Shadowing Practice: Smooth swimming step by step - Learn English Speaking with Video

on this video I’ll show you set of exercises that take around 20 to 30 minutes and will help you start swimming like this.

By the end of the video you’ll know how to do at least one stroke that looks and feels like these ones.

This video has 5 parts: This 100 meters freestyle swimming demonstration.

5 key points of the theory of this freestyle swimming technique.

5 Common problems when trying to swim like this.

Exercises to help you swim smoother in 5 steps.

A Giveaway.

Theory Basics There are many ways to swim freestyle or front crawl.

This way is efficient and moderately fast.

From now on we will call it arrow freestyle.

The key of the technique is that there are not a lot of extra movements, the only movements there are, are optimized to help you move forward.

I did a total of 50 strokes in 100 meters.

It’s almost catch up swim.

(Catch up is a popular drill used by coaches to help swimmers glide and make their body longer.) The kick is a 2 beat kick.

Which means 1 kick per stroke.

This helps save up energy since the legs have big muscles that use a lot of energy and oxygen.

Advantages and disadvantages of the arrow freestyle technique: This is by no means the fastest way to swim but when you perfect it, it can be pretty fast.

Once you start swimming and practicing with this arrow freestyle technique you can build up a lot of endurance and you’ll be able to swim long distances at a constant pace.

That is why this technique is often used by open water swimmers and long distance pool swimmers in the middle part of their swim.

It may seem easy to swim like this but it does take effort, specially if you are not used to it.

Pros It can be pretty fast .

Build up endurance.

Constant pace over long distances.

Cons: - Not the fastest Not easy takes time and effort 5 Key points: The legs need to be synchronized with the arms.

You kick down with your right leg at the same time that your right arm is pulling.

The body needs to be as horizontal as possible.

Your legs need to be very straight.

Your breathing needs to be quick.

Breathe faster than me for optimal results.

Your arm should always wait for the opposite arm to almost finish before it starts moving.

Specially when you are breathing.

Since your arms are producing most of the forward movement, they should be very efficient- meaning: high elbow (vertical forearm as soon as possible), using the rotation to pull with bigger muscles and having barbie hands.

Common problems You should expect 5 things to be your main obstacles: Legs kicking fast instead of 2 beat kick.

Splashing water, instead of smooth swimming.

Not enough glide.

Balancing problems (difficulty maintaining a horizontal position).

Kick and pull not synchronized.

Exercises to help you fix them One stroke at a time.

If I told you to swim at this pace with this technique and you have never done it, you would probably think that I am asking too much.

But if instead I asked you to spend 20 to 30 minutes trying to do just one stroke that looked and felt like this, you’d probably be up for the challenge.

So let’s do that.

One arrow stroke.

Why only one stroke?

Many coaches try to correct technique while swimmers are at full speed swimming many laps.

This is probably the worst time to try and correct technique since you are tired, focused on other things and probably in autopilot.

At least in the beginning of changing your technique or trying out a new one, we believe that you need to slow things down and break things into manageable pieces.

Then build your technique while you put together those small pieces.

What does it take?

This arrow freestyle looks easy but you’ll actually need to master 5 things.

And you can improve 4 out of those 5 things in just 20 to 30 minutes with the exercises I am about to show you.

1 - Balance You need your body to be horizontal.

You need your legs not to sink.

This is a bit easier if you are moving, kind of like riding a bicycle.

Practice this: push off and stay still.

Keep gliding with that horizontal balance by pushing your chest down and having a tight core and tight legs.

2- Mobility This is unfortunately the one that you won’t be able to fix quickly.

In order to put your forearm like this you need to be able to move your shoulder like this and like this.

Stop this video and try to put your arms like this.

If you can’t you’ll need to do these stretches daily for a few weeks.

3- Control We naturally have a tendency to move our legs fast in order to move faster.

But for this technique you need to control that tendency.

You need very straight knees and pointing toes.

You only bend them when you kick down once every stroke, and you never stop the plantar flexion.

This is relatively easy to correct.

To force yourself to stop kicking like crazy put on a pullbouy between your feet, or a kickboard or wrap a stretch band around your ankles.

Anything that stops you from kicking.

And swim 4 x 25 like this.

4- Listenning A good hand entry should sound like this… one kick per stroke sound likes this … If you hear this instead … it means that you are doing something wrong.

Find out what it is and do 4 to 8 x 25 listening carefully to try and swim smoother.

Then listen to your sense of touch.

We have a lot of nerve ending in our skin, use them by feeling how the water moves around you.

Around your hands and around your torso.

Feel the pressure agains the top of your feet when you kick down.

Notice that feeling of knife through butter when you have pointing toes.

Feel how the forearm uses leverage to move you foreword when it is perpendicular to your body.

Do 2 x 25 focusing on one part of the body: hands, forearms, torso, feet - for a total of 8 x 25.

5- Coordination The final step is to coordinate the previous 4 steps.

One arrow freestyle stroke like this is all that we are going for right now, remember?

Push off as horizontal as possible and feel the water speeding up on your skin and then slowing down as you start to lose speed.

Before you stop moving pull water with your forearm trying to have it as perpendicular as possible and glide on the side of your torso.

At the same time that you are doing your powerful pull, your leg of the same side of your body should be kicking down quickly.

What’s next?

If you can coordinate at least one stroke and one kick on arrow freestyle, while the other side of your body doesn’t move, you’ve done the hard part.

The next time you practice you’ll try to go for two arrow strokes.

One on each side.

You may stop after each cycle.

Then you can start connecting them in a row.

After that your next challenge will be to learn when and how to breathe.

And if you want to swim 100 meters in 1:09 with this technique in a 25 meter pool, you’ll also need to learn underwater kicks and flip turns.

