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STOP WATCHING SWIMMING VIDEOS! Float then swim — Transcript

by Skills N' Talents (swimming) · 8,696 words · 1,331 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Here are three reasons why adults
0:01struggle to swim smoothly while some
0:04kids learn this skill much faster.
0:06Number one, adults listen to online
0:08advice intended for children. Number
0:11two, adults think about every move
0:13instead of using rhythm and flow. Before
0:16I tell you the third, you have to know
0:17this. Adults have several advantages
0:20over kids. One of them is that they'll
0:23understand this video much better than
0:25kids. And second is that adults have
0:27more context. Just look at Barrett at
0:30age 39. Without context, it is
0:33impossible to understand what he
0:34achieved in one day. In just 24 hours,
0:38he improved his stroke efficiency from
0:4030% to 50%. Six days later, he wrote a
0:44message to us saying, "I have been stuck
0:47for years, years at 1:35 per 100 m pace.
0:51Didn't matter what I did, stroke,
0:53effort, tempo, technique, 1:35.
0:55Yesterday was my first swim back in the
0:58pool. I hopped in and was too eager to
1:01find out, so I did a 100. And
1:041:15. A 20-second drop in 100 m. Seems
1:08impossible, right? If I were you, I
1:09wouldn't believe it either. But I do
1:11because I got to know him for 5 days and
1:14I filmed and recorded the data. Consider
1:17this. Why do strong, disciplined, fit
1:20adults get in the pool and feel heavy?
1:22How can a 65-year-old woman who's never
1:25set foot in a gym glide past them
1:27effortlessly in the water? Here's a
1:29clue. In a study of 98 men, after a
1:32normal breath out, only seven could
1:34float. After a full breath, every single
1:37one of them could float with their lungs
1:39full of air. After teaching thousands of
1:41adults and kids from 48 countries, I can
1:44tell you this. Nobody talks about what
1:46makes adult swimming so difficult. As
1:49swimmers, the three of us never
1:50qualified for the Olympics. But as
1:52coaches, we've helped every level of
1:55swimmer understand aquatic movement much
1:58deeper.
1:59From Olympians to beginners, we have
2:01worked with the full spectrum. And what
2:03I'm about to show you in the next 50
2:06minutes will change how you swim
2:07forever. Including a study where MRI
2:10scans caught elite swimmers doing
2:12something inside their own body that
2:14nobody could see from the outside. I'll
2:16teach you how to do it, too. As adults,
2:19these should be our main two goals:
2:21float like a butterfly and swim like a
2:23fish in that order. So, one for the
2:26other and you'll be eventually confused
2:29and stagnant.
2:35Here's what I've learned. Children float
2:37easily if they're taught correctly. Many
2:39elderly people float naturally if they
2:41don't panic. Women float more easily
2:44than men.
2:45And elite athletes are some of the worst
2:47floaters in the pool. I was one of them
2:49until I received this letter and I
2:51finally understood the concept of the
2:53two centers. Three years ago, I wrote a
2:56letter to my 7-year-old self with
2:58everything I wish I knew about swimming
2:59fast and how to become the fastest
3:01swimmer in the world. That video has
3:03over 2 million views across our Spanish
3:05and English channels. Last week, I got a
3:08letter back. This time written by my
3:1046-year-old self. He told me it was time
3:13to stop writing to kids. It was time to
3:15help the adults and it starts like this.
3:18Dear 36-year-old me, this is you from
3:202036. You're going to spend the next 10
3:23years researching why adults struggle to
3:25improve faster. I'll save you time. The
3:27problem was never the swimmers. It was
3:30what they were told, including some of
3:32what you teach right now. Adults are
3:34giving too many instructions and what is
3:36worse, it is not prioritized by order of
3:39importance. Here are five tips that will
3:41change how you swim and more
3:43importantly, how you teach.
3:51David Foster Wallace told this story in
3:53his speech This is Water. Let it linger
3:55in your mind and it will teach you many
3:57things. It goes something like this. Two
4:00young fish are swimming along and they
4:02pass an older fish going the other way.
4:04The older fish nods and says, "Morning,
4:06boys. How's the water?" The two young
4:08fish keep swimming for a bit and then
4:10one of them looks over at the other and
4:12goes,
4:13"What the hell is water?"
4:15David Foster continues, "The point of
4:16this story is merely that the most
4:18obvious important realities are
4:21the ones that are the hardest to see and
4:23talk about." For us, this story contains
4:26one deeper and another more literal
4:29lesson. Young swimmers don't even notice
4:31the water. They just glide through.
4:33Smart, athletic, disciplined adults get
4:35in the pool
4:37and they feel like they're swimming
4:38through quicksand. The adult swimmers
4:39tell themselves, "Swimming is hard. I
4:42need to watch more videos, practice
4:44harder, get even stronger." And that's
4:47not an answer. Listen to what Maria
4:49says.
4:49>> I feel like swimming is very different
4:51than running in the sense that with
4:53running, the more you do it,
4:55the more you improve. So, you just go
4:56out and you do it and do it and do it
4:58and with time you'll get better. And I
5:01didn't notice the same thing with
5:02swimming.
5:03>> The real answer is more obvious and
5:04invisible, just like the water in the
5:06story.
5:09Here's what none of the swim coaches
5:11have told you. You're a master of moving
5:13through the air. You're so good at it
5:15that you don't even notice it's there.
5:17Cyclists might think about air more than
5:19anyone else, but the rest of us move
5:21through it as if it doesn't exist.
5:23That's why when we change to a dense
5:25medium, we struggle. On land, we use our
5:27bodies like a spring. We make ourselves
5:30heavy against it, absorb energy, release
5:34it, and bounce forward. The harder we
5:37push, the faster we go. People who feel
5:39light on their feet are masters of
5:41pushing the ground hard. In the water,
5:43the rules flip. You can't push the water
5:46the way you push the ground. And
5:48resistance doesn't come from a light
5:50medium like air. Try a water rower. Pull
5:53slowly and the resistance is low. Pull
5:56fast and the resistance increases. The
5:58harder you try, the more the water
6:00pushes back. In swimming, drag doesn't
6:03care how hard you pull. It cares about
6:05your shape and your speed. Drag forces
6:08scale with the square of your velocity.
6:11Which means going twice as fast creates
6:13four times the resistance and it scales
6:16directly with your frontal area. Every
6:19extra square centimeter your body
6:21presents to the water multiplies that
6:23cost. When your legs sink, they don't
6:26just add drag. They add drag that gets
6:29more expensive the faster you try to go.
