Most swimmers notice a difference in their very first session back in the pool. Once you can see how you're actually swimming against how you should be swimming, some corrections click into place straight away, because you finally know what you're aiming for. Others, like reworking your breathing timing or your catch, take a little longer to feel natural, so you keep practising them with the drills in your plan. Either way, you leave knowing exactly what to work on, so your time in the pool starts moving you forward instead of reinforcing the same habits.

Both matter, and they do different jobs. The pool is where you measure and refine, because the fixed distance and calm water let you track the things that show your efficiency is improving, like your strokes per length and your 100 m, 200 m, and 400 m times, which give you your Critical Swim Speed. Open water is where you put that efficiency to work in the conditions of a real swim, with no wall to rest on, no line to follow, and colder, choppier water to manage. Most swimmers use the pool to build and test their stroke, then take it into open water to get used to swimming the distance for real.

Everything we do is freestyle only. Every session, programme, and digital product is built around freestyle, because that is the stroke that matters most for open water, triathlon, and distance swimming, and it is where we can make the biggest difference to your efficiency and speed.

Swimfast is for adults who can already swim. As a general guide you should be able to comfortably cover about 1 km, and for video analysis you will need to manage at least 25 m without stopping so we can capture clean footage. We are not a learn-to-swim service, and we do not coach children or junior development swimmers. If you can already swim and you want to swim better, you are in the right place.

Yes, and often more than you would expect. You may have swum competitively when you were younger, but as your body ages your flexibility changes, so correct freestyle technique matters even more to keep you swimming comfortably and injury-free. Stroke research has also moved on a great deal, and several parts of the freestyle stroke have been refined for better efficiency. A Swimfast analysis will show you where your stroke is now and exactly what to work on.

Often it is inefficient freestyle technique that causes shoulder, neck, and lower-back pain in the first place, so improving your stroke is usually part of the fix rather than a risk to it. If you can swim and film comfortably without significant pain, we would encourage you to go ahead. If you are carrying an actual injury, please get medical clearance first, and always work within what feels safe.Often it is inefficient freestyle technique that causes shoulder, neck, and lower-back pain in the first place, so improving your stroke is usually part of the fix rather than a risk to it. If you can swim and film comfortably without significant pain, we would encourage you to go ahead. If you are carrying an actual injury, please get medical clearance first, and always work within what feels safe.

Both. In-person coaching happens at a private heated pool in Bryanston, Johannesburg, and includes the One-on-One Video Analysis and the Focused Stroke Correction sessions. If you are anywhere else in the world, Remote Video Analysis and Remote Coaching bring the same expert freestyle eyes to you online. The Winter Training Squad is in person in Johannesburg.

For most Swimfast work you will want fins, a pull buoy, paddles, and a front-mounted snorkel. Once we have identified the top three things to work on in your stroke, we prescribe specific drills, and many of those drills use this gear. It also makes your training more varied and effective. If you are not sure what to buy, just ask and we will point you in the right direction.

You can pay by card through the website, and international swimmers can pay by PayPal. For in-person sessions there is also an EFT option, and cash is welcome where noted. The current price is shown on each product page.

The simplest way is to tell us your goal and where you are based, and we will point you to the right starting point. As a rough guide, if you want to see and fix your stroke, start with a video analysis, in person in Johannesburg or remotely from anywhere. If you want ongoing structure and accountability, look at Remote Coaching. If Robben Island is the goal, the Winter Training Squad or the self-paced training programme is where to begin. You are welcome to email or WhatsApp and we will help you decide.

Please do not. Our Terms and Conditions ask that you do not sell, license, rent, copy, reproduce, distribute, or adapt the digital products. A lot of time and money goes into producing them. If you love a book or a guide, the best thing you can do is tell other swimmers about it and encourage them to buy their own copy, either here on the website or, for the book, via Amazon.