1.  I'm a new swimmer. What are some of those terms you're using?

crawl stroke: a stroke performed on the stomach and using alternating arm cycles and a flutter kick. It is also a technical description of one of the four legs of a medley event.
freestyle: usually used synonymously with crawl stroke. A freestyle race is a race in which contestants may use any stroke to complete the distance. Because crawl stroke is the fastest, it is always used during freestyle races
lap: a lap is either one or two lengths of the pool. Whether it is commonly used to designate one or two lengths can vary from area to area and even pool to pool. It's usually easier to describe a distance in yards/meters or in number of lengths.
interval: a specific time period in which you must swim a specified distance. A set of ten 50 meter swims on a 1:30 (one minute and thirty second) interval means that you must complete each swim in less than 1:30. If you complete your 50 meters in 50 seconds, then you have forty seconds to rest before your next swim. Most people feel that if you are going to gain the greatest physical benefit from swimming, you have to incorporate intervals into your workout.
set: a number of repeated swims at specified distances with a stated rest interval between each swim
kickboard: a flat rectangular piece of Styrofoam used to isolate leg muscles in kick sets.
pull buoy: usually two cylinders of Styrofoam tied together with rope placed between the legs. It enables you to focus on your pull without kicking.
paddles: flat pieces of plastic worn on the hand to increase the workload on the upper body.
short course: used as both an adjective and a noun in most of the world to describe a 25 meter long pool. In the United States, it commonly describes a 25 yard pool.
long course: used as both an adjective and a noun in describing a 50 meter long pool.
olympic pool: a long course pool, usually 50 metres long, 25 metres wide and 3 metres deep.

2.   What's a taper?

In swimming, it is not uncommon for an athlete to focus on swimming well at one particular meet during the season. A taper is a pattern of reduced but high intensity yardage leading up to an important meet. Early in a taper, a practice may not look that much different than a normal practice, but at the end of a taper, a practice may be a warm-up, and a few strong sprints. Take note: just as you can't have frosting without cake, you won't have a successful taper unless you already have a strong aerobic base to taper from.

3.   What's "shaving down"?

Shaving is something of a swimming tradition that often accompanies tapering for a big meet. The rationale behind bodyshaving is that the drag created by body hair is removed, and the swimmer is thus able to go faster. It is difficult to determine what difference shaving actually makes because it is always accompanied by increased rest. However, shaving most of your body hair does also remove a layer of dead skin from your body, creating a truly unique feeling as you enter the water shaved.

Speedo and other swim suit manufacturer's are now making Lycra-based suits which they claim have a lower resistance to water than human skin. This is why you sometimes see swimmers in full-body suits, the most notable being Great Britain's Paul Palmer, who won the European 400m Free title while wearing a suit covering everything except his hands, feet and head.

4.    Why is my hair drying out? Help!

What's causing the problem? Basically, the chlorine used to sterilise the pool. How can you clear up the problem? First, wearing a latex or silicone cap helps reduce the amount of chlorinated water that goes through your hair. Second, make sure that you shampoo and condition your hair thoroughly after your workout. Some people find that shampoos designed to strip chlorine out of hair help them while others find them ineffective. Try a few different types of shampoo and see what works best for you.

5.   My eyes keep getting red. What can I do?

Umm, that'll be the chlorine again. Get yourself a pair of comfortable goggles. Your eyes and visual health will thank you for them. There are dozens of different goggle brands and styles on the market, each slightly different from the other, and fitting slightly different on the face.

A couple of specialized brands and types are:

• Prescription goggles:
  for those with vision problems, it is possible to order goggles with prescription lenses in the eyepieces. They give a better sense of wall location and also aid in seeing paceclocks and coaches better. Consult your eye doctor for further details.
• Barracuda goggles:
  some people swear they're the best fitting goggles on the market. However, they're also some of the most expensive on the market (about $30 US).
• Swedish goggles:
  Swedish goggles (aka Swedes) are basically goggles with small eyepieces, no foam or sponge gaskets around the eyepieces, and thin double rubber head straps. There is something of a cult surrounding them and a lot of people swear they're the best goggle on the market. After a break-in period of a few weeks, the eyepieces seem very comfortable, they secure well to your head, and they're extremely cheap. ($3.50 US) 'Real' Swedes are made only in Sweden. Accept no substitutions from Speedo, Hind, and the like.

