I've never been an NCAA swimming champ myself, but NOT being a natural-born dolphin has motivated me to work even harder through the mechanics of swimming. I've always been comfortable in the water, and started swimming at a very young age. But, I found that the kids who excelled naturally had certain body traits -- very flexible backs, mid-sections and ankles; wide, stable shoulders; sometimes hyper-exenteded knees; and a natural tendency to float.
Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps has been physically analyzed ad nauseum; and sure enough, his physique reflects all of these traits, plus flipper-like hands and feet - the perfect form for moving through water (though not necessarily on land).
So what do you do if you're a natural "sinker," have narrow, hypermobile (unstable) shoulders, a relatively stiff but overly-curved lower back, and bricks for feet? Well, first you work on gaining as much flexibility and stability as possible. Then there's technique, which comprises a HUGE part of comfortable swimming.
Terry Laughlin's Total Immersion program (workshops, books, DVDs) is a fanatastic method for "the rest of us." Terry himself wanted to compete in swimming, but was mediocre at best. ...Until later has was coaching, and really applied his analytical mind to the problem.
In his 50s, Laughlin became an open-water swim champion - able to swim long distances with an amazingly efficient stroke, at record-breaking speeds.
Here's Total Immersion Japan coach Shinji Takeuchi doing TI freestyle with a two-beat kick. (Takeuchi is pictured above.) This is the result of countless hours in the pool, re-creating and perfecting mechanics -- but the result is low-effort, high-efficiency poetry in the water.
