

The Effortless Swimming Podcast
Brenton Ford
Faster times and better technique aren't a guarantee when you train hard. What really makes a difference to your speed and efficiency in the water? The Effortless Swimming podcast helps make a complex sport really simple to better your swimming. We cover open water swimming, triathlon swimming and pool swimming. Hosted by Australian National swimmer and coach Brenton Ford.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jul 7, 2021 • 29min
#183: How To Beat Jan Frodeno Out OF The Water With Sam Laidlow
My guest today is Sam Laidlow who is considered one of the best triathletes in France today. He is born in the UK and was raised in French Pyrénées. Join us as Sam talks about his training, beliefs, and goals. 00:46 Working Hard And Working Smart 01:59 Dad As A Coach 03:39 Swimming 3X A Week 05:22 Big Part of Success In Swimming Is How Much You Enjoy It 06:06 There Is No One Way OF Swimming 08:18 Swimming With Stones 09:56 Strength Development 12:41 Go-To Sets 15:03 Should I Learn How To Flip Turn? 16:32 If You Don't Use It, You Will Certainly Lose It 17:47 Spending Too Much Time Running And Biking 19:16 Main Goals 22:38 Best Time 23:42 This Is What I Want To Do 27:29 Contact Sam Laidlow

Jul 1, 2021 • 34min
#182:What It Takes To Be Successful In Marathon Swimming with Phil Rush
In this episode, I am chatting with Phil Rush, who has the fastest double and triple crossing of the English Channel. In this episode, we chat about a number of things including how can you get better at adapting to the cold, the type of training that you need to be doing if you are looking to do a marathon swimming, what are the important factors when you are thinking of the training that you are doing. Is it the distance that you are doing? Is it the speed? Feeding? What are some aspects of the training? If you are into open-water swimming, cold water swimming, or looking to increase the distance that you are doing, then this a podcast for you. 03:21 Successful Crossing Despite The Pandemic 4:13 Everybody's Body Reacts Differently In The Cold 05:27 Strategies If You Find Someone Getting Cold 10:31 No Filter, No BS 15:50 Getting Into The Right Mindset 19:01 Controlling Your Mind 28:35 Cold Water Adaptation 31:52 What Is The Best Way To Train For An Openwater Swim?

Jun 25, 2021 • 16min
#181: 9 Seconds Faster Per 100m with Peter Bloor
My guest today is Peter Bloor from Vietnam. I invited him on the podcast to talk about the impressive results he has observed after day two of the '5 Day Catch Challenge'. He shared about what he had changed and did to make such an improvement. 1:00 Swimming Background 3:35 Did the '5 Day Catch Challenge' Each Day Twice 4:45 Less Tired And Feeling Better 5:45 The Importance Of Slow To Fast 8:19 One Focus A Day Is The Way To Go 10:05 Watching Swim Videos On Youtube 12:11 Training Sessions 13:53 8th Week Program

Jun 16, 2021 • 37min
#180: How To Move Better On Land (For Better Technique In The Water) with Jeff Grace
My guest today is Jeff Grace from Swimming Specific Yoga. Jeff has been in the podcast before. Now he is coming back to talk more about body awareness, mobility. preparation and many more. 02:26 Moving Better With Yoga 04:55 Body Awareness in Overhead Movements 06:55 Thoracic Mobility 08:18 Increasing Thoracic Spine Mobility 12:36 Rock Not Roll 13:21 Cross-Body Connections 15:05 How You Perform Drills Is More Important Than How Many Drill You Do 17:04 Activation and Relaxation 18:44 Effortless Effort 23:10 The Breath 26:02 Preparation

