Open water swimming although thrilling and exciting is also more tiring and physically demanding than swimming in the pool. Here are 4 tips to help you

🌊Tip 1 – Wide Arms
In comparison to pool swimming and depending on the swell and wind conditions, ocean swimming can be bumpy and choppy. This can cause you to feel wobbly and unstable whilst you’re swimming. To counteract this feeling, keep your arms out wide whilst you are swimming. Think of this as your stabilisation.

🌊Tip 2 – Hold your catch
One of the most common mistakes when swimming freestyle is not holding your catch. To make sure you’re doing this, hold one arm up (in front of your shoulder) whilst the other arm pulls underwater. Your arm should only pull down as the other one comes over your shoulder to enter the water. A wide catch will also give you more power by engaging more muscles both in your trunk and shoulders as well as increase your glide and minimise resistance in the water.

🌊Tip 3 – Breath every two
Breathing every two strokes will not only help you stay calm whilst swimming in open water conditions but also provides a higher flow of oxygen to the bloodstream than breathing every 3 or 4 strokes.⁠

When ocean swimming and in particular if you are swimming a long distance the only way you are going to get enough oxygen into your bloodstream and avoid fatigue is to breathe every two!

🌊Tip 4 – Recovery (when your arm comes out and over the water)
We encourage our swimmers to swim with straight arms. Straight arms allow you to recover your arm.

We hope our open water or ocean swimming tips gives you confidence to swim in the ocean more. If you have any more questions on ocean swimming or swimming in general drop us a message here. Or if you are ready to test your skills or want to learn more, we offer ocean swimming sessions and courses at Bondi and the Central Coast, New South Wales. View full information here.

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