Can a 54-year-old very former competitive swimmer get it back? Writing in the New York Times’ Play magazine, Jim Thornton gives it the old college try. Progressive drills, in-the-pool demonstrations, computerized stroke analysis and spot-on analogies from four-time Olympic gold medalist Jon Olsen bring Thornton’s stroke back to the point where it feels, as he says, "less unnatural."
Helpfully, Thornton passes on Jon Olsen’s five rules to swim by:
1. Keep your head down. Forget the old idea of keeping your head
high enough so that the water hits you in the forehead. You’ll move
faster and with less resistance by keeping your head on an even plane
with your body, as if you were standing and looking straight ahead.
2.
Think scull, not plow. As much as possible, try to stay horizontal in
the water. Good head position will definitely help. You don’t want your
feet and hips to drop and drag, which only makes you plow through the
water and, in effect, swim uphill. Avoid arching your back, and try to
stay flat, long and streamlined  like a single scull skimming through
the water. When your body position is right, it can almost feel like
you’re swimming downhill.
3. Recruit the core. Coordinate your
kick, body rotation, catch and pull to allow your core muscles to do as
much of the heavy lifting as possible. Relying too much on your arms
and shoulders will make you slower and more prone to injury.
4.
Avoid crossing over. Imagine a line bisecting your body vertically.
Many swimmers, especially when breathing, have a tendency to let their
hands cross this line during the pull.
5. Finish your stroke.
Pushing up or down against the water wastes energy and contributes
nothing. Make sure your propulsive efforts keep you moving in a
horizontal vector. From the initial catch to the final push of each arm
stroke, keep your fingertips pointed toward the bottom of the pool. As
your underwater hand moves in front of your head, and then parallel to
your body, and then back toward your thigh, your wrist should adjust to
ensure that your palms and fingertips pull, then push, the water
horizontally toward your feet.