Ability vs. Conditioning

In swimming, as with any sport, ability is a combination of technique and conditioning. In general terms, we can define ability as the intersection of three measureable factors: How fast do you swim? For how long can you swim? How much energy do you use while you swim?

It is common to confuse conditioning with ability or to discount the importance of technique, so ability and conditioning become synonymous in many athletes’ eyes. For sports that use motions we are naturally suited for, such as running, or for motions that are easily constrained or controlled, such as those in cycling, it is easy to blur the distinction between conditioning and ability. Technique in these sports is a much smaller component of overall ability than is conditioning. In sports such as golf, tennis, or the martial arts, however, technique is a much larger component of ability than conditioning.

Swimming falls into this latter category. Ability in swimming is 70 to 90 percent technique and only 10 to 30 percent conditioning. In addition to providing you a great conditioning workout, the practices in this book strongly emphasize improving your technical ability. In levels 1 and 2, 60 to 90 percent of each practice is skill drills that isolate specific, critical aspects of freestyle swimming. The remaining 10 to 40 percent are short swims (one or two lengths) with a specific concept or skill to focus on. As you move through the levels, there will be more emphasis on swimming. Levels 3 and 4 include 40 to 70 percent drills, and levels 5 and 6 include 20 to 50 percent drills.