Remember how Jeannie used to fold her
arms in front of her body in that old
TV show “I Dream of Jeannie”?

Well, Jeannie’s signature “move” is the
inspiration for this drill!

This drill teaches swimmers to keep their
hips high in the water while maintaining
balance.

Fold arms in front of head so each hand is
lying on top of the opposite elbow.

Keep elbows high so the forearms are parallel
to the water’s surface.

Instruct your swimmers to kick breaststroke
while their arms are in this “Jeannie”
position.

I prefer this drill to using kickboards,
which give unnatural float to the upper
body and cause the hips to sink.

This is a great drill to discourage sculling
or pulling during the kick.

If you’re looking for even more drills,
I strongly recommend checking out Mickey’s
DVD clinic:

http://www.swimmingpracticeplans.com/sp/successsystem.html

I return to his stuff for a refresher every season-
it’s that good.

Weight Loss Benefits of Swimming

Swimming is an effective way to burn calories and lose pounds. In terms of reducing stored calories, about 15 minutes swimming expends about 150 calories. Over 12 months, this daily swim uses up a total of 54,750 calories per year: the equivalent of 15.6 pounds of body fat.

Swimming: Fitness and Health Benefits

Swimming doesn’t just help you to reduce weight, it also improves blood circulation, reduces cholesterol levels and boosts metabolic rate.

How to Lose Weight Fast by Swimming

In order to increase weight loss, by swimming, it’s important to follow a balanced diet, which includes a good range of minerals, vitamins and other nutrients. Why? Because a healthy, nourished body loses weight faster. In addition, diet studies show that motivation is improved when you record your weight and body measurements once a week (using a regular weighing-scales) and record your general fitness progress.

Does Swimming Suit You?

For effective weight loss, diet experts recommend that the best type of workout routine is the one that best suits your individual lifestyle – not necessarily the type of workout that burns the most calories.

Sharks and Minnows:    

Generally Sharks and Minnows is played in the deep end of a large pool. The game starts out with one person selected as the shark and the rest as the minnows. The shark starts in the water on one side of the pool and the minnows usually start on the deck of the other side (if they are playing in water deep enough to dive into). The game starts by the shark calling out “It’s dinner time!” or some variant of such phrase, at which point the minnows may begin to dive in to swim to the other wall. If the shark manages to tag a minnow before he touches the wall, then that minnow becomes a shark in the next round. After all the minnows have either reached the wall or been tagged the shark(s) swim to the other wall and the cycle starts again. The game is played until all of the minnows have been tagged, then the first person tagged becomes the shark who starts the next round. This is one of Steph’s favs.