Laura Siddall’s Cheat Sheet to Faster Swimming

Professional long distance triathlete Laura Siddall learned to swim at the age of 29 but that didn’t stop her from becoming one of the top athletes in her sport. Finishing 10th at the Ironman World Championships in Kona in 2022, Siddall put together her best swim yet at the age of 42. She credits her swim breakthrough to some chance one-on-one coaching she received and has shared the drills and that made her a faster swimmer—and the ones that didn’t. 

Siddall always used to try and swim faster by working harder but, as many swimmers know, that doesn’t work. You can work harder but if you’re not apply power and speed in the right place, you won’t actually swim faster. “Generating speed through increasing the turnover, but keeping your stroke length was a concept I had to learn,” Siddall says.

Try This: Stroke Count Drill

8 x 25 (increasing speed every 2 but maintain stroke count), 15-20” rest

Swim a length of the pool easy and count your strokes. Then, keep the same number of strokes but increase the speed. You will be forced to work out how to create more power and propulsion through the stroke.

Try This: Stroke Count Pacing

5 x 50 Build effort from 1-5 but the focus is to keep your stroke length and technique. 

#1 - super easy, good technique this is warm up effort

#2 - a little more, but still trying to keep the technique

#3 - moderate pace, not easy but controlled

#4 - threshold pace, hard but just sustainable 

#5 - hard effort

Using a parachute or swimming with a band around your ankles can be a great way to improve the power in your catch but, as Siddall knows all too well, it doesn’t always work. “I was doing a lot of band work with my feet tied and with a parachute or a towel and the coach was like, there's no doing that. Instead, we did a lot of work with fins and paddles, which I always felt was cheating,” she says. “We were using fins and paddles as aids to get the mechanics right, not for power and speed.” 

“A lot of it was just trying to slow down and relax more rather than fighting through,” she explains. Slowing down allowed her to focus on timing and coordination, eliminating drag spots and learning where to put power and speed effectively. 

Try This: Wrist Drag

4 x 50 (25m wrist drag, 25m swim) without material, 15-20” rest 

As you swim, leave your whole hand inside the water during the recovery phase, your forearm almost cutting the water.. As you drag your wrist along the surface, think about leading and pushing with your shoulder to integrate it into the stroke. This drill will stimulate a high elbow recovery and help you focus on the extension of your stroke. 

Try This: Kick board and single arm entry

4 x 25, 15-20” rest

Holding a kickboard, do a single arm swim, ensuring you enter your hand as the opposite foot kicks. Change arms every 25. Don’t worry about going slow or seeing an immediate outcome, this drill is all about exposing your body and mind to good patterning. 

Try This: Fins and Paddle Technique Swim

4 x 100 swim with fins and paddles, 15-20” rest. 

Use the fins and paddles to enhance your technique, not speed—they are giving you more pronounced feedback from the water. For example, use the paddles to really hold water through the whole stroke. Use the fins to really help you synchronize the timing of your entry. 

Siddall is a big supporter of swimming with a squad but she says having private coaching was crucial to her breakthrough. Being in a squad or group swim is extremely helpful but, through no fault of their own, it is hard to get consistent, real-time feedback from a coach who has a whole group of swimmers. “Having focused attention consciously giving you time and immediate feedback was important,” Siddall says. 

“I did a session one day but I was swimming really badly and he stopped me and he said, right, this is why it's not working: your stroke is good, but you're swimming as if you're doing a warmup, not hundreds so you need to increase your stroke,” she recalls. Having someone to give personal feedback and explain in real-time why and how to correct things was the focused attention that created results. 

Try This:

“Go swim in your squad but if you can afford an extra session with a coach, or maybe if you can only do one is with a squad and that other session is with a coach, to specifically work on stuff,” she suggests.