Jun 14, 2021 • 45min
#179: 7 Lessons From Coaching The Pros With Bevan Mckinnon
My guest today is Bevan Mckinnon. He is a coach at Fitter Coaching and he hosts a podcast called Fitter Radio. Bevan coaches multiple pro triathletes who have won several Ironman and 70.3 Distance Events. He has also won the Age Group World Championships in Kona and other long course events. In this episode, we are talking about some of the lessons that he has learned over the last several years of coaching and how they might apply to triathletes and swimmers who are looking to get better at swimming. 8:41 Environment And Coaching 9:57 Being An Objective Coach 11:27 Coaching Pros and Age Groupers. Is There A Difference? 12:47 Art of Coaching And The Science of Coaching 14:56 Teaching Teachers How To Teach 18:21 Giving The Athletes The Power To Decide 27:52 Swim Chute 33:40 Increasing Stroke Rate Finding The Right Resource

Jun 10, 2021 • 15min
#178: Do Swim Drills Work?
In todays episode, I want to go over an article that I was sent recently by Bevan Mckinnon who host the podcast Fitter Radio. I thought it is going to be worhtwhile going over this article that he sent because when I first read the title and when I read the first couple of paragraphs, it kind of got my hackels up a little bit, thinking that this is not right but as I continue to read through it, I found myself agreeing to most of this. 1:50 This Isn't Right 2:49 Drills Change Certain Aspect Of The Stroke 3:14 Knowing The Purpose Of The Drill 4:17 Making It As Simple As Possible 5:32 YMCA Drill Progression 10:36 Make Sure You're Doing The Drills Correctly

Jun 3, 2021 • 22min
#177: 4 Seconds Faster in 5 Days with Kris Martenstyn
Joining us in this episode is Kris Martenstyn from Singapore, who had some great results from the 5 Day Catch Challenge that we recently run. He will talk about the improvements he has seen and what he may have changed about his stroke to get these results.1:02 Swimming Background 2:56 Bringing In The 5 Day Catch Challenge Into My Workouts 4:19 The Entry 9:09 It Was Good To Come Back To Basics 12:00 Good Technique And Relaxation In The Water 15:33 Stick To The Routine 16:39 Swimming Makes You a Better Runner 17:58 Going Forwards 19:39 Achievement UnlockedPUT the 5-day catch link

May 28, 2021 • 18min
#176:2:25 To 2:10/100m In 2 Months with Quang Pham
My guest today is Quang Pham who recently had a significant improvement with his swim time. I thought it would be useful to have him share what he has done to improve. Listen to this episode, you might pick a couple of things that you might implement on your own. 1:40 Benchmarks 04:29 What Made The Difference 5:48 Swimming Has Become Easier 7:18 What Works Best For Me 8:37 What Got Me Into The Pool 12:00 The Next Step 13:59 Having A Structure 15:52 Initializing The Catch With The Ring And Pinky Finger

May 21, 2021 • 32min
#175:"I Couldn't Believe My Time When I Looked At My Watch" with Trey St. John
Joining us in this episode is Trey St. John whom I have been working with for a couple of months. Trey recently joined a triathlon and couldn't believe that he clocked in a sub-24 minute time. Join us as Trey talks about what he thinks contributed to this significant change. 00:47 Swimming Background 1:55 I Needed To Start Swimming 3:19 Watching Feedback Friday Videos 5:38 Fitness Is There But No Technique 6:03 I Really Wanted To Qualify 8:44 I Started Seeing Improvements 12:07 Using A Different Pair Goggles Right Before The Race 14:47 Consistency. Strength Work. Coaching 18:30 Using Bands 22:08 Providing Stroke Analysis Online 25:02 Awareness In The Water 25:22 Small Changes Can Make A Huge Impact 26:50 Preparing For Open Water Swimming 28:49 Open Water Sighting

May 2, 2021 • 58min
#174:100km In The Bay with Hollie Buerckner
My guest today is Hollie Buerckner who just completed a 100km around the bay, starting from Port Melbourne finishing in Sorrento. Join us in this podcast as Hollie shares her experience during that 5 day swim. 4:52 Having a great support system is important 7:27 Unlucky Weather 8:28 First To Last Day Experience 13:47 Struggles 21:59 Block Negative Thoughts 26:30 Swimming With Your Old Self 31:11 Everything Comes To An End 33:56 Expand your Comfort Zone 40:10 Post Swim 48:50 It's Not About Winning, More on Improving Yourself