Open Water Swimming Tips

Whenever I go to a beach and see those endless waves of water, I feel completely at peace. The rhythmic waves are so soothing. On the contrary, there is another dimension to the endless oceans - it embraces and of course, poses problems for those who want to swim with the high tide. Triathlon athletes sometimes and professional swimmers at the international level are always treading uncharted waters or rather oceans, wanting to make a mark on the swimming scene. This is referred to as open water swimming. Now swimming in an ocean is a different ball game all together. Open swimming needs a specific technique, otherwise the swimmer's resolve can go for a toss. In case you think you would be interested in knowing about open water swimming tips, here is something you might like.

Tips for Open Water Swimming

No railings, no lane ropes and most importantly, no assurance of calm water. This is what makes open water swimming challenging. No frills here, open water swimming is definitely not a piece of cake, but with practice and minute tips, it can be mastered.

Where the Mind is Without Fear
Well, it is all about the mind game my dear friends. It is scary, surely, to swim in unknown and unpredictable arena. But nothing is scary than the fact that you cannot do something or excel at something right? Although it is easier said than done, but fellas, when you gotta do it, you gotta do it!

Elbows Held High
Swimming with high elbows is a technique which has to be cultivated for open waters. The smooth swimming stroke is ideal in a swimming pool are no good in this choppy water. A high elbow recovery, resembling the action of zipping a zipper with each stroke is required or else your stroke will be eaten up by the water. Hence the arms have to go well above the water.

Keep on Rotating
Another crucial tip is to always begin swimming on your side, more so the upper body. It will lead to lowering the frontal area of resistance. That in turn will get the stronger muscles of the back involved, to get a stronger pull and increasing the length of your stroke. Along with that, the movement of the legs is very important. Horizontal is the position one should be ideally swimming in, in open water. That is basic swimming technique as far as open water swimming is concerned. However, do not depend too much on your legs to help you move ahead. This is one of the most important open water swimming tips, according to experts.

GPS, in Your Body
Let me clarify GPS - it is global positioning system and by GPS I mean here is that a swimmer's body itself is a GPS device. It is specially needed for open water swimming. To make sure that he or she is going in the right direction, a swimmer always looks up after a few strokes. This open water swimming technique helps him to gauge where the lane ends.

On the (Peri)Meter
When there is a large number of triathlon participants, if you stick to the inside of the group or outside, you will be able to swim better and at a steady place. You will be spared of altering your pace to match the group by doing this, though drafting can get a bit difficult to achieve.

Tried and Tested
Another open water swimming tip is to test and check out the water. See what the temperature of the water is before a race or even a training round. If you are talking about a race scenario, then the best bet would be to go in the water and do some warm up. In case it is neither and you are going to swim just for fun, take care that you have an idea as to how the water is and being close to the shore is recommended.

Apart from these, there are a number of swimming techniques for open water swimming like practicing sighting, knowing correct bilateral breathing technique and taking full advantage of the draft which are worth a mention here.

Finally, the most important open water swimming tip - if you have practiced hard and trained really well, trust your instincts and totally rely on your strokes to lead you! Believe in your strokes and enjoy being in the water!