By Kevin Koskella

Tri Swim Coach

When we learned to swim freestyle as children, most of us swam flat in the water, with little or no hip rotation as our arms did the majority of the work. Many triathletes and open water swimmers have found it necessary to change their stroke and swim more on their sides in order to conserve energy, swim faster, and get through potential rough water conditions with greater ease.

Rotating from side to side as you swim is a method that has been around for over 30 years. When Mark Spitz was gaining national recognition in the early 70’s, many critics said, “His only problem is that he does this side-to-side action as he swims!” Little did they realize just how revolutionary that stroke was. Science has now backed up this style of swimming, and great swim coaches like Howard Furby and Ernie Maglischo have popularized swimming on your side with many successful swimmers over the years. [.....]

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