Here's a thought: If we could wave a wand and improve your freestyle stroke by 80%, you'd probably be a faster and more efficient swimmer than anyone you know.
One problem with aiming for 100% perfection is that it tends to make you mechanical and rigid when you swim - so you lose touch with the rhythm of the stroke. It also means you try and over-ride rather than work-with your natural stroke-mannerisms, which is extremely hard (or impossible) to do. A third problem is you tend to over-do and exaggerate the stroke movements too much.
80% is a much better target - relax when you swim, lightly feel your movements and get it 'nearly right'. The Swinger knows this - it's the secret of their success.
Swim Smooth!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
The Difference Two Tenths Of A Second Can Make To Your Swimming
Before today's blog, a quick apology from us. We know that many of you are frustrated you could not get a slot on our UK clinics. The clinics in England filled up within 2 hours of last week's announcement which was so quick it caught everyone off guard (even us!). We're sorry for your frustration and hope to be back in the UK very soon for another series.
(by the way there are still a few places available on the Lanark clinic (nr Glasgow) if you're quick: www.swimsmooth.com/clinics)
--------------
The Difference Two Tenths Of A Second Can Make To Your Swimming
A few months ago we wrote this very popular post about the catch phase of the stroke: http://www.feelforthewater.com/2010/06/why-good-catch-is-so-elusive-wrong-can.html
We explained there how a bad catch presses down on the water or even pushes forwards, putting on the brakes. Because water is 800 times more dense than air this is hard work and critically it takes a bit of extra time as you push against the water.
This delay probably has more impact on your stroke than you think. If it adds just two tenths of a second then it will decrease your stroke rate from 60 to 54 strokes per minute - a big drop off which will definitely harm your performances, particularly in open water.
We see this all the time with swimmers we consult with - by improving their catch action their stroke rate naturally increases, often without them realising it. For this reason it's almost impossible to have a slow stroke rate and a good catch - an interesting thought all by itself.
Swim Smooth!
(by the way there are still a few places available on the Lanark clinic (nr Glasgow) if you're quick: www.swimsmooth.com/clinics)
--------------
The Difference Two Tenths Of A Second Can Make To Your Swimming
A few months ago we wrote this very popular post about the catch phase of the stroke: http://www.feelforthewater.com/2010/06/why-good-catch-is-so-elusive-wrong-can.html
We explained there how a bad catch presses down on the water or even pushes forwards, putting on the brakes. Because water is 800 times more dense than air this is hard work and critically it takes a bit of extra time as you push against the water.
This delay probably has more impact on your stroke than you think. If it adds just two tenths of a second then it will decrease your stroke rate from 60 to 54 strokes per minute - a big drop off which will definitely harm your performances, particularly in open water.
We see this all the time with swimmers we consult with - by improving their catch action their stroke rate naturally increases, often without them realising it. For this reason it's almost impossible to have a slow stroke rate and a good catch - an interesting thought all by itself.
Swim Smooth!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Dropped Wrists And Heroes
Here's a quick video clip of our Scull #1 drill to watch this week: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WYyowAvb5U
These 45 seconds highlight the problem with dropping your wrists that we discussed last week. Doing so in your stroke adds a lot of drag, and as we see in the case of the drill above, it pushes you backwards!
Also, we have two updates on athletes we interviewed earlier this year. If you want to be seriously inspired, check out:
Brad Hosking and 31 other US and Aussie firefighters completed their amazing Tour Of Duty Run Across America finishing in New York on September 11th. Check out the amazing scenes in this photo gallery.
(our original interview with Brad is here)
Mark Scanlon successfully completed his English Channel crossing in a storming 9½ hours in August. Read Mark's full report here - notice how smooth conditions were in those pictures - not!
Amazing work guys - big big congratulations from us.
Swim Smooth!
These 45 seconds highlight the problem with dropping your wrists that we discussed last week. Doing so in your stroke adds a lot of drag, and as we see in the case of the drill above, it pushes you backwards!
Also, we have two updates on athletes we interviewed earlier this year. If you want to be seriously inspired, check out:
Brad Hosking and 31 other US and Aussie firefighters completed their amazing Tour Of Duty Run Across America finishing in New York on September 11th. Check out the amazing scenes in this photo gallery.
(our original interview with Brad is here)
Mark Scanlon successfully completed his English Channel crossing in a storming 9½ hours in August. Read Mark's full report here - notice how smooth conditions were in those pictures - not!
Amazing work guys - big big congratulations from us.
Swim Smooth!
Dropped Wrists And Heroes
A quick video clip of our Scull#1 drill to watch this week: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WYyowAvb5U
45 seconds highlighting the problem with dropping your wrists which we discussed last week. Doing so in your stroke adds a lot of drag, and as we see in the case of the drill above, it pushes you backwards!