6:31That's the trap of swimming out of
6:33balance. But when your body is
6:34horizontal and when your legs sit behind
6:37your upper body's silhouette as seen
6:39from the front, your frontal area stays
6:42small. Speed no longer punishes you the
6:44same way. That's not a technique tip.
6:47That's physics working for you instead
6:49of against you. To find a horizontal
6:51body position, you need to understand
6:54the two centers, which we will talk
6:55about more in the next tip. Have you
6:57ever wondered why a track athlete can
6:59run almost the same speed when they
7:01double the distance, but a swimmer
7:03can't? Runners lose almost nothing when
7:06they double from 100 to 200 m. Swimmers
7:09lose their speed with every extra lap.
7:12By 400 m, the fastest swimmer in the
7:14world is moving 16% slower than the
7:18100-m world record pace.
7:20By 1500, 20% slower. But notice
7:23something else on the chart. After 400
7:25m, the two lines cross. The runner keeps
7:28falling. The swimmer levels off.
7:31Past 400 m, the physics flip. The
7:33swimmer is no longer losing too much
7:35ground to the drag. The runner is losing
7:38ground to fatigue. That's the tell. At
7:40short distances, water punishes you for
7:42trying hard, at long distances, water
7:44rewards you for staying horizontal
7:47because drag rises with the square of
7:49velocity, which brings us back to the
7:52point. If your goal is to swim fast, you
7:54need to get strong and be extremely
7:56efficient. If your goal is to swim
7:58smoothly, then horizontal body position
8:01is the priority. Efficiency comes
8:03second. Power comes third. I'll say it
8:06one more time so you remember it next
8:07time you swim. If you feel heavy and
8:10breathless every time you push hard in
8:12the water, stop chasing speed and start
8:14chasing weightlessness. But if your legs
8:17naturally sink, how does someone stay
8:19horizontal?
8:21Remember what I promised at the start. I
8:23said, a study used MRI scans on elite
8:27swimmers. When they extended into
8:29streamline, something remarkable showed
8:31up. Their internal organs had shifted
8:34cranially. They weren't lifting their
8:36legs, they were not tightening the core,
8:38they were rearranging themselves from
8:40the inside. You have a center of
8:42buoyancy and a center of mass. On
8:45average, they're separated by about 2 cm
8:48for some people more than others. That's
8:51how averages work. Fish don't have this
8:53problem. Their two centers sit right on
8:55top of each other. That's why they feel
8:57weightless. They're not fighting
8:58themselves. Imagine a boat where half of
9:01it is always sinking while the other
9:03half is always floating. It would be
9:05very difficult to make it light. That's
9:07the adult swimmer. Two centers, one
9:09pulling down, the other pulling up.
9:11Weightlessness isn't a feeling you
9:13chase, it's what happens when your two
9:15centers stop fighting each other and
9:18start acting like one. One of the most
9:20common mistakes is pulling water down at
9:22the beginning of the stroke. This
9:24separates the two centers even more and
9:26immediately brings the hips down. That's
9:29why the 30-year-old tries harder, pulls
9:32harder, and only makes things worse. His
9:34strength is working against him, and
9:36then it gets Kate. If his hips drop, he
9:39lifts his head too far to breathe. The
9:41body sinks more. He pulls harder, uses
9:44more energy, burns more oxygen, produces
9:47more CO2, anxiety creeps in. By the
9:50third lap, Claire is using 20% of her
9:53effort to get from one side of the pool
9:55to the other. And the fit adult is at
9:5790% and getting slower with every
9:59length. Maybe he doesn't start with all
10:01these problems, but one or two will show
10:04up the moment his body gets tired. When
10:07swimmers move their internal organs up
10:09toward their lungs, both centers draw
10:11closer together. That means that the
10:13legs pull down with less effort. Each
10:16arm stroke can go further. After reading
10:18this study, I tried it and it worked
10:20like nothing else I have ever done
10:23before. Here's the part that matters for
10:25you. Most of them weren't doing it on
10:27purpose. They had trained it without
10:29knowing they were training it. Nobody
10:30had told them what they were doing. I've
10:32been teaching people in our camps and in
10:34our app how to do it on purpose. It
10:36works. Today, I'm going to teach you so
10:39you can teach everyone. But first, you
10:41need to understand why it worked. And to
10:43understand that, we need to talk about
10:45why your legs sink in the first place.
10:48It's not effort. It's not technique.
10:50Many people say engage the core. That is
10:52not it. In fact, it can make things
10:55worse. Here's what happens when you
10:57engage the core. Your legs sink faster.
11:00After teaching hundreds of people how to
11:02float better, here are three things I've
11:05learned. Children and the elderly are
11:07the best horizontal floaters. Women
11:09float better than men. Elite athletes
11:12and even elite swimmers are some of the
11:14worst natural floaters. So, why are
11:17elite swimmers moving better in the
11:19water than children and the elderly?
11:21Take a muscular 25-year-old triathlete
11:23and a 65-year-old Claire. Ask both of
11:26them to float on their backs. Claire
11:27wins. Not because her technique is
11:29better, but because her body is
11:31literally more buoyant than his. Here
11:34are two centers again. This is your
11:36center of mass and this is your center
11:38of buoyancy. In the water, you stay
11:40horizontal if those two points are
11:42perfectly aligned. If they're separate,
11:45the upper body floats and the lower body
11:47sinks. But why the separation? Your body
11:49is made out of different tissues: fat,
11:52muscle, bone, blood, air. Each one has a
11:54different density. And density decides
11:57whether you sink or you float.
11:59Archimedes figured this out a long time
12:01ago. If you're less dense than the water
12:03around you, you float. If you're denser,
12:06you sink. Here's the part that nobody
12:08tells you. Fat is the only solid tissue
12:11in your body that is less dense than
12:13water. Fat floats at 0.9. Muscle sinks
12:17at 1.06.
12:19Bone sinks the hardest, between 1.3 and
12:222.0. So, if you've been hitting the gym,
12:25building muscle, cutting body fat,
12:27getting lean and strong for your
12:30triathlon or your CrossFit competition,
12:32congratulations. You just made yourself
12:35a worse floater. Every kilogram of
12:37muscle in your lower body pulls your
12:38hips down. Every percentage point of
12:41body fat you lost is making your body
12:43denser. Your legs will pull you down
12:45harder. Claire has more body fat, less
12:48muscle, and lighter bones. She doesn't
12:50try to float. Her body does it for her.
12:53In fact, she has trouble swimming
12:54underwater because she floats too much.
