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Article with Swimming Tips

60sPanda
60sPanda Posts: 303 Member
in Social Groups
Saw this and thought the group might find it interesting / useful.
http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/triathlete/triathlon-swim/seven-steps-to-better-swimming-technique/4520.html

Replies

  • AquaticQuests
    AquaticQuests Posts: 947 Member
    Thanks Panda!
    Yep I would really like to hear some of y'all's thoughts/ perspectives on my thoughts/ queries about some of the tips discussed in the article!
    Can't type write now but will do later today!
  • Macstraw
    Macstraw Posts: 896 Member
    That is a great article, with a lot of good tips. They're all pretty much what I preach to the kids at practice. The only one of the drills I'm a little leery of is the corkscrew - I understand the theory behind it & it seems to be a sound principle, but my concern is it could lead to over-rotation when breathing if the swimmer gets too used to rolling all the way over onto the back. The swimmer needs to keep in mind (&/or the coach needs to stay on top of) making sure that the exaggerated rotation doesn't occur when not doing the drill. Everything else seems to be on the money to me......
  • 60sPanda
    60sPanda Posts: 303 Member
    I tried the corkscrew thingy this morning as I am aware that I forget to rotate when doing crawl and lapse into a flat stroke when tired. Not sure it really helped, but was fun anyway.

    The other one I tried was crawl with fists to feel the forearm work and it wasn't! I then tried it on backstroke, and I did feel the forearms working so I know now that I need to incorporate that crawl drill into my workouts as well.
  • Macstraw
    Macstraw Posts: 896 Member
    Just remember that you want the rotation in the shoulders as you shoot your hands out. Your upper body will naturally turn some too, you just don't want that rotation to translate down through the hips & into the legs, it should pretty much stop at the waist. If the rotation goes down though the legs you'll be expending too much energy out to the sides & not using it to drive forward. It will also cause your feet to cross back & forth over each other, negating the effectiveness of the kick.............
  • 60sPanda
    60sPanda Posts: 303 Member
    Thanks Macstraw - the lessons I had over the summer advocated a slight rotation down the whole body into the hips and legs (and she gave me drills for kicking on rotation). Your suggestion makes sense though so I will try that too and see how I get on.
  • AquaticQuests
    AquaticQuests Posts: 947 Member
    Due to articles like these and other articles/ videos online, I 'm having to sometimes remember, but in many cases unlearn or modify some of the things I've been taught/ presumed/ thought about stroke technique. Some of these seem to be linked with the dominance of Michael Phelps perhaps? Here are some of the ones I'm currently working n:
    1) closed cup hand pull - I gather current thinking is that there should be some space between fingers when pulling, but not too much!
    2) head looking forward when swimming - I gather the head should remain down facing bottom of pool
    3) leaving one eye underwater when turning to breathe
    4) I'd been taught long graceful freestyle strokes which is how I've generally swam. Then I read around and modified to shorter strokes, supposedly reducing drag! Now not so sure!
    5) tumble turns

    Any others any of you are working on, or comments on the above?

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