FDS Coaching
Form...Distance...Speed!
Adult swimming instruction in Colorado's Front Range
Certified Senior Coach
Brian Vande Krol
Fitness Swimmers
Often, swimming coaches focus on fitness, hoping that your body will eventually adapt to the challenges of a liquid environment for which humans are not well suited. At FDS Coaching, efficient technique is the paramount concern, enabling you to swim farther and faster, with fitness being the by-product, rather than the emphasis. This approach not only makes it possible to swim better, but also makes it far more enjoyable! The possibilities for continued improvement can turn swimming into a lifelong passion!
Intrigued by the low-impact aerobic exercise promised by the sport of swimming, but frustrated by the difficulty of the sport? Ever wonder why other swimmers can swim for such long distances, but you find it difficult to sustain even a 20 minute workout in the
pool? It’s not because of your fitness level, it’s because of your technique! Learn how efficient swimming can help you attain greater aerobic fitness and strength by making swimming easier, not harder!
Triathletes
Do you come out of the water exhausted, wobbly, and with such a high heart rate that it takes several minutes of easy pedaling just to recover from the swim? Or perhaps you want to shave some time off the swim leg without sacrificing the rest of the race? Are you a new
triathlete, wondering if you can survive the swim, let alone ride and run after? Do you want to learn how to swim straight in open water and survive the “pummeling” of pack swimming? FDS Coaching can teach you all of these things while saving energy both in training and racing for biking and running. And it’s easier than you might imagine!
Competition Swimmers
With our thorough video analysis, you’ll learn the fine points to refine your technique, allowing you to use more of your energy for propulsion. You’ll develop a thorough understanding of what good technique is AND why it works.
Human swimmers have very low efficiency. Only 3 – 10 % of the energy you expend propels you forward. As you increase fitness resulting in greater speed, drag increases exponentially. Therefore, a 10% increase in fitness will not generate a 10% increase in speed. A 10% increase in efficiency (reducing drag, getting more distance per stroke), however, will provide a 10% increase in speed for the same energy. The key, then, is to understand what makes a swimmer more efficient, and imprint patterns of efficient movement.
Beginners/Aquaphobes
Typical swimming instruction is geared toward survival. You learn to thrash your legs and arms in an effort to keep your head out of the water. This method reinforces the human instinct that tells us our heads aren’t supposed to be underwater. At best, it leads to uncomfortable and inefficient
swimming. At worst, it can be a terrifying experience!
At FDS Coaching, we’ll teach you to be comfortable in the water. Survival in the water is fairly easy once you learn to relax and enjoy the support of the water. Next, you will learn how easy and fun it is to move through the water, using a set of simple exercises. The exercises progress to whole stroke swimming, each skill building on and adding to the previous skill. And we do it with a constant focus on comfort, ease, and efficiency.