12:57Some things that make you better on land
12:59make you worse in the water. And before
13:01anyone blames their heritage, one more
13:04thing. There's a long-standing myth that
13:06black communities can't float because of
13:08heavier bones. Bone density does vary
13:10between populations on average, but bone
13:13is only about 15% of body mass. And what
13:16actually decides floating is the air
13:18inside your lungs. A 2025 study from the
13:21University of Portsmouth tested this
13:23directly. They recruited people from
13:25African, Caribbean, and Asian
13:27communities scanned their bone density
13:29with DEXA scans and asked them to float
13:31for 2 minutes after instruction. 89 out
13:34of 96 succeeded. The conclusion? Bone
13:37density showed no correlation with
13:39floating ability. Body fat and breathing
13:41technique did. So, how do the fastest
13:43swimmers in the world stay horizontal if
13:46they are very muscular and their bodies
13:48want to sink? They do two things. One,
13:51they keep air in their lungs, never
13:54fully exhaling, more on that shortly,
13:56and two, they shift their weight forward
13:59towards their head. Watch any elite
14:01swimmer. Every coach wants to see their
14:03shoulders close to their ears.
14:05Streamline, dolphin kick, freestyle,
14:07backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly,
14:09all of them swim with their shoulders
14:12touching their ears. Yes, it reduces
14:14drag, but what most people don't know is
14:16that it also pulls the center of mass
14:19closer to the center of buoyancy. In
14:21freestyle, smooth swimmers always keep
14:23at least one arm in front of the
14:25headline. Same reason. Mass moves
14:27forward, but by far the most powerful
14:29and hidden version of this is moving
14:31your guts cranially while keeping air in
14:34your lungs. A 2020 study by Yoshida and
14:37colleagues, published in Scientific
14:38Reports, used MRI to scan elite swimmers
14:42in streamline. When the swimmers drew
14:43their abdomen in, their internal organs
14:46physically shifted upward towards the
14:48chest. That redistribution moved their
14:51center of mass closer to the center of
14:52buoyancy, less leg sinking torque,
14:55longer glides, a mechanism completely
14:57invisible outside of the body. Even most
15:00elite swimmers don't even know they're
15:01doing it. Here's how to do it on
15:03purpose. It might take practice. Lay on
15:05the floor face down or face up. Take a
15:08deep breath in. Feel the lower two ribs
15:10expand. Tuck your stomach in without
15:13letting air out. Think of pulling your
15:15belly button towards your spine. Now,
15:17the part that most people skip, keep
15:19your pelvic floor tight at the same
15:22time. You don't want to push your guts
15:24the other way because that will cause an
15:26accident in your underwear. If you don't
15:28know what your pelvic floor is, picture
15:31this. You're at a mall, your stomach
15:33hurts, you run to the bathroom, there's
15:35a sign on the door, "Temporarily
15:37closed." You have to drive home. The
15:39thing you're squeezing for the entire
15:42drive, that's your pelvic floor. Lungs
15:44full, belly button in, pelvic floor
15:46tight. That's exactly how you should be
15:49swimming. Try it on land first, then
15:51take it to the water. You don't need a
15:53lot of tension, but to find the right
15:55amount, you'll need to exaggerate first.
15:58Same logic as any other muscle.
16:00You lift heavy, you get stronger, and
16:02after a few days, everything you carry
16:04feels lighter. Do reps of this. You'll
16:07get stronger in the position. Like
16:09everything we do, at first it's
16:11intentional, and with time becomes
16:13natural. This advice is different than
16:15what you've heard. Most YouTube videos
16:17focus on what Olympians do at race
16:19speed. They analyze the catch, the pull,
16:21the kick, the timing, and the rotation.
16:23All of that matters at race speed over
16:25short distances, but here's what they
16:27don't tell you. Young swimmers spend
16:29years building what the best coaches
16:31call dynamic buoyancy. They use speed,
16:34kick, head position, and arm strength to
16:37generate lift that holds their body
16:38horizontal. They don't float. They pull
16:41through the water. The faster they go,
16:42the easier it is to stay up because the
16:45kick is fast enough to keep their legs
16:47from sinking. The result is that many
16:49kids can't swim smoothly. They only know
16:52how to swim hard. They are taught to
16:54swim fast and long using a lot of
16:56effort. Only a few of them, the
16:58naturally gifted, manage to swim
17:00smoothly with that good feel for the
17:02water despite not thanks to their
17:05mediocre coaching. Many of your adult
17:07swimmers are not looking for that.
17:09They're not swimming 55 seconds per 100
17:12m.
17:13They're swimming at 1:45 or 3 minutes.
17:16At those speeds, dynamic lift barely
17:19exists. They can't kick fast enough to
17:21compensate. And, frankly, they shouldn't
17:23even try if they want to swim long
17:25distances smoothly. Nobody taught them
17:27how to float first because everyone
17:30skipped straight to the teaching how to
17:31move their arms. The advice designed for
17:34young swimmers can hurt adult swimmers.
17:36What works at race pace fails at
17:38learning pace. If you copy what elite
17:41swimmers do without understanding why
17:43they do it, you will just burn more
17:45energy fighting the water. So, what does
17:47work at slower speed? Understanding your
17:50body's buoyancy. Practicing horizontal
17:52glide while shifting the weight forward.
17:55So, if your legs sink and the kick
17:57doesn't help, it's time to move your
17:59guts and your shoulders forward.
18:02Achieving a horizontal body line is a
18:04great achievement, but what happens when
18:06the whole body sinks? We're not fish. We
18:09have to get our face out of the water to
18:12breathe. And if we're too low in the
18:13water, we reach for air and disrupt the
18:16very horizontality we just worked so
18:19hard to build.
18:24In swimming, your lungs aren't for
18:25breathing. They're your inner life
18:27jacket. Picture your lungs as an
18:29accordion. By keeping at least 50% of
18:32the air inside, you keep your body's
18:34density under the 1.0 threshold. Exhale
18:37everything, even for a second, and you
18:39sink. Remember the study from the start
18:42of the video? With full lungs, 100% of
18:45them could float. A full breath of air
18:47displaces several liters of water.
18:49That's several kilograms of lift just
18:52from breathing in. We're carrying a
18:54built-in life jacket. Most adults have
18:56no idea how to use it. Your lungs are in
18:59your chest. Your legs are mostly muscle
19:01and bone. These are the densest part of
19:03your body with no air inside of them at
19:05all. Your buoyancy is all in one place.
19:08Your weight is in another.
19:10And that's why your two centers don't
19:12line up. They're offset by about 2 cm
19:14when your hands are overhead. Sounds
19:16like not a lot, but it creates
19:18rotational force like a seesaw where one
19:21kid is always heavier than the other.
