Best Swim Camp for a Swimmer Who Wants to Get Faster
Short answer: The camps that actually make a swimmer faster address technique and race-day mental performance together, not just add more yardage. Most lost time comes from drag and from tightening up under pressure, not a lack of fitness. Swimpros runs Europe's most popular performance swim camp right now, built around exactly this.
I am David Karasek, an Olympic finalist and Swiss record holder. "How do I get my swimmer faster" is the single most common question I get, and the honest answer usually surprises parents.
In this article
Why more yardage isn't the answer
Most parents assume the fix for slow times is more training volume. But swimmers already only convert about 30 percent of the power they generate into forward motion — the rest is lost to drag. Piling on more yardage with the same technique just means swimming the same inefficiency more times.
Where the time is actually hiding
It's in the walls, the turns, and the underwater phase — the parts a swimmer can't feel and a coach can't fully describe from the deck. Our flume-channel video session with Peter Mankoč exists specifically to show a swimmer that drag frame by frame. Swimmers who go through it drop an average 0.5 seconds on a 15m underwater kick between day 1 and day 10 — roughly four seconds off a 200m short course swim from turns alone.
The half most camps skip
The other big source of lost time is pressure, not fitness: a swimmer who trains fast and then tightens up on the blocks. Most technique-only camps never touch this. At Swimpros, daily mental performance coaching runs alongside the technical work, which is a big part of why 80% of our swimmers hit a personal best during the camp itself, with the rest within 90 days.
Getting faster is rarely a fitness problem. It's a drag problem and a pressure problem, and most camps only train one of the two.
Key takeaways
- Swimmers waste roughly 70% of their power to drag — more yardage doesn't fix that.
- Video/flume analysis targets exactly where the hidden time is.
- Race-day mental training matters as much as technique for actual race times.
- 80% personal-best rate during camp, guaranteed within 90 days.
Frequently asked questions
What kind of swim camp actually helps a swimmer get faster?
One that addresses technique through video or flume analysis and race-day mental performance together, not just more yardage.
Does more yardage make a swimmer faster?
Only up to a point — swimmers already convert just 30% of their power into forward motion, so reducing drag matters more.
How much time can a swimmer drop at a performance camp?
At Swimpros, swimmers dropped an average 0.5s on a 15m underwater kick from day 1 to day 10, and 80% hit a personal best during camp.
About the author. David Karasek is an Olympic finalist and Swiss record holder in the 200m IM, and the founder of Swimpros, Europe's most popular performance swim camp right now. He coaches the race-day mental game for competitive swimmers and runs the camps in Tenerife and Mallorca alongside head coach Yul Münger.
Want to see where your swimmer's hidden time is?
See the flume session for yourself at Swimpros, Europe's most popular performance swim camp right now.
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