All posts tagged: swimming

10 Best Budget-Friendly Christmas Presents for Swimmers

Published by Anna Kazakova

Swimming is like religion for those who spend more time in water than out of water. If you’re lucky to be a swimmer, and have friends who are swimmers, here are 10 solid tips for the perfect Christmas gift. 1. Medal Holder Competitive swimmers usually don’t know how to display their medals, so they usually end up siting in a box, placed on a shelf somewhere in a closet. This is a great way to display medals….and encourage more training to win more medals!    2. Swimming Towel These towels are not easy to find! They are special microfiber towels that absorb more than regular bath towels….and are extremely compact. A must have for every swimmer! 3. Remarkable Swimming Gear TYR created the special collection The Finals Funnies. This collection is true to its name—pure fun! A combination of great quality and bright colors….especially useful during those dull fall days in the pool. I bought myself that one. There are models for guys too. 4. Book Swimmers do read, but we prefer to read about …

Dry-land Exercises for Swimmers: Breaststroke

Published by Anna Kazakova

Help your body to develop muscles so the muscles will help you to swim longer and faster. Together with  Kamishi Swimming School we prepared a wonderful set of dryland exercises for swimmers that  they usually provide to their BREASTSTROKE swimmers. It is a selection of exercises from Swimming Anatomy book by Ian McLeod. All of them you can do at the GYM. ARMS Standing Double-Arm Triceps Pushdown With Rope This exercise is good for every type of stroke, but especially for breaststroke. It mimics the final portion of the underwater pull performed off the start and each turn wall. “In the starting position your hands are at your midline. As the elbows are extended, the hands pull the ends of the ropes outward so that when the elbows are almost locked the hands are shoulder-width apart”. Barbell Biceps Curl This exercise also enhances the second half of the pull phase during breaststroke. Execution 1 . Grasp the bar using an underhand grip. Your hands should be spaced shoulder-width apart. 2 . Without leaning back, curl the bar toward your chest …

Swim and Travel

Published by Anna Kazakova

I love combining tourism with swimming. Last year I swam the 6.5 km Bosphorus race (read more here) and enjoyed Istanbul’s beautiful scenery from the water. Next year, I am planning to explore England and swim the 14 km Bridge to Bridge, one of Henley Swim’s annual events. This article is about Swedish swim competitions that you can combine with exploring Stockholm– one of Scandinavia’s capital cities, and arguably known as “the Venice of the North.”  Swim and Travel Stockholmssimmet Stockholmssimet is a new swim competition, premiering this year. The event is organized by the same people who brought you the craziness of “Tough Viking”. In Stockholmssimmet, you have an option of two different distances, either 1 km or 3.3 km. Oxana and I swam the 3.3 km, and it was amazing! Swimmers start from Stockholm’s marine museum and finish in the middle of the Royal National City Park, which was just where we wanted to be on a sunny Sunday morning. One downside with this race was a lack of organization, probably due to the fact …

A Perfect Pair of Goggles

Published by Anna Kazakova

Every swimmer knows that it takes years to find the perfect pair of goggles. When you do find them, you need to buy out the store (either physically or online) where you found them; at least ten pairs! That way, you know you are safe in case they stop manufacturing that model. Sounds a little crazy, doesn’t it? All swimming shops are packed with different types of goggles, but they are all, well, crap. The price tag is no indication of protection from crap. In fact, my experience has been that the more expensive the goggles, the less useful they are. These are the absolute best ones I found that work for me: Swedish Goggles Malmsten. This brand is similar to IKEA in that you get a package with parts which you put together yourself, resulting in the perfect pair of goggles. The invention of these goggles has a very interesting history. Over thirty-five years ago, the famous Swedish swimming coach, Tommy Malmsten, was training a very promising swimmer, Ann-Sofi Roos. Roos suffered from very sensitive skin …

Best Swimming Pools in the Stockholm Region

Published by Anna Kazakova

We spend so much time in Stockholm’s swimming pools with NO FEAR Swim Kamishi swimming school that we feel the need to tell you the truth about them. We consider pools that are best suited for: Training Spending time with kids Our absolute favorites are: All year round Sundbyberg Simhall Bergaliden 1, 172 77 Sundbyberg (Pros) Sundbyberg Simhall has been completely renovated and extended. The facility is very clean, comfortable, and spacious. There are two training pools, each twenty-five meters in length (one with adjustable floor), as well as a kid’s pool and a baby pool. The baby pool was designed by Swedish sculptor Backa Carin Ivarsdotter (see picture above). Overall, the facility is very kid-friendly. It is even possible to sunbathe there during the summer time. The personnel are a friendly, great team. In addition to having among the lowest admission prices in city, the facility includes a gym. (Cons) If you are training, they tend to group two lines in one, and ask you to swim in Swedish “motionsim”, which means that you have to swim …

Stockhomssimmet: excitement and cold!