19:23Your chest rises, your legs fall. Your
19:26legs aren't sinking because your kick
19:28wrong, but you can keep them high
19:30without kicking at all. They're sinking
19:32because of where your air is. This is
19:34also why women float better than men,
19:36not just body fat. It's where the fat
19:39sits. Women carry more mass around the
19:41hips and thighs, right where the body is
19:43the densest. That moves their center of
19:45gravity closer to the center of
19:47buoyancy. One study of collegiate
19:49swimmers found men had 0.79 cm offset.
19:53Women only 0.16. That's why most men
19:56feel a huge difference with a pull buoy
19:58between their legs. The pull buoy is
19:59doing what the female body composition
20:01does for free. Older swimmers lose
20:03muscle and bone density with age. Both
20:06of those tissues are denser than water.
20:08Losing them actually helps you float.
20:10The 65-year-old woman passing the
20:12triathlon isn't floating despite her
20:14age. She's floating partly because of
20:17it. Floating isn't her problem. She
20:19might need to hit the gym more often,
20:21but floating is easy.
20:23Most adults breathe in the water the way
20:25they breathe on land. That's a mistake.
20:28On land, you breathe for oxygen. In the
20:30water, you breathe for buoyancy. So, how
20:33do we actually use this inner flotation
20:35device? You need effort to inhale and
20:37relaxation to exhale. Left alone, your
20:40lungs contract. To inflate them, your
20:43ribs and diaphragm have to pull them
20:45open. The intercostal muscles expand the
20:47ribcage. The diaphragm contracts and
20:50pulls down, expanding the chest cavity
20:52and pulling air in. That's why you need
20:54energy to breathe in, but relaxation to
20:57breathe out. Here's why this matters in
20:59the water. The exhale activates your
21:01parasympathetic nervous system. It's the
21:04chemical signal for calm. The inhale is
21:06mild activation, a small dose of
21:09alertness. This is why anxious swimmers
21:11almost always feel like they need more
21:13air. This is why many swim teachers tell
21:16them to exhale slowly so they feel
21:18calmer. That works in yoga, but in
21:20swimming those instructions make you
21:22sink. You might feel calmer, but you
21:24won't swim smoothly anytime soon. To
21:27inflate your inner life jacket in the
21:28water,
21:29you have to use these muscles and like
21:32any muscles,
21:33they get weaker when you don't use them.
21:35They atrophy. Most adults don't move
21:37their rib cages enough. I remember when
21:39I tweaked one intercostal muscle. I was
21:42too stiff from sitting too much and
21:44didn't warm up the rib cage before
21:45exercising.
21:47Here's one way to start training these
21:48muscles. First, stretch them slowly.
21:51There are many ways to stretch them.
21:52Here are a few.
22:01Then, lie on the floor. Put two heavy
22:03books on your body.
22:05One on your stomach, and one on your
22:07chest. The weight simulates the pressure
22:10you feel underwater. If you're more
22:12advanced, swap the books for small
22:13weights. Then, train it like any other
22:15muscle. Three Rs: rounds, repetitions,
22:18and rest. A starting point: three rounds
22:20of five reps. First, lift the book on
22:23your belly five times.
22:26Then, the book on your chest five times.
22:29Then, both at the same time five times.
22:31Five reps of each variation is one
22:34round. Warm up with no weights for round
22:36zero. Each rep should last 5 seconds in,
22:393 seconds hold, and 5 seconds out. Young
22:42swimmers probably don't need this. Most
22:44adult swimmers absolutely do.
22:46Their breathing muscles have weakened
22:48with age.
22:49Even yogis can benefit from this
22:51exercise. In swimming, you don't breathe
22:54when you want. You breathe when you
22:56can't. And to breathe when you should
22:58takes trial, error, and smart practice.
23:00For more instruction on when and how
23:02often to breathe, refer to your
23:04breathing course inside the app. Some
23:06people sink more than others. Everyone
23:08can learn to use their inner life
23:09jacket, but your audience isn't going to
23:11spend the full hour in the pool doing
23:14breathing drills. Contrary to what
23:15people think, that level of breathwork
23:18is reserved for advanced swimmers, not
23:20the average adult. 15 minutes of
23:22learning to keep air inside and float
23:24horizontally is enough. Then, here's
23:26what they should focus on next.
23:38There are two ways to teach the
23:40mechanics of swimming without the
23:41problem of breathing getting in the way.
23:43Most adults won't try either of them.
23:45Their ego gets in the way. They think it
23:47feels like cheating, and they don't want
23:49to look like a loser in the pool. That's
23:51their ego talking. Here's what the
23:53science says. Stanford researchers set
23:56out to find what people who multitask
23:58all the time are better at. They found
24:00nothing. Heavy multitaskers were worse
24:03at filtering irrelevant information,
24:05worse at managing memory, worse at
24:08switching between tasks than people who
24:10rarely multitask. The researchers were
24:12shocked. The more you multitask, the
24:14worse you get at all of it. A separate
24:172014 study by Loh and Kanai used MRI to
24:21scan the brains of heavy media
24:22multitaskers. Their anterior cingulate
24:24cortex, the region responsible for
24:27directing attention, was physically
24:29smaller than the controls. The brain
24:31doesn't adapt to multitasking. It
24:33atrophies, and the part that atrophies
24:35is exactly the part you need to learn to
24:37swim better. The anterior cingulate
24:38cortex is your brain's air traffic
24:41control. It tells the noise to wait
24:43while you focus on one thing. If you
24:45spend 10 years answering emails while
24:47watching TV, texting, and watching
24:49short-form content, you've spent 10
24:51years training that controller to give
24:53up. The water is one of the most chaotic
24:56environments. Sensory inputs are
24:58overloaded. If you don't know how to
25:00stay focused, information becomes
25:03overwhelming and improvement stagnates.
25:06The human mind lacks the architecture to
25:08do two cognitive or physical tasks at
25:11once. We are serial processors, not
25:13parallel. Our brains love focused
25:16attentions. Our phones love
25:17distractions. Clearly, we're feeding the
25:19wrong one. And when we try to swim
25:21better, it shows. And that's why in the
25:23water sometimes we close our eyes. Not
25:26as a gimmick, as a way of giving an out
25:29of shape attention system one less thing
25:31to manage. You know you can't swim with
25:34your eyes closed all the time because
25:36you bump into things or people. So, grab
25:38the edge of the pool and simulate the
25:40pool with your eyes closed.
