How to Swim Faster: How Video Analysis Unlocks Speed

Coach Lorna reviews video analysis footage with her client

Every swimmer, whether beginner or seasoned competitor, asks the same question: how do I swim faster?

You may be training harder, swimming more laps, and following structured sets—yet your pace times plateau.

Swimming faster isn’t just about conditioning your body—it’s about refining your technique. And the fastest way to refine technique? A 1-to-1 swim video analysis with a professional coach.

In this article, we’ll explore how video analysis helps you swim faster, why technique matters more than sheer strength, and how personalized feedback can transform your freestyle and overall efficiency in the water.

Why Technique, Not Just Fitness, Determines Speed

When runners want to go faster, they often add mileage or speed workouts, but in swimming, every inefficient movement creates resistance and adds precious seconds to each lap.

Coach Lorna Richardson and Paul Newsome Set Up The Underwater GoPro

Here’s why:

• Drag: Lifting your head too much, kicking too wide or deep or pressing downwards during the pull all create drag. Even small errors slow you down significantly.

• Inefficiency: Many swimmers waste energy with ineffective kicks or poorly timed breathing patterns, or poorly set up Catch. The result? Faster fatigue, slower pace.

• Asymmetry: A stroke imbalance—favoring one side—creates instability, zig-zagging, and wasted energy.

This is why technique-focused swimmers often beat “fitter” athletes: good mechanics conserve energy, maximize propulsion, and minimize drag.

How to Swim Faster with Video Analysis

So how do you actually fix your technique? Traditional coaching helps, but there’s a limit: you can’t see yourself swim. What you think you’re doing often looks completely different on video.

A 1-2-1 Video Analysis & Stroke Correction session, with Swim SmoothLA powered by Fluid Movement, bridges this gap. Here’s how it works:

Multiple Angles, Above and Below the Water
Captured with amazing camera quality, you’ll be filmed from all angles. Flaws in breathing, hand entry, or kick timing that are invisible to the naked eye suddenly become crystal clear.

Instant Feedback
Immediately after filming, you will sit down with your coach as they walk you through the footage, helping you connect what you felt versus what actually happened.

Side-by-Side Comparisons
Your stroke is analyzed & compared with elite swimmers, showing where you diverge and how to close the gap.

Customized Stroke Correction
Immediately after the analysis, you jump back in the water & are given tailored drills, posture adjustments, and focal points specific to your needs, not generic advice.

Take-Home Resources
Everything is recorded, from analysis to stroke correction back in the pool, so it’s ready for you to revisit anytime.  No need to memorize anything or take notes in the moment. It will all be there at your fingertips whenever you need it.

The result: your swimming speed improves not from swimming harder, but from swimming smarter.

Real Examples: How Swimmers Got Faster with Video Analysis

One of the most powerful tools for improving your swimming isn’t more time in the pool or more laps on the clock—it’s video. 

At Swim Smooth LA, powered by Fluid Movement, we use underwater and above-water video analysis to break down every detail of your stroke. Watching yourself swim, frame by frame, often reveals technique habits you never realized you had.

The results are immediate, visual, and motivating. In this blog, we’ll look at three real-world examples from video sessions with Coach Lorna. Each case shows how small changes—identified on camera—led to big breakthroughs in speed and efficiency.

1. Fixing Breathing Errors to Swim Faster

Correction on Video: Coach Lorna introduced bilateral breathing, adjusted posture, and showed how to set up a stronger catch while keeping one goggle in the water. By comparing before-and-after clips, the swimmer could literally see their rotation rebalance and the drag disappear. The difference was obvious—not just in the video, but in how much smoother and faster the stroke felt.

Breathing might seem simple—you turn your head, inhale, and keep going. But on video, the truth often looks different. Many swimmers unknowingly lift their head too much when they breathe. In this slow-motion replay, you can actually see the legs sink the moment the head comes up. That sinking creates instant drag, like swimming uphill, and costs valuable seconds.

2. Improving Hand Entry for Efficiency

Correction on Video: Frame-by-frame analysis showed the ideal order—fingers first, then wrist, then elbow. With targeted drills and on-the-spot comparisons, the swimmer quickly learns how to adjust their entry. The improvement isn’t just cosmetic. A smoother entry means less wasted energy, less strain on the shoulder, more movement forward and a stronger foundation for the catch.

Other aspects identified in the video included slight over-rotation through the shoulders and a delayed catch phase. Both of these compounded the hand-entry issue, adding drag and reducing propulsion. By isolating these details on screen, it became clear how small inefficiencies stacked together to cost valuable seconds over the course of a race.

3. Perfecting the Catch for More Power

Correction on Video: The video highlights the need to adjust elbow position and set a more vertical forearm earlier in the pull. This creates a stronger anchor in the water, with the forearm acting like a paddle to hold more water and drive the body forward.

The catch—the critical moment when the hand and forearm engage with the water to generate propulsion—is often where the most transformative improvements occur. Even experienced swimmers underperform here. In one session, a swimmer’s catch is shown side-by-side with Olympic Gold Medalist Rebecca Adlington’s stroke, and the difference is striking. The angles tell the full story: elbow position, arm depth, and forearm angle all limit propulsion.
Who Benefits from Video Analysis?

The short answer: everyone can benefit — but if you’re a serious competitor who wants to swim faster, video analysis is essential.

Age-group competitors: Shave seconds off each 100m by eliminating subtle inefficiencies that training volume alone won’t fix.

Triathletes & Ironman racers: Exit the water with speed and energy in reserve, setting up a stronger bike and run without burning matches too early.

Elite & competitive swimmers: Refine the details that separate finalists from podium finishers — hand entry, catch angle, stroke timing, and streamlined rotation.

Masters & adult racers: Extend speed deeper into races, improve efficiency under fatigue, and reduce stress on shoulders and joints so training stays consistent.

At this level, video isn’t about learning the basics — it’s about precision. Small technical corrections create the marginal gains that decide PRs, race splits, and medal placements.

Take the Next Step

If you’re serious about unlocking your speed potential, stop guessing. Book a 1-2-1 Video Analysis & Stroke Correction session with Coach Lorna today.

👉 Book Your Video Analysis Now

It’s not just another swim lesson—it’s a game-changing investment in your swimming journey. Faster splits, smoother strokes, and the joy of finally knowing exactly how to swim faster are waiting for you.