4 Sites for Swim News, Training and Tips

For me, the internet can be a rabbit hole.  I start out reading an article, or doing a search, and 3 hours later I might be spending $100 to buy something I don't need, reliving the 2012 Olympics, or developing a deep passion for a topic I did not know existed the previous day.  The internet is so great and so horrible at the same time.

I think the web is an amazing resource for swim training.  And since my last post about online swim training tools turned out to be quite popular (by the standards of my little blog), I figured I'd share some more resources I've discovered.

Active.com Swimming
Folks may be familiar with Active.com as the online community where you can find out about and get tips on swimming, biking and triathlon events.  But, I've been pleasantly surprised by the quality of their Swimming section of the site.  It has some nice articles on workouts, technique, and in particular open water swimming.  I recently enjoyed their list of 7 Swims to Do Before You Die!  Yes please to Waikiki Rough Water and Big Shoulders!

Olivier Poirier-Leroy is a Canadian swimmer and writer who focuses a lot on motivation, goal setting and self improvement.  He has a book he's created (which I'll admit I haven't read), but I actually think that's a bit secondary to the bits of motivational wisdom and ideas he explores in his blog and weekly e-newsletter.  Two recent blog posts I enjoyed: 7 Ways to be More Optimistic at the Pool and How Much Does Michael Phelps Hate to Lose? which is just a set of photos of Phelps' awesome facial expressions after losses.




As a thanks for supporting the Kickstarter campaign for Touch the Wall, the documentary about Missy Franklin, I was granted one month of free access to GoSwim.  While I haven't yet decided if I'll sign up for a subscription (it's $9.99/month or $99.99/year) it is a great source of quality videos on technique featuring both "real people" and some extraordinarily, elite swimmers.  Their trailer video features like 20 Olympians demonstrating strokes and drills.  Really useful if you're a visual learner, and want your swim technique videos in a consistent and easily searchable format.

How do describe SwimSwam?  Eighty percent swimming news, twenty percent swimming adjacent news.  What do I mean? It does great coverage of everything going on in the swimming world-international, national, college, open water, Masters, high school and includes coverage relating to training and health.  And then covers the fun of the sport, and how it shows up in pop culture.  What do I mean?  Well, there is Gary Hall Jr. and David Cromwell's occasional column where they basically just make fun of eachother, lots of great videos (one of the most popular is entitled Nathan Adrian Responds to Suit Split--and it does feature photos). And they are great about promoting swimming however it shows up in pop culture.  Whether it's their excitement over the swimming section of the latest Kia Soul Hamster commercial or the latest that Ryan Lochte might actually getting his wish and appearing on Dancing with the Stars.


Have other recommendations for websites on swim news, training and tips?  Email me or tweet me with the hashtag #swimsites.