25:43The problem isn't that adults think too
25:45much, is that they're thinking about too
25:47many things at once. To find flow and
25:49rhythm in the water, you need to use
25:51your cerebellum. The cerebellum sits at
25:53the base of your skull. It doesn't
25:55initiate the movement, it refines it.
25:57Most adults aren't swimming from the
25:59cerebellum, they're swimming from the
26:00prefrontal cortex, the front of the
26:03brain that handles conscious thought. Am
26:05I doing this right? Are my hips too low?
26:08Why am I out of breath already? What if
26:10everyone is looking at me? The
26:11prefrontal cortex is powerful but
26:13expensive. And it can only hold a few
26:15things at once. It's not smooth. The
26:18moment self-consciousness shows up, it
26:20spends its bandwidth on self-conscious
26:23thoughts instead of flow. Research on
26:26athletes choking under pressure shows
26:28that the more attention you pay to your
26:29own technique, step-by-step, the more
26:32the movement falls apart. The work of
26:34learning to swim smoothly is moving the
26:36job from the prefrontal cortex down to
26:39the cerebellum. You can't ask the
26:40cerebellum to take over. It only learns
26:43the job through repetition. Give the
26:45prefrontal cortex one thing to focus on,
26:48strip away every other source of noise,
26:50and repeat the correction until the
26:52cerebellum builds its own map of it.
26:55Then the cerebellum takes over and the
26:56prefrontal cortex goes quiet. At this
26:59point, repetition becomes boring. Only
27:01then may you introduce variability or
27:04higher levels of skill development. I'll
27:06show you what that looks like. That's
27:07why we close our eyes even for a second.
27:10But before we can close our eyes and
27:12focus on the right model, we have to
27:14remove the noise. This is the fastest
27:16way to rewire your brain to swim better.
27:19Put on a pull buoy, snorkel, nose clips,
27:21fins, and even paddles. The pull buoy
27:23floats because it traps air in tiny
27:25holes. It pulls the legs up, aligns the
27:28center of mass with the center of
27:29buoyancy, and removes legs sinking from
27:31the equation. The snorkel removes the
27:33movement of moving your head to breathe
27:35from the equation. Nose clip. Most
27:37adults panic when water goes up their
27:39nose with the snorkel. The clip removes
27:42that variable, too. Now, we've
27:44eliminated breathing movement, leg
27:46position, and balance. But there's still
27:48two arms moving at the same time, and
27:50the sensations from both are competing
27:52for our attention. So, we go further.
27:54One arm at a time. Paddles to exaggerate
27:57the sensation, both right and wrong, so
28:00the brain can tell the difference. And
28:01finally, we close our eyes.
28:04The eyes are gathering tons of
28:05irrelevant information.
28:07Tiled patterns, other swimmers, lane
28:09lines, your own bubbles. Closing them
28:11isn't about focus there. It's about
28:13removing the last and largest source of
28:15noise, so the brain can lock onto the
28:17one thing we're trying to teach it. This
28:20works only after many repetitions. In my
28:22experience, 50 to 400 arm circles per
28:25correction. You can close your eyes just
28:27for 2 seconds while you do one or two
28:29strokes. Then reopen them again to avoid
28:32collisions. Swimming with a pull buoy,
28:33snorkel, and fins is easier than
28:36swimming without them. That's why people
28:37say it feels like cheating. Here's the
28:40Skills and Talents philosophy. There's
28:41nothing you can do in training that
28:43counts as cheating if it helps you
28:45improve. You're not competing with
28:47anyone in training unless the training
28:49calls for it. What you're doing has a
28:51name, isolating variables. The water has
28:54too many things happening at once. We
28:56strip them away one by one until only
28:58the point of focus remains. That's a
29:00much faster route to rewire old moving
29:02pattern than just accumulating meters.
29:05You can cheat in a race because there
29:07are rules, but you can't cheat in
29:08training because there shouldn't be any
29:11rules against improving. Now the hard
29:13part. We remove the noise, but what are
29:15we actually focusing on when we close
29:17our eyes? This is where most adult
29:19swimmers go wrong. When we close our
29:21eyes and picture the perfect stroke, we
29:24imagine an Olympian. Don't. We don't
29:26have Olympic shoulder skills. Picturing
29:28what we can't physically do isn't a good
29:31mental model. It's a fantasy that our
29:33body will spend our whole life trying
29:35and failing to do. Here's a better way.
29:38Use the shoulder skills you have. Build
29:40the model from there. Most swim videos
29:42teach one ideal stroke and try to make
29:45everybody fit the mold. That causes
29:47injuries. Lift your elbow high, early
29:50vertical forearm, reach further, rotate
29:52more, pull harder, don't cross, if you
29:55can, try harder. That's not helping any
29:58real humans. That's only working for an
30:00imaginary swimmer with limitless
30:02shoulder mobility and strength. There
30:03are movements your brain cannot instruct
30:05your shoulders to do because there are
30:07physical and neurological limitations.
30:10Your brain can tell your legs to squat a
30:12thousand pounds. Your legs won't do it.
30:14You start with weights that you can
30:16manage with your current skills and you
30:18build from there. Same with the
30:20shoulders. Here's the SMT shoulder skill
30:22ladder, level one to 10. The shoulder
30:25can't stretch overhead at all. Imitating
30:27the ideal stroke causes compensations.
30:29Arched back, lifted hands, bent elbow,
30:32energy wasted forcing the arms straight.
30:34Mental model, point the shoulder down on
30:37each stroke. Don't reach overhead. Reach
30:39forward, down, and wider.
30:42Level 11 to 20. The shoulder lifts
30:45overhead but can't internally rotate.
30:47Pain or mobility limitation. Imitating
30:49the ideal stroke causes crossover at the
30:52midline, over-rotation, or pulling water
30:54straight down. Better mental model,
30:56start the catch slowly. Slow enough that
30:59you feel the water before you pull it.
31:01Start a little wider than normal to
31:03avoid discomfort.
31:07Level 21 to 30. The shoulder has the
31:09range but the catch collapses early.
31:12Better mental model,
31:13the hand should accelerate through the
31:15pull. Here's the velocity of the pull of
31:17an efficient swimmer versus one that
31:20slows down mid-pull.
31:22Level 31 to 40. The shoulder can hit
31:25early vertical forearm on land but loses
31:28it in the water. The neural connection
31:30is missing. A better mental model is
31:32isolate one arm with paddles. Feel the
31:35EVF position before you try to swim with
31:38it.