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Woordenschat en spreektips bij deze les

Deze spreekles op niveau B1 is gebaseerd op de video “Smooth swimming step by step”. Deze woorden komen het vaakst terug: swim, stroke, technique, kick, freestyle. Deze video bevat 89 zinnen en 1226 woorden om na te spreken. Het gesproken deel duurt 9:27. De spreker praat in een gelijkmatig tempo van ongeveer 130 woorden per minuut, prettig om te shadowen. 82% van de woorden hoort bij de 3.000 meest gebruikte Engelse woorden; de rest kun je beter vooraf bekijken.

Belangrijke woorden in deze video

De 15 moeilijkste woorden uit de video, met uitspraak en betekenis:

Woord	Uitspraak	Betekenis
swim werkwoord	/swɪm/	zwemmen
arrow zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈæɹəʊ/	pijl
forearm zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈfɔːˌɹɑːm/	onderarm
horizontal bijvoeglijk naamwoord	/ˌhoɹəˈzɑn.təl/	horizontaal
glide werkwoord	/ˈɡlaɪd/	glijden
breathe werkwoord	/bɹiːð/	ademen, ademhalen
torso zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈtoɹ.soʊ̯/	torso, romp
meter zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈmitəɹ/	meter, teller
perpendicular bijvoeglijk naamwoord	/ˌpɜː.pənˈdɪk.jə.lə(ɹ)/	loodrecht, haaks
synchronize werkwoord	/ˈsɪŋ.kɹə.naɪːz/	synchroniseren
endurance zelfstandig naamwoord	/ɪnˈdʊɹəns/	uithoudingsvermogen
coordinate werkwoord	/koʊˈɔɹ.dəˌneɪt/	coördineren
tendency zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈtɛn.dən.si/	neiging
toe zelfstandig naamwoord	/təʊ/	teen
autopilot zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈɔtoʊˌpaɪlət/	automatische piloot

Phrasal verbs die je zult horen

Woord	Betekenis
build up werkwoord	opstapelen
find out werkwoord	ontdekken, onderzoeken
slow down werkwoord	afremmen
try out werkwoord	uitproberen

Grammatica in deze video

De structuren die de spreker het meest gebruikt, met de exacte woorden uit de video:

Structuur	In de video
Present perfect have/has + voltooid deelwoord — iets uit het verleden dat nu nog telt	have never done · you've done
Lijdende vorm be + voltooid deelwoord — het gaat om wat er gebeurt, niet om wie het doet	are optimized · be synchronized
Werkwoord + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — werkwoorden die door de -ing-vorm worden gevolgd	start swimming · starts moving · Keep gliding
Advies met “should” should + werkwoord — zeggen wat een goed idee is	should always wait · should be · should expect

Uitspraak om op te letten

De spreker gebruikt 12 samentrekkingen en verkorte vormen, zoals you'll, can't, doesn't. Spreek ze kort uit, zoals je ze hoort.

De klanken “sh” en “zh”: specially /ˈspɛʃəli/, flexion /ˈflɛk.ʃən/, splash /splæʃ/, coordination /kəʊˌɔːdɪˈneɪʃən/, demonstration /dɛmənˈstɹeɪʃən/
Lange woorden — let op de klemtoon: horizontal /ˌhoɹəˈzɑn.təl/, perpendicular /ˌpɜː.pənˈdɪk.jə.lə(ɹ)/, coordinate /koʊˈɔɹ.dəˌneɪt/, autopilot /ˈɔtoʊˌpaɪlət/, manageable /ˈmænəd͡ʒəb(ə)l/

Klanken die Nederlandstaligen lastig vinden:

Stemhebbende eindmedeklinker — /b/, /d/, /g/, /z/, /v/ niet verscherpen: glide /ˈɡlaɪd/, synchronize /ˈsɪŋ.kɹə.naɪːz/, foreword /ˈfɔːwɜːd/, optimize /ˈɑptɪmaɪz/, disadvantage /ˌdɪsədˈvæntɪd͡ʒ/
/æ/ — opener dan de Nederlandse “e”: arrow /ˈæɹəʊ/, manageable /ˈmænəd͡ʒəb(ə)l/, plantar /ˈplæntɚ/, disadvantage /ˌdɪsədˈvæntɪd͡ʒ/, splash /splæʃ/
/w/ — met ronde lippen: swim /swɪm/, foreword /ˈfɔːwɜːd/, underwater /ʌndɚˈwɔtəɹ/

Zo oefen je met deze video

Luister de hele video één keer zonder te spreken en noteer de woorden die je niet kent.
Spreek zin voor zin na op normale snelheid en herhaal elke zin tot je ritme gelijk is aan dat van de spreker.
Neem jezelf op en vergelijk met het origineel; let daarbij op woorden als swim, arrow, forearm.

Wat is de Shadowing-techniek?

Shadowing is een wetenschappelijk onderbouwde taalleermethode die oorspronkelijk is ontwikkeld voor professionele tolkentraining en gepopulariseerd door polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. De methode is eenvoudig maar krachtig: je luistert naar native Engelse audio en herhaalt het onmiddellijk hardop — als een schaduw die de spreker volgt met slechts 1–2 seconden vertraging. In tegenstelling tot passief luisteren of grammaticadrills, dwingt shadowing je hersenen en mondspieren om echte spraakpatronen tegelijkertijd te verwerken en te reproduceren. Onderzoek toont aan dat het de uitspraaknauwkeurigheid, intonatie, ritme, verbonden spraak, luisterbegrip en spreekvaardigheid aanzienlijk verbetert — waardoor het een van de meest effectieve methoden is voor IELTS Speaking-voorbereiding en echte Engelse communicatie.

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