Whenever you swim there should be an inherit sense of ’forwardness’ that permeates the whole of the stroke. When you do so all your actions will become aligned and purposeful. You should try to avoid simply performing a series of movements without having a clear sense of where you are ultimately going.

Pull your body forwards. The most important thing here is to focus not on what the movement feels like to you but what the relative movement is with respect to the water itself. Imagine the top of your head cutting through the water like the bow of a ship and you will probably find you have already reduced your stroke count!

To benefit from making the ‘hull’ of your body as streamline as possible you can learn to swim ‘downhill’. The downhill body position in the water involves keeping your head in line with your torso whilst looking at the bottom of the pool. This, of course, will mean you have to start orientating yourself using the black lines rather than constantly looking at what’s in front of you. When you get it right you will actually experience just the slightest sense of actually swimming downhill - it is a real feeling. In this position you will be optimally horizontal in the water .