31:40Level 41 to 50. The shoulder can hold
31:43EVF but can't produce force from it. A
31:46better model, paddles to load the
31:48position and build strength. Use the
31:50side of your body, the lats, and the
31:52rotation to pull.
31:55Level 51 to 60. The shoulder can produce
31:58force but the force goes sideways
32:00instead of pushing the body forward. A
32:02better mental model, pull and push
32:04towards the pinky toe.
32:08Level 61 to 70. The shoulder is
32:10propulsive but only in one stroke. A
32:13better mental model, get more distance
32:15per stroke and then increase the tempo.
32:18Practice perfect technique and stop when
32:20it starts to fade. To assess your
32:22shoulder skill level,
32:24use the tests inside the SNT app.
32:30Here's what nobody tells adult swimmers.
32:33Shoulder mobility is not fixed. It's not
32:35gone. It's not your age. A 60-year-old
32:38who starts swimming at 50 and moves
32:41their shoulders every day can swim with
32:44more range than a 30-year-old who sits
32:46at a desk all day. If you try to swim
32:48with range you don't have, you'll
32:50compensate. You'll lift your head,
32:52you'll overreach, you'll drop your hips,
32:55and you'll get hurt. Step one, assess.
32:57Step two, adapt. Step three, train.
33:02The Ken came to a swim camp when he was
33:0565 years old. He used to do 14 strokes
33:08per lap. After the camp, he did 10.
33:11That's possible when you clear out the
33:12noise and visualize your perfect stroke.
33:16If your shoulders can do what a YouTube
33:17video tells you to do, your shoulders
33:20aren't wrong. The video is wrong for
33:22you. Stop watching ideal technique
33:24videos. Stop picturing Olympians when
33:26your eyes are closed. Use the shoulders
33:28you have. Build a mental model that fits
33:31your level, then slowly train toward the
33:33next one. If you want to feel the
33:35difference right now, swim two or three
33:37strokes with your eyes closed. 90% of
33:39swimming skills live inside the five
33:42pillars. Breathing control, balance,
33:43core strength, and arm power. And the
33:47hardest one of all. We've covered four.
33:49Before we teach the last one, we have to
33:52go back. The two young fish don't know
33:54what the water is. They don't notice it
33:56because it's everything they've ever
33:58known. I imagine the story continues
34:00like this. The two young fish keep
34:02swimming, and they meet a frog. The frog
34:04tells them he used to know how to swim
34:06better when he was very young, but his
34:08body is different now, and he wants
34:10swimming lessons. The young fish look at
34:12each other and say, "What the hell is
34:15swimming?" They sense something strange
34:17is happening. So, they go find the old
34:19fish. The old fish seems even more
34:21confused than they are because that's
34:23not the old fish they talked to earlier.
34:26That's just another random old fish
34:27passing by. They keep looking, they find
34:30the old wise fish, and bring him to the
34:32frog. They watch the frog swimming
34:34lessons and that's the day they finally
34:36understand water and swimming. The two
34:39fish buy a GoPro and invite their big
34:41fish friend to record YouTube videos to
34:44give swimming tips to the world. The
34:46frog joined and built a swimming app.
34:48Water is the medium, but it's also the
34:51context and the context is more
34:53important than most people realize.
34:56Here's the context for many adult
34:57swimmers. When they were young, the body
35:00could absorb late nights, alcohol, bad
35:03eating, overtraining, under training,
35:05injuries, all of it with seemingly no
35:08consequences. After 35, the consequences
35:11arrive and they keep arriving, bigger
35:14every year. So, they come to the water.
35:16Some are injured from the other sports.
35:19Some want to add swimming to their
35:21athletic skill collection. They come
35:23looking for flow and wellness. They find
35:26frustration and stagnation. They try to
35:28hire a knowledgeable coach, but all the
35:31coaches know is how to train young
35:33swimmers. Young swimmers who are pure
35:35instinct and don't even understand their
35:37own movements in the water. I remember
35:39in 2023 when I met that famous coach, he
35:42told me that his adult learners ask too
35:45many questions. He wished they just give
35:47him the money and stay silent. That is
35:49who adult swimmers are trying to learn
35:51from. I was disappointed, but it got
35:53worse. In 2025, I created a chat group
35:56with more than 500 coaches from
35:59different countries. Those were some of
36:01the most open-minded coaches, but
36:02through them I also learned that most
36:04coaches are not like that. Most are not
36:07only close-minded, but they also
36:09sabotage swimming as a sport, as a
36:11healthy exercise, or even as a personal
36:14and community improvement path. I
36:16learned that swimming is not all fun.
36:18For some swimmers, it can become a
36:20nightmare. Later that year, a swimmer at
36:22a camp in Italy asked a question I
36:25didn't have an answer to. A question I
36:27would try to answer for the next 10
36:28years. How do you, as a swim coach,
36:31offer meaning beyond gold medals? You
36:33remember Lochte selling his Olympic
36:35medals, Popovich melting his, the common
36:38Olympic blues, my college friends with
36:41their trunks full of NCAA trophies
36:43crying on the side of the road on the
36:45drive back home.
36:46Then Iris, another mentee, asked another
36:50hard question. I want to improve, but I
36:52feel like now focusing on getting better
36:54is taking some of the fun out of
36:56swimming. How do I balance trying to
36:58improve while still enjoying the pool? A
37:00theme was becoming clear. Then the
37:02enhanced games happened. A competition
37:05where athletes are paid to break records
37:07using performance-enhancing drugs.
37:09That's what shifted everything into
37:10focus for you. Top swimming speed had
37:12become the most financially celebrated
37:15skill of the sport. Not because it
37:17offered meaning or wellness or
37:19community, but because it offered
37:21entertainment. There's nothing wrong
37:23with entertainment or money or swimming
37:25speed. But I'm telling you this from the
37:27future. The excess love of those things
37:29create ephemeral fulfillment followed by
37:32a lot of suffering. Chasing money,
37:34speed, and entertainment is what creates
37:36the AR problem, the bad swimming advice
37:39online, why so many adults leave the
37:41pool frustrated. It's why you send that
37:44letter to your 7-year-old self
37:46illustrated with AI images
37:48telling him how to become the fastest
37:50swimmer in the world. Don't do that
37:51again. Finally, is what gave birth to
37:54the nightmare of the Las Vegas
37:55competition. You have seen that chasing
37:58speed and money and medals is not a
38:00great path. But here's what the research
38:03says. It reveals a paradox. The athletes
38:06at the top of their sport are the most
38:08insecure people in the pool, in the gym,
38:11or in the field. A world-class swimmer
38:13ranked 20th globally can feel worse
38:16about their swimming than a much slower
38:18athlete in a small club. It's called the
38:20big fish little pond effect. When your
38:23daily reference group is the best in the
38:25world, your brain compares upward
38:28constantly and excellence stops feeling
38:30like excellence. Bodybuilders at a
38:33single digit body fat describe
38:34themselves as small and out of shape.
