Thanks for today, once again a great lesson and all explained/demonstrated in an easy way for me to understand.

Leon, New Zealand, May 2013

Great to get this feedback and to feel like the drills you have given me are achievable and I understand the reasons behind them. I look forward to getting in the pool and reaping the benefits over the coming weeks!

Rick, New Zealand, March 2013

I first met Dan while visiting New Zealand for the State La Grande Ocean Race. He and his lovely family were kind enough to share their home with both myself and Josh Richardson. Right from the moment I walked out of the airport Dan was more than accommodating towards making sure we had the best preparation for the race – a true testament to Dan’s professionalism and dedication towards his greatest passion – swimming. In doing this, Dan showed us some truly amazing training locations both in a still water lake and in the open ocean – two great opportunities to practice swimming in all facets of open water conditions.On top of this I was able to train in his brand new indoor pool facility equipped with a flume – perfect for mastering stroke in a controlled environment with the added extra of being able to record, play back and make adjustments to stroke technique in real time with Dan being able to offer improvements at any moment instead of having to wait for the swimmer to complete the lap. All of this coupled with Dan’s incredibly personable nature and decades of swimming expertise makes Fit&Abel a perfect tool to take any swimmer of any level to that next level. Thanks again for the wonderful hospitality. I feel richer as a person and in my swimming ability for knowing you!

Elite Australian Open Water swimmer Michael Sheil, Feb 2013

Thanks to Dan Abel from fitandabel.com for looking after myself and Michael Sheil over the weekend at the State La Grande Ocean Swim. Dan took us to a number of his awesome open water training locations and new training facility designed for stroke correction. FitandAbel is fantastic for swimmers of any level as Dan’s passion and commitment is second to none. Thanks again for the hospitality and for sharing some of your open water swimming spots with us.

Elite Australian Open Water swimmer Josh Richardson, Feb 2013

Your sessions are the highlight of my week I always come out smiling. Thank you for everything I have learned with you, you have been an outstanding teacher.

Sylvia, London, Sep 2012

Thanks for the update and all the lessons, you’ve made what I imagined to be a very daunting experience, extremely enjoyable and I am now finding myself wanting to swim regardless of the weather!

Dean, London, Sep 2012

Many thanks for your coaching this summer- it has totally transformed my swimming and increased my enjoyment hugely.

Mark, London, Sep 2012

1hr 4mins! That’s ONE HOUR AND JUST THE FOUR MINUTES DAN! How about that! …When I first came to Dan it was about 25 years since my last swimming lesson – and it showed. After only 4 lessons and some group swim fitness sessions I was able to complete a 3.8km ironman swim in 64 minutes, something I could never have achieved without Dan’s help. Most importantly, Dan inspires confidence and he also makes the sessions enjoyable, with his   relentlessly positive attitude and distinctive sense of humour.

Ed, London, Sep 2012 (An exceptional first IM swim Ed, well done. Dan)

For a girl who couldn’t even swim 20m of crawl at Easter – to a first 100m length of the Tooting Lido late July – to a 1.5km open sea swim mid Sept.  I would never have imagined this possible for myself. My lessons and the support from Dan in between were invaluable and enormously motivating and confidence boosting.

Liz, London, Sep 2012

Thanks it’s been a brilliant experience for me getting out into open water, enjoying it and developing skills for that environment.  Your advice and moral support together with your optimistic can do attitude is most infectious and certainly bolstered my own confidence in taking on the swims this summer.  I have learnt a lot from you, it’s great that you practise what you preach and your style and approach is certainly very effective.

James, UK, Sep 2012 (In May 2012 James was a 2km pool swimmer, this September he completed his first 10km open water sea swim. Congratulations James)

You may be pleased to hear I swam last night at the lido; managed (for the first time) to do 1.5km fully front crawl. Did it in 29mins, which seems OK, though now looking to push this time down. Was absolutely delighted to do this, and really did make me realise how far I’ve come in a few months – none of which would have been possible without your help and guidance – so THANKS!

Robin, London, Sep 2012

Great session. Really enjoyed it as usual, its amazing that after all the lessons ive not had one wasted minute. Always new and interesting stuff to work on and i always come away thinking over something new that’s been added.

