Donaldson who recently came back from breaking the Cook Strait World Record. In this episode, we will talk about his experience before and during the swim and his goal to complete the Ocean Seven in a year to raise money and awareness for mental health.
02:40 What's your headspace going into this swim?
04:58 How long into the swim did you realize things are going well?
09:30 Completion Is Key
10:22 The goal i...
Joining us today is Dr Jim Taylor, who specializes in Sports psychology and is the author of Train Your Mind for Athletic Success. In this episode, we will talk about useful mind hacks that you can implement into your training.
01:51 The Concept Of Marginal Gains
07:47 Words Impact How We Perceive The World
11:16 "I Choose To Push My Limits"
16:07 Unfamiliarity, Unpredictability, And Lack Of Control
19:43 Smiling Is A Powerful Ment...
Welcome to the third and final part of this three-part podcast with Brant Best. We worked together on a product called SwimBETTER by EO, which helps athletes swim faster. Tune in now!
02:50 More isn't BETTER
05:27 Elbow is too high for too long
10:43 Extreme high elbow catch
13:17 "Ladder" cue
16:28 More episode with Brant coming soon!
Brant Best will be joining us for a three-part podcast. We worked together on a product called SwimBETTER by EO, which helps athletes swim faster. This episode will discuss how it's valuable to be able to quantify data and drills that he loves and hate.
00:33 Do you have a standard process when looking at the data?
08:38 Force Field
12:14 Should you have more power on one arm if you're just breathing every two?
13:20 I'm not a big...
Brant Best will be joining us for a three-part podcast. We worked together on a product called SwimBETTER by EO, which helps athletes swim faster. This episode will discuss what he learned from working with elite athletes. Watch out for the next episodes!!
00:58 Canberra Camp
02:27 How To Swim A Good 100 Freestyle At The Elite Level?
05:40 Kyle Chalmers Is A Beast
06:12 Tension Needs To Be Optimal Rather Than Maximal
10:59 EO Swi...
What is stopping you from getting any faster? Tune in to this episode now!
1:52 How You Hold Your Body
3:12 Head Position
3:45 Kick
4:40 Breathing In The Right Position
7:08 Building A House
7:21 Tension
8:41 Not Sighting In The Right Way
10:32 The 5 Core Principles Of Fast Freestyle
I've got John Hancock to join me again on the podcast. He recently returned from having a successful crossing of the Cook Straight and is here today to share his experience and some of the preparations he did for the swim.
00:57 Where did this goal come from?
04:28 What are the preparation that you did?
09:33 17 hours of swimming in one week
12:46 How many Ks a week were you doing?
12:33 It's a very tidal crossing
17:59 Grateful to...
Carl joins us again on the podcast. He has a background in Exercise Physiology and Pilates but primarily in Functional Movement. In this episode, we will talk about how Carl has helped many swimmers with their pain and injury and understand the root cause of some of the injuries that they're having.
01:26 What Injuries Do You Usually See Among Swimmers
05:16 Working On The Posture
07:55 Getting Blood Flow To The Injured Part Of You...
In today's episode, I will talk about the equipment and pool toys that I recommend to the athletes that I coach.
00:41 Have A Good Pair Of Fins
03:38 Paddles
05:51 Pull Bouy
06:45 Kickboard
07:20 Snorkel
08:15 Noseclip
08:38 Goggles
10:56 Heart Rate Monitor
11:50 Powermeter/Analysis
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