38:37This happens to people at the very top.
38:39Olympic champions like Adam Peaty,
38:41Amanda Beard, Michael Phelps, and many
38:43other world champions have all spoken
38:45publicly about the inner doubt that
38:47follows them everywhere. Studies show
38:50they score higher in perfectionism, but
38:52also report constant self-questioning
38:55about their own competence. The traits
38:57that drive them to the top,
38:59hyper-attention to flaws, fear of
39:01failure, self-worth tied to results, are
39:03the same traits that make them fragile.
39:06Beginners suffer, too, but through a
39:08different door. Social physical anxiety,
39:10the fear of being judged in the gym or
39:12pool, traps them in the loop. They feel
39:15out of shape, so they avoid exercise.
39:18So, they stay out of shape. Surveys
39:20shows that 30% to 50% of beginners
39:23experience meaningful gym intimidation.
39:25The voice in their head says they don't
39:27belong, that everyone is watching, that
39:29they should already be better. Both ends
39:31of the spectrum share the same root,
39:34self-worth tied to performance. The good
39:37news is that decades of research have
39:39mapped the healthy middle. Five things
39:41that consistently work at every level.
39:44One, evaluate behavior, not the self.
39:47The bad session is not a bad person.
39:49Anchor your motivation in mastery, in
39:51your own improvement instead of beating
39:53others. Competition is good, but as a
39:56tool for self-mastery, not as the
39:58primary goal. Practice gratefulness.
40:00Protect a stable sense of self-worth
40:03that doesn't rise and fall with
40:04outcomes. And build an identity outside
40:07of the sport, so one bad day doesn't
40:10shake who you are. The research is
40:12clear. High standards do not require
40:14self-punishment. The athletes who last
40:17and the ones who enjoy the work, are the
40:19ones who learn to separate what they do
40:21from who they are. One of the greatest
40:23achievements as a coach was stopping
40:25myself from achieving performance and
40:28letting the team play around in the pool
40:30for the last 30 minutes of the workout.
40:32Of all the things we have taught them,
40:34backing off and giving them time to play
40:37was the healthiest thing I have done for
40:39them. Not only this year, but for years
40:42to come, they'll remember playing in the
40:43pool. If you want to teach adults how to
40:45swim better, the context matters more
40:48than the instructions. Adults are not
40:50bad swimming students. They're never
40:52been given the time and proper
40:55instruction to learn. Derek came into
40:57the camp open to the possibility of
40:59improving his swimming after years of
41:01trying everything.
41:02When he saw the data, with 30%
41:05propulsion, most of his arm movement was
41:07wasted not pushing him forward, he was
41:10shocked. Here's the context. He is a
41:12physician. He understands the human
41:14body. As soon as we gave him the data,
41:17the video, and some tips, something
41:19clicked. 24 hours later, we measured
41:22again. 50% propulsion. After a five-day
41:25swim camp, he swam 20 seconds faster.
41:27Here's my context. Contrary to popular
41:30belief, I don't love swimming that much.
41:32I don't even love the water. What I
41:34always loved, and the people I've always
41:36interacted best with, are the ones who
41:38want to become aqua sapiens. People who
41:40use their skills and their talents to
41:43seek wisdom through human movement in
41:45the water. That's your context. That's
41:47the only thing that hasn't changed,
41:49regardless of how fast you can swim, how
41:52old you are, how many teammates you
41:54have. People who only love results run
41:57away from skills and talents. People who
41:59love the process swim closer and closer
42:01to it. People who just care about
42:03results clicked, but stopped watching
42:05this video a long time ago. Speaking of
42:07running way, runners are the the who
42:10struggle with tip number five, the most.
42:18The most important context adults bring
42:20to the pool is their past sport.
42:22Swimming is a lot easier if you did one
42:24of these sports before. Rowing. Hip to
42:26arm sequencing, pull timing, and breath
42:29cadence mirror the freestyle stroke
42:31cycle almost directly. Plus, it gives an
42:34intuitive understanding of how
42:35increasing speed also increases the
42:37resistance of water. Climbing. Grip
42:39strength and full body tension transfer
42:41to the pool. Plus, the arm strength
42:43generated by climbing is unmatched.
42:46Martial arts. Breath timing, hip
42:47rotation as the engine, and the full
42:49body coordination under pressure.
42:51Martial artists already know the nervous
42:53system is the real opponent. Seven,
42:55yoga. Breath control, flexibility, and
42:57proprioception are critical skills that
42:59are also used in swimming. Number six,
43:01surfing. Reading water, hip rotation,
43:04and breath control under pressure on an
43:06unstable surface build true aquatic
43:08intuition. Plus, the mechanics of
43:10pulling your body through the water are
43:12all there. Number five, water polo.
43:15In-water conditioning, treading water,
43:17and breath control under fatigue.
43:19Though, the vertical position can fight
43:21horizontal balance. Number four, ballet.
43:23Posture, rhythm, core control, and
43:25kinesthetic awareness translate directly
43:28into the body discipline of horizontal
43:30water movement. Number three,
43:31gymnastics. Body tension, spatial
43:34awareness without much visual feedback,
43:36shoulder strength, and core control are
43:39the foundations of many water skills,
43:42including streamlining and underwater
43:44work. Hanging and arm relative strength
43:46are also extremely transferable. Number
43:49two, free diving.
43:50Breath control, swim kicks, relaxation,
43:53and CO2 tolerance overlap almost
43:55completely with swimming fundamentals.
43:58Before I tell you the last one, look at
43:59the list again. What do most of them
44:02share? Supple feet. Number nine,
44:04climbing shoes compress the foot into a
44:06downward point, building the same toe
44:09strength and arch engagement that
44:11swimmers need. Martial arts, barefoot on
44:14the mat, pivoting and grounding through
44:16the feet for every kick, stance, and
44:18rotation. Yoga, practice barefoot with
44:20toes spread and actively gripping the
44:23mat. Yoga systematically reopens the
44:26ankle range that years of shoes have
44:28closed off. Surfing, the foot is
44:30constantly reading and gripping an
44:33unstable surface barefoot. That
44:35life-foot connection builds the ankle
44:37sensitivity swimmers need to feel the
44:39water through the kick. Water polo,
44:41treading water for an entire game means
44:44the foot and ankle are articulating
44:46continuously under load. The eggbeater
44:48kick alone builds more ankle mobility
44:51than most dry land sports combined.
