I keep coming back to this amazing video over the years. For me the most enlightening thing is the faultless head and spine alignment - watch 1:17 to 2:00 - it looks like his spine is skewered through the top of his head to his tail and he can only swim by rotating on it. Never raises his head even slightly and just a slight neck rotation on the axis to take a breath. Inspiring.
Yes, believe it or not over the years people have wondered if that is actually animated as it’s so smooth, but of course it’s not - that’s “just Jono!” 😊
He is a smoothie! We ask swimmers to notice the following: FRONT VIEW: no crossover with the arms in front, perfect catch, nice body rotation from side to side. There is no zig zagging of any kind. SIDE VIEW: high elbow recovery, fingers almost drag across the water, eyes looking down, his butt sits high in the water which reduces drag, minimal splash in his strike (hand entry), his forearms are like paddles during the pull. Breathing is a simple motion of the head with 1 goggle coming out of the water. TOP VIEW: head is still, body rotates nicely side to side, butt sits high in the water, a strong core keeps everything solid in his stoke and maximizes efficiency. REAR VIEW: head is amazingly still, notice the body rotation, high elbow on recovery, notice how he uses his core to get power during his recovery (it is subtle and quick).
Yes that's right, a swimmer as skilled as Jono doesn't really think too much about breathing, he'll just breathe whenever he feels he needs to and that can give a random patterns as you're seeing. Breathing to both sides (bilateral breathing) is very beneficial as it helps keep your stroke symmetrical and we can certainly see that effect in Jono's stroke! When swimming fast he'll probably breathe every 3 strokes but in short demonstration swims for us he didn't need to.
Whenever I want to explain something or demonstrate some aspect of technique I'm trying to get across to my swimmers, this guy already does it - perfectly. Thanks for the footage.
Beautiful video, it's very illustrative examples with the swimmer who are showing the correct body position with the arms and legs movements thanks a lot
Excellent video production: camera work, statistics, subject, and music. I automatically assume that SwimSmooth is a top level organization. Beautiful athlete aswell.
beautiful, he does a bilateral breathing, either each 3rd or 5th pull, that makes it symmetric.. in competition you cant do that unfortunatly coz ull lack oxygen, even all the 1.5km swimmers breath lobsided each second stroke
too much or wrong footwork maybe. tht costs a lot of energy. a good exercise is to try swimm a couple of lanes without using legs at all. just pull them without kicking but keep them straight and close to each other. that way youll learn how to keep those legs near the surface via right posture.
Everytime I watch this video, I learn something different I can do to improve my stroke. Example. I notice after his hands enter the water, there is a brief pause before his catch. This lengthen's his stride and and gives his fingers time to cut the water before he makes his catch. Swimming is all about rythm, technique and efficiency. Nail those down and you got it!
412 dislike???years ago, i learned Real swimming via swimsmooth videos and i am an age grup competitive swimmer and coach now. i even still listen to this song while running.
love jonos stroke i have been able fine tune my swimming improving timing, sync between catch and opposite hand entry, hip rotation to transfer energy from one side to another.. all possible because if guys... when i see other swimmers struggling in my pool feel sorry for them.. even for the arnie types lol...Swimsmooth thumbs up... and these are no pep comments... really mean it...
Hi there, it's the time between one stroke finishing at the rear and the next starting at the front. Exactly, a great stroke with nearly no glide - perfect!
Brilliant! Just as you say Yang's apparent glide is really just an illusion caused by his super long stroke and fast and efficient recovery leading to a prominent front quadrant style. That is to say he doesn't waste time with his recovering hand in the air, which would increase drag and cause him to sink. Thanks, I hadn't noticed that before!
A beautiful relaxed style. What I found most interesting about this video is that Jono's stroke length (so the amount of strokes per lane) stays practically constant no matter what speed he's swimming at. Only his stroke frequency goes up. That's an important fact for me to know, because I always assumed that with greater speed came greater distance travelled per stroke.
Van Hazel swam for Australia in 4x100m relay in the 2004 Olympics. The team finished 6th. He swam 49.65 s in the third leg. Popov is a step above--2 golds. Both swimmers are worth watching.
And i was begginng to despair as I kept losing my breath and my instructor did not give me any help in learning to breath properly. Soso far so good Thanks
I'm 11 years old, and I learned to swim when I was 8. I used to only swim in the summer, and only this school year (2012-2013) have I started swimming throughout the year. I do have swim practice everyday for 1.5 hours.
When he breathes to the right, his left arm goes a little bit to the side when he pulls...YESSSS!!! One flaw!!! I found one flaw in his seemingly perfect stroke!!! I can die now! xD
Hi taruky, we'd recommend a catch close to Jonos, an extreme EVF is beyond the capability of most swimmers and even elite swimmers can only create it on one side of their stroke normally. You're also referring to the depth of the pull? Jono is a sprinter and so pulls through a little deeper with a slightly more open elbow angle. He can swim 48sec for 100m doing that so it definitely doesn't create drag! For distance swimming we normally recommend an elbow angle of 100 - 120° under the body.
