SWIM SMOOTH DVD REVIEW: CLEAN UP YOUR STROKE (PRACTICING ONE THING AT A TIME)

Review Summary: Clean Up Your Stroke DVD Boxset

Overall Rating

5/5

Buy on Swim Smooth

A gold-standard resource for visual learners. Paul Newsome breaks down complex stroke mechanics into simple, actionable drills. It is like having a world-class coach in your living room.

✅ Pros

• Exceptional visual demonstrations
• Logical progression of drills
• Includes Open Water and Dryland bonus sections
• Great production value and commentary

❌ Cons

• DVD format is becoming outdated (check for digital downloads)
• Not ideal for absolute non-swimmers

Detailed Score Breakdown

Content Quality

5 / 5

Clarity

5 / 5

Production Value

5 / 5

Value

5 / 5

The Swim Smooth's Clean Up Your Stroke DVD set is not your usual learn to swim program on DVDs.

It is more of a series of short hints and tips addressing a few important aspects of an efficient freestyle stroke. Paul Newsome, an accredited level II triathlon coach who coaches triathletes in Western Australia, will breakdown each of the parts of the Freestyle stroke into a few drills.

This means you can concentrate on one part at a time and don't get all tangled up with trying to swim the full stroke whilst also trying to fix a problem.

Dive Into: Clean Up Your Stroke

• Breathing: Get the Oxygen In
• Head Position: Say No to Neck Pain
• Leg Kick: Turn on the Motors
• Body Roll: The Key to Efficiency
• Recovery & Hand Entry
• Catch and Pull: Go Forward
• Bonus Features (Open Water & Dryland)
• Summary: Pros and Cons
• Frequently Asked Questions

Breathing - Get the oxygen in

Breathing is the essence of any sport's activity and swimming is not any different.

Actually, a good breathing technique in swimming is even more crucial than anywhere else since we are a bit tied to a certain rhythm and cannot take a breath whenever we want.

The first part of the Clean Up Your Stroke DVD explains the importance of bubbles and the usefulness of bilateral breathing as well as shows you some drills to make your breathing a bliss.

If you want to know what "bubble bubble breathe" stands for or what a very useful isometric exercise is, just get Swim Smooth's DVD set and you will find out :).

Head Position - Say no to neck pains

Your head position is one of the key factors which determines how efficiently your body moves through the water, so it is very pertinent to get this right.

Paul describes the pros and cons of the two schools of thought regarding your head position in the water.

The old school, water at your hair line vs. the new school with eyes at the bottom of the pool and water going over your head.

Which one is better for you?

I am a fan of the new school of thought, so if you are starting out your learn to swim endeavor, this is the way to go.

Leg Kick - Turn on the motors

Strong legs is one of the key spices which make your swimming delicious. Without a good kick, you can forget it.

In the Leg Kick section, Paul discusses the proper way to streamline (or torpedo as they call it down under) and the drills that can help you with keeping your body in an arrow like body shape for as long as possible.

He also shows you the right way to kick with a very simple yet effective drill as well as explains when you should utilize fins in your workouts to maximize their purpose for kick improvement.

Body Roll - Rollin', rollin', rollin'

The importance of the body roll was discussed on Swimator Blog many times and it is a key concept in swimming.

Paul shows you an unarguable fact which proves that rolling your body is better than swimming flat.

Then he explains and performs a few effective drills which will help you get the right balance and body roll in the water. For example, the 6-1-6 or 3-2-3 freestyle drill which helps you with improving your body roll and subsequently with bilateral breathing.

Recovery and Hand Entry

Recovery is the motion your arm/hand performs out of the water.

In the Recovery section of the DVD, you will be introduced to Alexander Popov drill which made the Russian swimming tsar the elegantly graceful swimmer he was.

Paul will also show you the difference between high elbow and straight arm recovery and how they affect your stroke.

Hand Entry: Don't overthink it. How you enter your hand into the water usually determines how well you can grab onto water. Fingers first, flat hand, crossing over or thumb first? Those are just a few concepts Paul addresses.

Catch and Pull - Go forward

"To S-pull shape or not to S-pull shape, that is the question :)".

If you ever wondered how your hand/arm should move through the water during freestyle, wonder no more. Don't be stuck in the 80's, forget about S-pull shape. Pull straight through and maximize your swimming force.

In the Catch and Pull part of the DVD, Paul Newsome explains why the S-pull shape is an old school thought and why it is inefficient.

He then goes on to explain what sculling is and how mixing cold and warm water in your bathtub could actually be an important motion in learning the underwater pull-through in swimming.

Bonus, who does not like bonus?

There are a few extras included as a bonus in the DVD.

• Stroke Rate: How to improve with the revolutionary Metronome device.
• Open Water: Loaded with tips on wetsuit purchases and specific open water swimming drills.
• Dryland: Paul will guide you through some core strength and flexibility exercises.

Finally, if you really want to see Paul Newsome in his sexy blue swimsuit :), you should definitely get his DVD set.

If this does not entice you, how about a great English and Australian accent guiding you through your swimming stroke correction drills :).

Summary and Verdict

So, there you have it.

The Swim Smooth's Clean Up Your Stroke DVD set is a genuinely nice resource for swimmers who are looking to improve their freestyle stroke or just overall swimming fitness.

All the different sections have nice guidance from Paul as well as a few example swimmers in the water with a commentary and text to explain what you should be focusing on and what you should avoid.

In a way, listening to Paul is like having a coach on the pool deck tell you exactly what you should be doing.

I'd mainly recommend this DVD to all the folks who can already swim up and down the pool a little and are feeling frustrated that they are not really improving anymore or just don't know where to go next with their improvements.

Remember, focus on one thing at a time and if you start feeling like all is going to hell, then stop, refocus and try again.

Otherwise you are just wasting your time.