#903 – How To Not Suck At Swimming #16

Crushing Iron Triathlon Podcast

Mike Tarrolly

Fitness, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 739 Ratings

🗓️ 23 January 2026

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today, we go deep on swimming but keep it relatively simple so you can work on things that matter and lock them in. We talk about some of the most important fundamentals regarding swimming: breathing, body position, and body control. There will be big wins in your swimming if you can master the basic principles of swimming. We also get into how you should be breaking up your week regarding form, intensity, and endurance. We'll look at getting a bigger return for your energy investment, why the hips are critical, why you're probably too tense in the water, and the soon to be famous Light Switch Test.

Topics:

Does op 20 swimming list hold up?
Swimming and focus on the details
Obsession over aero and watts but not swimming
90 Day Challenge
Picking up swimming later in life
Correct form + muscular endurance
End of Ironman running form
Uncomfortable doing hard swims?
Efficient form for return of energy investment
Day One - Pick one day for technique (AR)
Day two - Focus on top speed and turnover
Day Three - Longer swim for muscular endurance
How to breathe
Why to breathe every stroke
Breath 2-4
Bilateral breathing??
Build a strong side
Body position
Head is number one
Forehead down
Body Control
Head raises - body sinks
A body drill with paddles
Outside cues to get a better feel for the water
Video from the front cue
Splayed out?
Hips way too open
Hip control
Steering wheels in swimming
The Light Switch Test

Mike Tarrolly - mike@c26triathlon.com

Robbie Bruce - robbie@c26triathlon.com

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	All right, man, we picked a perfectly appropriate day to talk about swimming.
0:24.6	Didn't we?
0:25.2	The day when everyone probably can't get to the pool.
0:27.6	Yeah, let's get tough.
0:28.8	They're not going to be able to apply for a few days.
0:30.5	They already get people asking to switch runs and rides up
0:34.1	because they're not going to be able to go outside.
0:36.8	Yeah, it is apparently, if Casey didn't know,'re not going to be able to go to go outside yeah it is uh apparently
0:37.9	i didn't if case you didn't know people are going to get snow this weekend in the south yeah all over
0:44.9	and it's complete utter hysteria i mean granted a lot of these places don't have like the
0:49.4	infrastructure to handle stuff like this but yeah perfect timing I'm sure everybody can't wait to step outside.
0:55.4	Again, the pull deck when it's negative 20 outside and get ready to get in and change your swim.
1:00.3	It is January 23rd, the year, 2006.
1:04.4	Welcome to everybody.
1:05.4	You're listening to the Crushing Iron Podcast.
1:07.1	This is episode 903.
1:10.3	Yeah.
1:51.1	Yeah, you're right, though. I talked to one of my athletes, I was telling, because he lives in Atlanta, and it's like, they just, could this can be a lot more disruptive for people, even the littlest things, because up here, it's minus 20 right now, and I've been getting in the cold plunge. I've been, it's just like part of my day. You know, it's just sort of how things are here. They build houses differently and they take care of roads differently. And it can be sort of disruptive. So I, my thoughts are all for these people. Thoughts. Yeah, well, I mean, it's the South, right? Thoughts and prayers. Thoughts and prayers. So take care take care yourself people but no it is true like i was we were having a different conversation uh earlier before we went live about an athlete that i work with in minnesota and he was like yeah it's actually gonna be like single digits
1:55.3	next week and i was like uh-oh break out the luau shirt and the shorts it is summertime baby
2:01.1	because i think it's like negative 20, negative 30.
2:03.6	I guess he was just lamenting in like how much he absolutely hates the treadmill.
2:07.6	And I go in phases, right, like the top of the day of swimming, but I go in phases of like embracing it.
	...

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