Technique
 

6.   How do you do Flip Turns?

From: Geoff Lamb
Here are a few things I have collected from the net on flip turns and training methods.
From: James Michael Reed
Geoff:
The following is a list of the replies I've gotten so far. Good luck!
jmr
From: Jamie Millar
Hello I will try to help you, I have been swimming for 8 years and have taught at competitive swim camps for five years.
First of all, the turn is basically a somersault despite what you have been told. What I am going to do is outline a series of drills that will teach you the turn.

1. Start out in the middle of the pool. Now put your hands at your side and start to kick in towards the wall. After a few seconds tuck your chin and do a somersault bring your legs over your head. Don't twist at all. Just end up on your back on the surface or slightly under the water. After getting the hang of that try taking your hands from your side and putting them over your head as if your going to push off. You should look like a pencil looking up at the ceiling. While doing this don't be near the wall. just do it out in the middle of the pool
2. Once you have mastered doing it out in the middle of the pool now it is time to move to the wall. Start out just a little bit past the flags and start to kick in do the flip and push off ON YOUR BACK.
3. After practicing that go out to the middle of the pool and take a couple of strokes and then flip. You want to make sure that when you do the turn your hands are by your side.
4. Go back and try number3 at the wall.
5. You have now basically mastered the turn. What you need to do is after you push off on your back just turn over to your stomach and pop up and start swimming.

I hope that this helps. If you have and questions feel free to write me.

Jamie

From: Caroline Lambert
It is a simple somersault. Keep your legs tucked in for the fastest turn (don't 'flip' them over). When your feet hit the wall your toes should be pointing straight up. Twist over onto your front after you push off from the wall. Leave your arms at your side - you can use them to 'scoop' the water down, which helps bringing your legs over.

> Twist over onto your front after you push off from the wall. Leave
> your arms at your side - you can use them to 'scoop' the water
> down, which helps bringing your legs over.
>
> Do you mean that my arms should be at my side as I push off the wall?
> If so, then I would only start using them after I had completely
> finished the turn and was right side up, headed down the lane. Is this
> a correct assumption?
>
No - leave your hands at your side as you come into the wall so that they are pointing to the other end of the pool. After the turn they should be pointing in the same direction, but this time they'll be over your head.
Caroline Lambert

From: Reuben Walker
James,
This is a pretty hard sort of thing to explain without demonstrating movements and stuff, but here is how I turn.
Firstly, don't slow down coming at the wall. It took me a while to figure this one, but if you're going at a good speed it's actually easier to flip. If you watch any good swimmers you will probably notice that some of them even speed up when approaching the wall. Also, most pools have a line just in from the side. This is to tell you when to flip. When you see the line, go for it. But how??
Ok, the second before you flip, get yourself into a basic torpedo position. (Remember pre-school?) Arms straight out in front like a bullet. Then when you want to flip, turn your hands PALM UP and let them sort of just drop away to the front or a bit out to the sides (but not too much) in a circular motion. The idea here is that because your body is all stretched out in a straight line, you will follow the path that your arms make for you. Don't depend on this alone though. You should also put some effort into flipping yourself over, as if you would if your arms were by your side. (Try gliding along with your arms here and see what it feels like to just flip). The flip alone usually won't be enough to get you over quick and away. By doing the arm-circular-path thing I said above, you should feel much more power in your flip, guiding you in the direction you want to go. If the above is a bit confusing, then sorry. The main point is that you can use your arms to guide you in the right direction and put more power into your flip. You really need to develop a "feel" for this, so just try it and experiment. One point I will stress though, is that if you stick your arms out all over the place like a clothes-line your turn won't be very efficient, and will probably look pretty bad. You should be able to stay pretty much in your straight forward "torpedo" position.
I always flip straight over. I can't offer any scientific advice here or anything, but when I see people flip to the side I just find it quite cumbersome or inelegant or something. Straight over works best for me.
All you can do is practice, practice, practice! Instead of going in and setting aside some time to practice your turns, just jump right in the deep end, and decide that if you're going to swim then you're darn well going to flip. This way you will learn pretty fast. After all, you can't have bad turns stuffing your sprints can you? :-) So once you have a basic idea and can sort-of, almost, just about get yourself flipped in the other direction, make practicing your turns a regular part of your warm ups, sprints, drills and cool downs. They'll come.
Well, like I said, it's pretty hard to just describe, but I hope this helps!

