Top Tips
Pick up knowledge to improve your outdoor swimming. Learn how to plan routes, train with others, complete events, and overcome obstacles like nerves or fitness level. Get guidance on skills like bodysurfing, underwater swimming, and adapting your stroke for rivers and seas. Experts and seasoned swimmers share their top tips so you can swim safer, stronger, and with more joy.
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Squats: A fundamental movement for life
Squats aren’t just for the gym. This simple, fundamental movement can build lower-body strength, power and mobility, helping you swim…
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Beyond the pool: why strength training matters for swimmers
Why the swimming pool is the ultimate training environment – and why the gym should be part of every swimmer's…
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How pool swimming can make you a better open water swimmer
Olympic swimmer Alice Dearing shares what can be gained in open water from work in the pool
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Using AI to create fitness training programmes
Fitness coach Vivienne Rickman explores the possibilities and limitations of using AI to plan and support fitness goals
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Can technology make you a better open water swimmer?
How can we marry up the wildness of open water swimming with technology?
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The tech smart swimmer
How technology is transforming your time in the pool, by swimming coach Nicola Butler
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Breathing patterns: what’s your preference?
When we asked Outdoor Swimmer readers about their preferred breathing patterns in front crawl, the responses revealed something intriguing. Stripping…
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Plan your own event training
The preparation needed for a 400m sprint in a pool would be very different from that required for a long-distance…
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How personal goals transform your time in the pool
Training for your own challenge isn’t about racing the person in the next lane or hitting elite level times. It’s…
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Night training – finding the right balance
Training at night can be highly effective, and with the right balance, it can support both fitness and overall wellbeing,…
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Executing hard sessions in the pool …the right way!
Tougher swim sessions are the engine room of swim performance - but they need intention, structure, mindset and execution, says…
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Endurance swimming: the night element
Take your time, start small and prepare well for the nighttime element of your endurance swim, says Olympian Alice Dearing
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How improving posture can improve swimming
Effective breathing is central to swimming performance, so improving posture is one way to positively impact your swim technique, says…
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Love your local leisure centre!
Build a balanced training programme all in one place, says fitness coach Vivienne Rickman
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Lengthening your swims
April is about lengthening your time in the water, lengthening your stroke and lengthening your attention span so you can…
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Strengthen your core in the pool
One of the most effective (and often overlooked) places to build a powerful, stable core is the swimming pool, says…
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How to improve your front crawl: four simple technique fixes
Master the fundamentals of front crawl in four weeks - with quick wins you can try in your very next…
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Flourishing through swimming: practical principles from positive psychology
For our March Virtual Event we were delighted to host Leadership Coach Lexi Tinkler who shared fascinating insights about how…
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Use the outdoors for dryland training
Avoid busy, stuffy gyms and get outside for your dryland training, says fitness coach Vivienne Rickman
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Get event ready with Vassos Alexander
How to swim your best at the Great North Swim and other open water events this summer – with sports…
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How to boost your endurance and swim stronger
Boosting endurance in the pool isn’t just about swimming more laps, says swim coach Nicola Butler. It’s about training smarter,…
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How to keep swimming strong as you age, with World Record Holder Deborah Gardner
How do you keep swimming strong and even improving into your 50s, 60s and beyond? Long distance swimmer Deborah Gardner…
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Boost your strength and mobility for better movement
Make 2026 the year you move better – understanding the link between strength and mobility, says personal trainer Liz Lowe
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Sustainable fitness for 2026
When fitness becomes part of your life rather than something extra you have to “fit in,” you are far more…
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Use the pool to transform your technique
Swim coach Nicola Butler explains how using pool features, from the lane ropes to pool markings, can improve your swim…