That was amazing. When i swim, i am rarely in a straight line. Not only that, my technique is horrible for the alternate breathing rhythms. His head was steady while everything else was moving and he was still breathing every third stroke. Just amazing....
Wow nice swimming, useful for kids like me to use... Btw I swim for SBA South Bay Aquatics I started about a month ago and I'm faster than most kids... this video can help me swim even faster... his technique is really good
저도 양쪽 호흡을 홀수번 롤링때마다 하는데, 오른손잡이-오른쪽편향이라 왼쪽 호흡때는 뭔가 부자연스러움이 남아있음. 이 선수는 경영기록이 전설급은 아니더라도 선수들 최고기록이 거기서 거기죠. 불과 몇 초 차이밖에 안나고, 오히려 일반적인 수영법에 있어 더 중요하다고 볼 수 있는 스트로크 효율이나 동작의 유연함이 최고수준이라고 볼 수 있겠는데요
사람들 다 놀라는 게, 1. 지그재그 모션이 어디에도 없다. 2. 머리가 절대 흔들리지 않는다. 3. 그러면서도 완벽한 롤링. 4. 이 모든 것을 가능하게 하는 단단한 코어. 4. 어떻게 저런 가벼운 모션으로 호흡이 가능하냐. 스트로크도 절대적으로 똑같은 동작의 반복 ㅋㅋㅋ
A word of advice for swimmers, do buy a centre snorkel and add it to your training sessions at least once a week, it will help you focus in technique. You can see his body rotation, firm stroke timing, steady kicks and less breaths making things a lot more efficient.
Hi toddmg, yes absolutely brilliant stroke of course - fantastic for 200m/400m distance especially. Might not suit everyone and would need a little adaptation for longer distance swimming but one of the great strokes for sure.
I have closely watched every step of this elite swimmer several times to emulate and perfect my stroke...My swimming technique has just ramped up got smoother get asked by several pool buddies ... how was I able to swim so smoothly and symmetrically perfect hand entry, rollover on side with hip rotation, followed by glide just enough float your extended hand and grab water support, perfect recovery treating palm and lower arm as one unit little outside body line.. will post my swim vid shortly
That's crazy smooth. You can balance a wine glass on his head its so still. Interesting he only takes a few breaths the whole length. My lungs would burst I didn't do every other stroke. This vid is perfect to visualize before heading down to the pool. Thanks guys, you rock!
Absolutely Jean, don't enter with the thumb down, palm facing outwards as it internally rotates the shoulders and can easily lead to shoulder injury! It's much more healthy for your shoulders to enter palm facing down, fingertips entering first.
lol... cant beat you phelps... I struggled for many years with good effecient technique... i watched several video from some swim tutorial stars out there...even bought their books videos etc... but nothing brought all elements together so well like this one... My technique has astronomically improved after watching this video many many times although I tuned a few things to what made me effecient and still continuing to do so...
Hi Julia - yes it is pretty cool! It's a process we use in-house here at Swim Smooth and unfortunately isn't something we can't release to the outside world as it relies on some very expensive commercial video software as part of the process. Sorry about that but all the very best with your swimming!
Hi, Phelps is around the 32 strokes per 50m mark although this is somewhat distorted by brilliant underwater work which means he's actually swimming full stroke for less distance than most of his competitors!
Hi ericaandjefft - internal angle so slightly wider than a right angle at the elbow. Another guideline is to aim to keep the hand directly below the shoulder - hope that helps!
Todd, I'm very confused by what you mean. The quicker pull through increases the speed yes, directly if you like. Think of it like riding a bike, you stay in the same gear but turn your legs over faster so you go quicker. That's not technically easy to do but Jono can.
Hi there, definitely keep them held lightly together - a very small gap is OK but in practise this is very hard to achieve and the last thing you want to try is spread them wide. Some elite swimmers move the thumb out during the catch and pull but not the fingers.
Hi theAbeElement, that's a six beat kick, so six kicks per full stroke cycle. Depending how strong it is it can be used for a variety of distances - powerful for sprinting and a lighter flutter action for longer distance racing. We're guessing you're referring to a 2-beat kick which is used by elite swimmers in combination with a shorter punchier stroke style - great for triathlon and open water swimming!
Hi MrAcb29, we have several measurement points down the lap for speed and take the other statistics by post-processing the video footage. We're very pleased with the results (in a swim-geek kind of way!). Yes, he's an amazing swimmer isn't he, even more so when you consider that he's six years out of competition there after retiring in 2004!
Great smooth swimmer. Noticed his kick is not quite strong for a velocist (specialy under the 48s in the end of the video). Amazing how he keeps his head in a steady position (no inutil moviments).