Mark, London, Sep 2012

I wanted to say how much I enjoyed the session on Friday, it was thoroughly informative and useful. Trying to put into practice what we worked on this morning in the pool, without really trying I knocked 4 1/2 minutes off my previous quickest 1km time, down to 24 minutes, so something has clearly worked, and I still felt fresh afterwards. This has given me a huge amount of confidence for my upcoming 70.3

Richard, London

I was at the pool today, but you were super busy giving lessons back to back so did not want to interrupt you.  I got my niece to time me for one length. the last time she did so, pre-lessons with you, she timed me at 2.07. and I was seriously out of puff.  This time I clocked 1.48 and not out of puff at all. yeay!

Susannah, London

I recommended you to another swimmer at the Lido yesterday who was kind enough to praise my stroke!!

Kate, London

I’ve really enjoyed our sessions and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend you, I’ve definitely felt the benefit!

Pete, London

Thanks Dan for my lesson last week. It was incredibly helpful and encouraging

Antje, London

Love love love the sessions

Nicola, London

Hi Dan, Thanks for a great lesson.  Really buzzing.  Looking forward to putting this all into practice.

Rory, London

Hi Dan, thanks for the email and another great session. As usual it was brilliant.

Mark, London

The lesson was very helpful to get me concentrating on my stroke more and having someone tell me my weaknesses. Really enjoyed it thanks.

Rob, London

I’ve done it! The swimming part would not be possible without your coaching!I was overtaking other swimmers! You’ve got a fantastic ability make people believe they can do things which they thought they were not impossible before, it was only 426m but for me it was amazing transformation cos this Triathlon made me swim!

Laura, London

Just a quick one to say a big thanks, you have a really good way of teaching and my swimming feels so much better,
I don’t want to get out any more…. I swam two hours the other day!!

Lorna, Ireland

Thanks again for the awesome swimming lessons over the weekend, can’t wait to get in the pool tomorrow and get practicing!!

Debbie, New Zealand

Thanks for an awesome weekend…I am SO excited to be doing my swim in the Tri in Feb now rather than slightly dreading it! I know I have a way to go still but the fact that I swam over the middle of the lake and was confident doing it means such a lot…I think ** is now fed up with me talking about swimming and what I can now do…and also laughing at me practising in front of the mirror. It was great to meet ****** on the weekend as well and whilst I was a little intimidated as she is such a good swimmer compared to me she was lovely and it really helped having someone who was much more confident learning at the same time. As you said over the weekend practice, practice, practice…and having fun whilst doing it was great too.

Jackie,  Christchurch NZ

I hopped in the pool this morning and could not believe the difference I felt in the water.  I did my normal session and felt as though I had hardly expended any energy with the few changes I focused on (head down, high elbow, entry in line with shoulder and catch and pull). The weekend was brilliant, it was just the right amount of swimming and talking. The filming was a great way to see where lie my strengths and weaknesses in my stroke and body position. I love swimming but feel as though I had hit a bit of a wall with my plodding up and down, I have a new excitement for the water and am now looking forward to doing my first sea swim event. Your ability to coach and inspire is second to none, thank you so much for a great few days!

Rachel,  Christchurch NZ

Having thought I was a capable swimmer you’ve made me realise there are many great ways I can improve my technique. You were clear and instructive and although you relayed a lot of information you’ve made it easy to remember. I’m already reaping the benefits from the drills you’ve given me in only a couple of swims. Thanks for the lesson and the email support!

Henry Teare, London

Dan clearly has exceptional leadership qualities and these are complemented by his extensive top level competitive swimming experience in the pool and in open water. I would have no hesitation in recommending him as a swimming coach for open water swimmers of all abilities and aspirations.

Neil Woodford, Head of Investments, Invesco Perpetual, UK

How else can you figure I went from last to first? It’s all because of you, Dan! You are the best coach ever!