44:53Ballet, point shoes and relentless
44:55pointing repetition build the strongest,
44:57most articulate feet of any sport on the
45:00list. Ballet dancers have some of the
45:02closest foot profile of elite swimmers.
45:04Gymnastics, pointed toes are scored.
45:07Bare feet on the floor, beam, and vault
45:10develop foot control and proprioception.
45:13Gymnasts instinctively know where their
45:15feet are in space. So do the best
45:17swimmers. Free divers train their feet
45:19to be loose and powerful at the same
45:21time. The exact paradox swimming
45:23demands. Rowing, the exception. The only
45:26sport on the list where the foot is
45:28strapped in and largely passive. Now
45:30that you know supple feet are the key,
45:32can you guess what number one is? Look
45:34at the top eight again. Barefoot,
45:37barefoot, barefoot, barefoot, barefoot,
45:39barefoot, fins or barefoot, and number
45:42one is also barefoot. Artistic swimming,
45:44full body undulation, precise timing,
45:47core engagement, rhythm, CO2 tolerance,
45:50hand proprioception overhead, and an
45:52understanding of balance on every plane
45:54in the water. The feet are the key
45:56element of this sport. Pointed toes, toe
45:59spread, ankle articulation, not
46:01optional, Scored. No sport produces a
46:04more competitive or smooth swim ready
46:06foot. The number one reason adults
46:08struggle to swim smoothly is their feet.
46:11It's like trying to drive smoothly while
46:13pressing the accelerator and the brakes
46:15the whole time. Some adults more
46:16intensely than others. This is the most
46:18underrated swimming skill in the
46:20internet in 2026. Two reasons. First,
46:23because it's not easy to improve and
46:24I'll tell you exactly how long it takes
46:26to see the difference according to the
46:28studies. And second, because most people
46:30can't see how much it matters. But if
46:32you remember tip number one, you can
46:34already see the magnitude of the
46:35problem. In swimming, ankles stuck in
46:38dorsiflexion add 10 to 25% drag. That
46:41means if you swim at 1:37 per 100 m, you
46:44could be swimming about 7 seconds faster
46:46with the same effort. Just from suppler
46:49feet. A study of 10 NCAA Division 1
46:52swimmers ranked the variables that
46:54predict kicking speed. Vertical jump
46:56power didn't matter too much. Body size
46:58didn't matter much. Ankle flexibility
47:01beat them both. Ankle flexibility beats
47:03raw power. Here are three things that
47:05kids do that adult swimmers usually
47:08don't. They spend more time barefoot.
47:11They spend more time on the ground. And
47:13they use fins more often. That's why
47:15their feet grow supple while adults stay
47:18stuck. So, what should you do? The
47:20research and the coaching practice
47:22converge on the four-part approach. One,
47:25kick without fins to build the movement
47:27pattern. For some swimmers with an
47:29efficient kick, the fastest way to
47:31improve ankle mobility is to just kick
47:33with a kickboard more. Two, swim with
47:35fins. Long, short, soft, hard, they all
47:38work. We recommend the ones we put in
47:40the description. The extra surface area
47:42of the fins forces ankle extension
47:45during the power phase, passively
47:47stretching the ankle through the full
47:49range underwater. Three, dryland work.
47:51Specifically, the ankles routine. Daily
47:54is better. Twice per week is the
47:56minimum. strengthening alongside
47:58stretching. So the new range of motion
48:00is stable and usable. The honest truth
48:03about timeline. A 6-week study on 20
48:05competitive swimmers measured plantar
48:07flexion before and after intervention,
48:10but the improvements in 25-m kick times
48:12were not statistically significant. That
48:15confirms the pattern. The ankle opens up
48:17in weeks. The body needs longer to learn
48:20how to use the new range under load. We
48:22have seen significant and permanent
48:24results in just 7 months. Fins are the
48:27fastest and easiest path because they
48:29combine stretching with swimming
48:31specific movement, but fins alone won't
48:33fix severely restricted ankles built
48:36over decades. You need the dry land work
48:38alongside the water work. A lasting
48:41change in the tissue takes closer to 7
48:43months of consistent practice. It sounds
48:46like a lot, but consider this trade. If
48:48you swap 20% of your swimming time for
48:51dedicated foot work, you can swim faster
48:54with the same effort. Smoother and
48:56healthier feet mean better knees, hips,
48:59and lower back for the rest of your
49:01life. The human foot is a work of art.
49:04It wants to feel free. It's the
49:06foundation of the human body. So tip
49:08number five, if your feet are not as
49:10mobile, you're not slow because you lack
49:13power. You're slow because you're
49:14driving with the brakes on. Release the
49:16brakes. So how do you float like a
49:18butterfly and swim like a fish? Chase
49:21weightlessness. Move your guts up. Use
49:23your inner life jacket. Close your eyes
49:26and release the brakes. The next time
49:28you get in the pool, run them in this
49:30order. Float first for 5 to 20 minutes.
49:33Move forward second the rest of the
49:35time. Pay attention to which one is the
49:38hardest for you. That's where your
49:39attention should be focused on. I know
49:41you'll have more questions after this
49:43letter.
49:44Read the comments and send me the best
49:46ones for next time. We'll do it as a
49:48team of aqua sapiens. Take care.
49:50Sincerely, you from 2036. After reading
49:54this letter, here's what I've learned.
49:56If you're not as good a swimmer as you
49:58would like, zoom out and see your
50:00context. You're a human. The first men's
50:03world record for the 1500 was set in
50:061908 at a 1:31 pace per 100 m. The first
50:11women's record came in 1922 at 1:40
50:14pace. Those were the fastest humans on
50:16the planet. Today, those paces are
50:19within reach of dedicated adult amateurs
50:22in clubs all over the world. You're a
50:24better swimmer than most Homo sapiens
50:27who have ever lived. Appreciate that and
50:29keep exploring like a true aqua sapiens.
50:32You're already standing near the top of
50:35the mountain. Turn around, enjoy the
50:37view, and start walking backwards.
50:39Ideally, barefoot. It's good for your
50:41feet and your knees. What questions
50:44would you want me to ask me from the
50:46future? I've already have one question.
50:48What advice would you give us to improve
50:50the S&T app exponentially? If you like
50:53these drawings, I will refuse to sell
50:55them. I will give them away to the
50:57people who clearly enjoy our work and
50:59are improving their skills inside the
51:01Skills with N T app. See you there. Swim
51:03with skills.

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