Published by Oxana a.k.a. Merenlin

“You can do this. You can do this. Fuck, it’s cold. I can’t really feel my feet. You can do this. You can do this. Ok. we are going to turn around now and then it’s going to be easier with the current. Jeese…Why does not it get better? Ok. I am just gonna slow down and swim on my back. Just breathe.” That is approximately what was going in my mind during today’s swim. The weather was beautiful: one of this rare in Stockholm warm days with sunshine and cloudless sky. A perfect day for a long swim in Djurgårdsbrunnskanalen. Me and Anna got there on our bikes, the race wasn’t big, just around 200 people for both the 3,3 km distance(that we were doing) and the shorter 1,1 km stretch. I was feeling great. Until the moment I got into the water. It. was. cold. It felt like the Atlantic ocean in Cape Town. It kind of tickles your feet and you have an urge to get out (at least I do). – …

How Can I Improve My Crawl?

Published by Oxana a.k.a. Merenlin

Crawl. It’s the fastest, most majestic, and most difficult of all strokes. So why on earth does it look so easy for experienced swimmers? Why can’t YOU glide through 25 meters effortlessly like the person in the lane next to you? I wish I had quick-fix solution for you but I don’t. In fact, it is a step-by-step, stroke-by-stroke process that will teach you to move through the water with minimal effort. Technique Technique, technique, technique. That’s what any coach will drill into your head during training sessions. Having the right technique is key to NOT getting tired too quickly, NOT losing your breath and NOT struggling to swim faster, longer. Check out this video by Speedo–it’s the best one I’ve seen so far. Watch the videos and follow the instructions. Or better yet, sign up for a swimming course… or hire a swimming coach to cover the basics. Without the fundamentals, you might be swimming in-place for the rest of your life 🙂 f you practice on your own, remember to focus on every …

The courageous you: 10 steps to overcome fear

Published by Oxana a.k.a. Merenlin

What are you afraid of? You always wanted to make that step, to speak up for yourself in a toxic relationship, to set on the adventure of your dreams, to stop shaking in the dark and finally feel certain of yourself. But what is it exactly that you fear and how to fight and win over it? Let’s walk through the 10 steps to the courageous you together. This is a summary of what I tell my students during the swimming classes when they face their fear of deep water, but you can certainly apply it to fighting other fears as well. 1. Say hello to your fear. Say it out loud. Write it down in your journal. Don’t pity yourself, don’t avoid any more, don’t come up with excuses and reasons. Just admit it to yourself. Say hello to your fear. Say: “I am afraid of deep water”, “I am afraid of the dark”, “I’m afraid for my family alienating me forever”, “I’m afraid of…”.  Write it down. Admitting what you are afraid of to …

Tattoo for Swimmers – Passion Statement.

Published by Anna Kazakova

Maybe not that healthy, but sometimes we just need  a statement.  I do not have a tattoo yet… So I started to look through possibilities and here what I found. Really inspirational for swimming lovers, so cute and funny! Ideas of tattoo for swimmers! One day I’ll make one of these passion statements! Do you love swimming this much?                          

Swim fins

Swim Fins Program

Published by Anna Kazakova

Swim fins are fun! They are amazing training aid for swimmers! There are a lot af advantages for using swim fins: they increase fitness and cardiovascular conditioning, increase ankle flexibility, develop leg strength and improve technique. Here is a simple, mostly crawl, program for 1500 m with swim fins we did today with Swim School Kamishi in 50 m pool in the morning. Warm up/ Strech – dryland 15 min (see the program here) Warm up in water 100 m crawl 200 m medley (50 m Butterfly, 50 m Crawl back, 50 m Breast, 50 m Crawl)   Main Set 2 x 50 m leg kicks with fins crawl, your arms position: out straight in front. 4 x 50 m crawl with fins. First 50 m as fast as you can, second 50 m relax. 4 x 50 m crawl swim without fins. 4 x 50 m leg kicks butterfly with fins, arms breaststroke. Breath every second kick. 4 x 50 m crawl with fins. First 50 m as fast as you can, second 50 m …