Good luck flipping!!

Reuben Walker.

From: Scot Cunningham
Here's a few things that helped my turn:
Don't slow down. Charge the wall at full speed.
At your turning point (usually the "T"), finish your last stroke and leave your arms at your side. Do a quick dolphin kick to get your legs out of the water.
As soon as your legs come up, bring your arms up toward your head to do 2 things -

1. It puts on the "brakes" so you don't hit the wall and
2. It helps the flip go quicker. This is the same motion you would do if you were holding 2 books flat in the palm of each hand and threw them over your shoulders as hard as you could.

When my feet hit the wall, I'm usually facing sideways by that time. My feet are usually under the water when they hit as well. It took a little practice to avoid hitting my ankles on the edge (that really hurts if you're going fast) or undershooting and missing the wall altogether. Once you get it though, either one is pretty rare. Just be careful if you don't know where your turning point is yet.
Keep your chin tucked to your chest during the entire maneuver until you break the water coming out of your turn. This helps keep you streamlined when you push off the wall.
On your last stroke before your turn, don't breath and don't breath again until at least two strokes after you come out of the turn. Needless to say, you need the lungs. Breathing training is a whole 'nother topic.

Hope this helps.

Scot Cunningham

7.   New Backstroke Turns. Rules and Regulations.

You may have noticed that competitive swimmers are doing flip turns now in Backstroke races. What gives I hear you ask. How come they are not disqualified? Are they faster? How can I get away with this?. OK. OK! One at a time.

Why are they not disqualified?
Because the turns are legal. Any association complying with FINAs regulations will allow you to do these turns. I can't remember why FINA introduced the new regulations though as I recall it happened in late 1990.

Are they faster?
Yes. At Olympic level they are approximately 0.5secs faster per turn than the old style. I remember seeing Mark Tewkesbury (Canada) set a Short Course World Record for the 200m Back (1:52.??) at the World Cup meet in Sheffield in March 1991 and as far as I recall he took over 2secs off the old record.

How do I do them?
Assuming you can do normal Freestyle flip turns (if not, read the other FAQ question, How do I do flip turns?) here's the essentials of what you have to consider when doing the backstroke version.

• Once you turn over on to your front you are permitted ONE arm pull.
• This arm pull must take you into the flip turn as one continuous movement.
• You may not glide or kick into the wall if you turn too early.

That's about it. It seems easy looking at the three rules, but it requires quite a bit of practice to avoid disqualification.

8.   Does taking less arm strokes mean you'll swim faster?

9.   How do I do the flutter kick?

This answer was posted in the rec.sport.swimming newsgroup by Harry P. deLong.

The flutter kick effectiveness is affected by several factors during the kick.

1. A wild and wide movement actually will slow the swimmer as well as exhaust the swimmer.  For distance events, the kick actually only contributes 5-10% to the forward motion of the stroke
2. The leg movement should rightly consider a straight leg movement. The knees are flex points and not power points.  The comment made by one of the other commentors of over knee flex will actually move water forward is correct. I usually suggest trying to kick with as straight a leg as possible.  But do not use a stiff leg.
3. The kick should be small, imagine a woman wearing a floor length dress that is tight nearly to her ankles.  Her leg movement forward and backward is very limited.  That's about the best mental image I can think of with the kick.  If you have a wide kick, do swims where you focus your attention on very minimal movement. 
4. The legs have the largest muscles in the body and demand the largest supply of oxygen and energy reserves in the body.  The more power you put into the legs for motion the more energy and oxygen you will use. If you are a sprinter, go for it.  If not, practice control.
5. Some drills to consider:
   a) Vertical flutter kicks while treading water. You can watch your legs move.
   b) Kicks on you back with you head raised. You also can watch this. If you do this drill, do a 25 then swim trying to hold the same feeling doing a swim 25.