Many of you have enjoyed The Race Club’s original DVD, entitled The Three Styles of Freestyle. It has served as a great tutorial for our Race Club Campers to demonstrate that in swimming, there is not simply one right way to get to the end of the pool and back. Different stroke techniques are not only required for different swimmers, depending on their strengths or weaknesses, but also for different distances. To maximize efficiency, a swimmer must swim the 50 with a different technique than the 100 or 200, for example. Too many coaches try to pigeon hole swimmers into using one swim stroke, often trying to copy another great swimmer, such as Phelps or Coughlin, but it doesn’t always work out.

There are good scientific reasons why swimming techniques should differ for swimmers. I feel it is important for both swimmers and coaches to understand why they are trying to swim a certain way. It is as important to understand the reason for the commonalities of great swimmers as well as the reason for the differences. That is one of our goals for our campers.

The science of swimming is complex, involving both an understanding of physics and physiology. The late swimming coach, Dr. James “Doc” Counsilman, applied his vast knowledge of physiology with an understanding of physical principals to become the first coach to truly apply science to the sport of swimming. His first book, entitled The Science of Swimming, still remains a great reference for most of the successful swim coaches in the world. Since then, other coaches, such as Dr. Ernie Maglischo, have contributed even further to our understanding of the science of swimming.

However, what seemed to be lacking in the sport of swimming was a book or DVD that reduced the complex science of swimming into its simplest terms. What seemed to be needed was a DVD that would translate this complex science, involving laws of drag, motion and inertia, into visual, practical advice. We needed a DVD that would teach techniques or drills that could apply this science and achieve better swimming performances. We needed a DVD that would teach us to swim smarter, not just train harder.

It was with this in mind that The Race Club created Fundamentals of Fast Swimming. We hope to release this new DVD in the upcoming weeks and will offer a special presale promotional price for those of you who order soon. You will find it in our website store.

I would like to thank my son, Richard, who produced and edited Fundamentals of Fast Swimming. It takes a real artist who understands the need for music and refreshing visual images to make this subject matter entertaining. I think he has succeeded, but you will be the judge.

Yours in Swimming,

Gary Sr.