What should your focus in swimming be?

It really depends on what level swimmer you are.

If you’re:

– A new swimmer
– Still swimming flat in the water with no hip rotation
or
– Plateauing or having a tough time making gains

then I would recommend 90-100% of your time spent in the water to be practicing drills! It sounds extreme, but if you want to make significant improvements in the water, you have to make some short-term sacrifices to make bigger gains in the long run.

This massive amount of drills isn’t meant to last forever. True beginners will likely have to keep drill work at a high level for several weeks. More advanced swimmers may just need a few days of intensive drill work to get past a hurdle. Think of it more as a “boot camp” for your swim stroke.

As you begin to improve, you can start backing off on the drills and start adding on more yardage and endurance work. Never let go of drills altogether, there are benefits to doing the more advanced swimming drills even if you are Michael Phelps!

I recommend even if you have your swim completely handled to continue doing about 10-15% of your workout as drills.