Jon Olsen's Five Rules to Swim By

http://www.sportsgeezer.com/sportsgeezer/2007/06/jon_olsens_five.html

Can a 54-year-old very former competitive swimmer get it back? Writing in the
New York Times' Play magazine, Jim Thornton gives it the old college try.
Progressive drills, in-the-pool demonstrations, computerized stroke analysis
and spot-on analogies from four-time Olympic gold medalist Jon Olsen bring
Thornton's stroke back to the point where it feels, as he says, "less
unnatural."

Helpfully, Thornton passes on Jon Olsen's five rules to swim by:

1. Keep your head down. Forget the old idea of keeping your head high enough so
that the water hits you in the forehead. You’ll move faster and with less
resistance by keeping your head on an even plane with your body, as if you were
standing and looking straight ahead.

2. Think scull, not plow. As much as possible, try to stay horizontal in the
water. Good head position will definitely help. You don’t want your feet and
hips to drop and drag, which only makes you plow through the water and, in
effect, swim uphill. Avoid arching your back, and try to stay flat, long and
streamlined — like a single scull skimming through the water. When your body
position is right, it can almost feel like you’re swimming downhill.

3. Recruit the core. Coordinate your kick, body rotation, catch and pull to
allow your core muscles to do as much of the heavy lifting as possible. Relying
too much on your arms and shoulders will make you slower and more prone to
injury.

4. Avoid crossing over. Imagine a line bisecting your body vertically. Many
swimmers, especially when breathing, have a tendency to let their hands cross
this line during the pull.

5. Finish your stroke. Pushing up or down against the water wastes energy and
contributes nothing. Make sure your propulsive efforts keep you moving in a
horizontal vector. From the initial catch to the final push of each arm stroke,
keep your fingertips pointed toward the bottom of the pool. As your underwater
hand moves in front of your head, and then parallel to your body, and then back
toward your thigh, your wrist should adjust to ensure that your palms and
fingertips pull, then push, the water horizontally toward your feet.