Skip to main content
Jan Prins

Jan Prins

Associate Professor of Kinesiology at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Director of the Aquatic Research Laboratory, and former UH Head Men's Swimming Coach (1978–1987).

Aug 19, 2026

1:55
Get stuck into it.
1:56
Well, as you mentioned, Brenton, we're going to show how we use the technology, the high-speed cameras, to look at the subtleties with stroke mechanics.
2:06
And where I'd like to start, and I use this in, in the book as well, Mark Levin was sent by The New York Times to do an article on Michael Phelps, and he went to a swimming meet, and he hadn't a clue what was going on.
2:19
So he wrote this quote, which is a real lesson for all of us, because we take it so much for granted being involved with swimming from the get-go.
2:29
But most people, they have to be ex- shown and gone over what swimming detail is all about.
2:37
And his comment of all the Olympic sports compared to swimming and of course triathlon or open water, is perhaps the most resistant to casual analysis, meaning you're not gonna walk in there and know exactly what's happening right off the bat.
2:51
So I think that's a great quote.
6:27
Mm.
30:02
That's not 3.4,
30:03
that's 34%.
30:04
34% from, now remember we're calculating it from these peaks.
30:08
But each time you take a stroke, it's like stepping on the, going on the freeway with my foot on the accelerator, or off-wheat on the accelerator, and then each time letting go.
30:19
So you're stopping and starting and stopping and starting.
30:22
Not a good idea.
30:26
So that's just an example.

15 MINS LATER

45:39
Go ahead,
Lillian Song
Lillian SongCORRESPONDENT
43:40
Like the title says, really broken down what the freestyle mechanics, biomechanics
43:45
are.
43:46
See, what usually books do is tell you what to do right.
43:51
And all these instructional books, they go through a great deal of detail saying this is the correct way to do it, which is fine.
43:58
We do that too.
43:59
But in swimming, even very subtle things you do that don't work, we call them stroke defects, can make a huge difference.
44:07
So we broke the stroke down into parts.

6 MINS LATER

Lillian Song
Lillian SongCORRESPONDENT
50:28
Well, it's a life skill that everybody can benefit from.

We value your privacy

We use cookies to understand how you use our platform and to improve your experience. Click “Accept All” to consent, or “Decline non-essential” to opt out of non-essential cookies. Read our Privacy Policy.