Laura, U.S.A

In the session we covered the three parts of the stroke; recovery, entry and pull. This was made much easier through a detailed demonstration and critique session on land rather than just jumping in the pool. Immediately Dan was able to quickly identify some fairly major imperfections in my stroke. It was useful to have someone explain why these particular imperfections would slow you down and make you less efficient. By using analogies Dan helped me to build up a picture of the perfect stroke that was more memorable. Before getting in the pool Dan explained the drills that we would be doing in the water and the reasons for them.

Before I got in the water Dan jumped in and provided a demo of how to do the drills we had just described. This was particularly useful and it was really helpful to actually see them in action rather than just visualising them in my head. Dan also got me in the water to look at his stroke both above and under water which again was useful in understanding the full stroke and body roll etc. Once I started doing the drills Dan remained in the water and swam with me in order to give me as much feedback as possible. Even over the course of a few lengths with feedback at each end, the differences and benefits of a more efficient stroke were becoming clear. Towards the end of the session Dan ran through the future drills that I should be doing to further refine my technique. Throughout the session Dan’s enthusiasm for swimming was ever clear. His willingness to get in the pool made the lesson infinitely more useful than previous tutorials I’ve had. I’ll certainly be trying to get another hour in the pool with Dan in a month or so he can check progress and hopefully get me swimming even faster.

Richard Nicholls, London

I have known Dan for over 20 years and he is one of the most focused and positive people I know. His love of life, the outdoors and being fit is quite contagious. He knows how to have fun and when to be serious – your life will be richer knowing Dan Abel.

Murray Burdan, New Zealand Olympic Swimming Representative 1996

Dan Abel is definitely one of a kind! I’ve been associated with Dan since the early stages of my swimming career and I can quite honestly say Dan’s positive attitude and outlook on life makes this genuine Kiwi so incredibly infectious. Dan instantly brightens up your day, his energy is unlimited and in the 20 something years I’ve known him, not once has it faltered. What I have always admired in Dan is his approach to life, he sees any challenge as a task to master, no goal is unachievable and if you want something enough you just have to believe it. In my 13 years of International competition Dan was a knowledge bank full of motivating stories and lessons learnt during his own career, he always managed to make me see my goals more clearly so I would be the one walking away having caught that infectious outlook. From my experience absolutely anything is possible with Dan Abel by your side.

Helen Norfolk,
New Zealand Olympic Swimming Representative 2000, 2004, 2008

Last year I achieved a long term goal of mine which was to swim the English Channel in a relay. This would not have been possible without the support and training from Dan. Before I met Dan I thought I was a fairly decent swimmer, but always new I could achieve more. I had watched a number of technique videos and attended numerous swim training sessions but still could not progress further. With Dan I learnt how to improve my stroke, but most importantly how to enjoy swimming. Being relaxed in the water and even having fun meant that all my energy started to go towards swimming rather than thinking about swimming. If you are serious about improving your swimming then I would highly recommend training with Dan.

Guy Meadows,  (London)

Daniel is a complete fitness professional with a very strong grounding within the industry. Dan is an amazing motivator and a personal trainer with a personality! I’ve known Dan since he was a member of the New Zealand Swimming Team where he was known for his team spirit and competitiveness; this is now passed onto his personal training clients. I would happily recommend Dan as a brilliant individual to work with.

John Davis, Commonwealth Games swimming Bronze Medallist 1998

I have known Daniel Abel for over 20 years. We trained for the same swim team and competed for New Zealand together and have remained friends ever since. He is one of the most disciplined individual’s I’ve met and commits himself 100% to any job in hand. In the competitive swimming domain Dan set himself very high goals and then backed himself to achieve them. What I love about Dan is his ability to push himself and others to succeed while retaining a fantastic sense of humour throughout the task. I remember our gruelling training sessions in the pool where Dan would consistently motivate others, make us laugh, lead by example and inspire everyone to strive higher. Throughout the years, Dan has applied his excellent work ethic to succeed in many different arena’s.  I particularly admire Dan’s well balanced approach to life. I know beyond a doubt that Dan will continue to be incredibly successful in helping people achieve their goals. All done with a smile of course!

Anna Forrest (Nee Simcic). Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist 1990, Commonwealth Games Silver Medallist 1994, former World Record holder, New Zealand Olympic Swimming finalist 1992, 1996, World Championship finalist 1991, 1993,