Not the best swimmer...

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If you hire a swim instructor, even briefly, a little coaching can go a long way. I had to hire a swim instructor to get through scuba class. It took only a few minutes for him to analyze what I was doing wrong and get me on the path to a massive improvement with very little work.

It didn't require tons of effort, just someone who knew how to do things the right way telling me how to fix my technique. I think I paid like $100 or something for a brief class. Worth every penny.
Spot on! A lesson or two from a swimming instructor is definitely worth it.

A few months ago I had six students doing their swim test; four young lads and a slightly rotund middle-aged couple. I gave them all the speal about it not being a race, and sent them on their way. The youngsters shot off thrashing through the water, heads up, no finesse, whilst the older couple cut through the water like pros, finishing well ahead of the kids. The best example of technique over fitness I've ever seen!
 
A few months ago I had six students doing their swim test; four young lads and a slightly rotund middle-aged couple. I gave them all the speal about it not being a race, and sent them on their way. The youngsters shot off thrashing through the water, heads up, no finesse, whilst the older couple cut through the water like pros, finishing well ahead of the kids. The best example of technique over fitness I've ever seen!

"Old age and treachery will always beat youth and enthusiasm"
 
As I've often mentioned, those few tips from my competitive swimming brothers made all the difference for the DM 400 test. Stuff I knew, but was so rusty on since it had been 39 years since the HS Swim Team. First fix the defective technique, then a lot of pool laps if your objective is speed.
 
Competitive swimming isn't the same as swimming in the open ocean. Swimming to a victim and towing them in wind, waves, and current is a different kettle of fish than a 400m freestyle at a swim meet. Most adults I see who struggle at the pool have 2 main flaws that slow them down in freestyle. First is not exhaling while their face is in the water. They try and exhale AND take a fresh breath as they turn to breathe. There is not enough time for both, and you will feel like you're out of breath. Second is head too far up and arm pushing down for the first part of the arm stroke. This will cause your legs to drop, making your lower body a giant brake to your forward progress. Legs (bones) sink, chest (lungs) float, and you pivot at your belly button. You have to lay your head in the water, force your lungs into the water. Use your core / butt / lower back muscles and arch your feet back up to the surface as you kick. It will feel like swimming downhill until you are used to it. If you can keep your feet up, your streamline is pretty good. Water is 800+ times denser than air, reducing your drag pays off big in the water. I'm not sure you are going to get much forward propulsion from your kick, but kick to keep your feet at the top of the water and streamline.
 
Competitive swimming isn't the same as swimming in the open ocean. Swimming to a victim and towing them in wind, waves, and current is a different kettle of fish than a 400m freestyle at a swim meet. Most adults I see who struggle at the pool have 2 main flaws that slow them down in freestyle. First is not exhaling while their face is in the water. They try and exhale AND take a fresh breath as they turn to breathe. There is not enough time for both, and you will feel like you're out of breath. Second is head too far up and arm pushing down for the first part of the arm stroke. This will cause your legs to drop, making your lower body a giant brake to your forward progress. Legs (bones) sink, chest (lungs) float, and you pivot at your belly button. You have to lay your head in the water, force your lungs into the water. Use your core / butt / lower back muscles and arch your feet back up to the surface as you kick. It will feel like swimming downhill until you are used to it. If you can keep your feet up, your streamline is pretty good. Water is 800+ times denser than air, reducing your drag pays off big in the water. I'm not sure you are going to get much forward propulsion from your kick, but kick to keep your feet at the top of the water and streamline.
All makes sense. My brothers said you get about 75% of your power from arms, 25% from legs. Agree with all your described physics here. Not important, but my brothers do their competitive swims in the Atlantic off CT and Pacific off La Jolla, CA.
They don't do pool meets.
 
Competitive swimming isn't the same as swimming in the open ocean. Swimming to a victim and towing them in wind, waves, and current is a different kettle of fish than a 400m freestyle at a swim meet. Most adults I see who struggle at the pool have 2 main flaws that slow them down in freestyle.

You forgot the 3rd one: since freestyle is all arms, they've nothing to grab and tow the victim with. Or they can hold the victim and not swim, one or the other.
 
You forgot the 3rd one: since freestyle is all arms, they've nothing to grab and tow the victim with. Or they can hold the victim and not swim, one or the other.
Or you can use arms to tow victim and wear your fins (like rule #2 in Rescue Course). But that's nothing to do with actual swimming.
 
The way you tow a drowning victim is combat sidestroke, holding them by the hair. If they're in gear, you can hold on to 1st stage or the hoses instead.

I've no idea what the 400m in 7 minutes swim has to do with rescue: if you took more than 3 minutes getting to the victim and starting CPR, they're brain dead. You needn't've bothered.

To me mixing front crawl techniques, open ocean, and rescue, in one paragraph is just... confused.
 
The way you tow a drowning victim is combat sidestroke, holding them by the hair. If they're in gear, you can hold on to 1st stage or the hoses instead.

I've no idea what the 400m in 7 minutes swim has to do with rescue: if you took more than 3 minutes getting to the victim and starting CPR, they're brain dead. You needn't've bothered.

To me mixing front crawl techniques, open ocean, and rescue, in one paragraph is just... confused.
I'm not sure if I understand you correctly. What do you mean "holding them by the hair?" As in, literally pulling their hair to drag them along? For in gear scenario, do you hold the 1st stage only? I'm so confused. In both freediving and scuba diving, I was always taught to use one hand to keep the victim's airway open by lifting up their chin/holding their 2nd stage in place. How do you make sure your victim doesn't swallow water accidentally while being towed?
You're also supposed to be giving an in water rescue breath every 10 secs of towing to extend the time you have before victim is braindead
 
I was always taught to use one hand to keep the victim's airway open by lifting up their chin/holding their 2nd stage in place. How do you make sure your victim doesn't swallow water accidentally while being towed?
You're also supposed to be giving an in water rescue breath every 10 secs of towing to extend the time you have before victim is braindead

And how do you do that while swimming front crawl?
 

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