Also, two updates on interviews from earlier this year. If you want to be seriously inspired, check out:
Brad Hosking and 31 other US and Aussie firefighters completed their amazing Tour Of Duty Run Across America finishing in New York on September 11th. Check out the amazing scenes in this photo gallery.
(our original interview with Brad is here)
Mark Scanlon successfully completed his English Channel crossing in a storming 9½ hours in August. Read Mark's full report here - check out how smooth conditions weren't in those pictures!
Amazing work guys - and big big congratulations from us.
Swim Smooth!
45 seconds highlighting the problem with dropping your wrists which we discussed last week. Doing so in your stroke adds a lot of drag, and as we see in the case of the drill above, it pushes you backwards!
Also, two updates on interviews from earlier this year. If you want to be seriously inspired, check out:
Brad Hosking and 31 other US and Aussie firefighters completed their amazing Tour Of Duty Run Across America finishing in New York on September 11th. Check out the amazing scenes in this photo gallery.
(our original interview with Brad is here)
Mark Scanlon successfully completed his English Channel crossing in a storming 9½ hours in August. Read Mark's full report here - check out how smooth conditions weren't in those pictures!
Amazing work guys - and big big congratulations from us.
Swim Smooth!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Leading With Your Hands
Thanks for all your emails and comments following last week's blog - your questions were about our description of this picture:
We said it showed "Michelle's dropping her wrist whilst breathing", you said "no, she's dropping her elbow". This is such an interesting point of perspective that we decided to discuss it this week - it could make a big improvement to your swimming.
Here's a zoom of Michelle's forearm and hand:
We can see really clearly there that you guys were right, looking at the line between forearm and hand, the wrist angle is good. However, relative to the water, her wrist is dropped and the palm facing forwards.
The problem with the position Michelle's reached there is twofold. With the elbow lower than the wrist it's going to be hard to get a good catch on the water as she's going to have to commence the next movement by pushing the water downwards rather than pressing it backwards. Also, with her palm facing forwards she's creating drag and again it's hard to press the water backwards from there. Instead, she should be in a nice strong catch setup position, as demonstrated by Mr Smooth here:
If you can achieve this position you'll generate more propulsion for a given effort and automatically reduce any deadspots in your stroke.
The question we'd like to ask is what came first, did the dropped elbow cause the wrist to drop? Or did the hand position drop the elbow? Against convention, we'd argue the latter. As humans we have good awareness (technical term: proprioception) of our hands and so we naturally coordinate and lead the stroke with them. Our awareness of the arms themselves is much lower and so they tend to naturally follow. By focusing on correcting the hand position - tipping the wrist downwards into the position shown by Mr Smooth - the forearm automatically raises into a higher elbow position.
For this reason, within Swim Smooth we often talk in terms of wrist positions. It's an example of our cause and effect methodology that runs through all our coaching. Focus on the thing at the cause of the problem - in this case wrist position - and the rest will click into place. It's a much faster and less frustrating way to make stroke corrections.
Coaches, try this yourself: If you have a swimmer who drops their elbows, instead of telling them to keep their elbow high, ask them to focus on tipping their wrist into a slightly cocked position and going a touch deeper with their hands. It will feel alien to them at first but from the pool deck you'll see the improvement right away.
Swim Smooth!
We said it showed "Michelle's dropping her wrist whilst breathing", you said "no, she's dropping her elbow". This is such an interesting point of perspective that we decided to discuss it this week - it could make a big improvement to your swimming.
Here's a zoom of Michelle's forearm and hand:
We can see really clearly there that you guys were right, looking at the line between forearm and hand, the wrist angle is good. However, relative to the water, her wrist is dropped and the palm facing forwards.
The problem with the position Michelle's reached there is twofold. With the elbow lower than the wrist it's going to be hard to get a good catch on the water as she's going to have to commence the next movement by pushing the water downwards rather than pressing it backwards. Also, with her palm facing forwards she's creating drag and again it's hard to press the water backwards from there. Instead, she should be in a nice strong catch setup position, as demonstrated by Mr Smooth here:
If you can achieve this position you'll generate more propulsion for a given effort and automatically reduce any deadspots in your stroke.
The question we'd like to ask is what came first, did the dropped elbow cause the wrist to drop? Or did the hand position drop the elbow? Against convention, we'd argue the latter. As humans we have good awareness (technical term: proprioception) of our hands and so we naturally coordinate and lead the stroke with them. Our awareness of the arms themselves is much lower and so they tend to naturally follow. By focusing on correcting the hand position - tipping the wrist downwards into the position shown by Mr Smooth - the forearm automatically raises into a higher elbow position.
For this reason, within Swim Smooth we often talk in terms of wrist positions. It's an example of our cause and effect methodology that runs through all our coaching. Focus on the thing at the cause of the problem - in this case wrist position - and the rest will click into place. It's a much faster and less frustrating way to make stroke corrections.
Coaches, try this yourself: If you have a swimmer who drops their elbows, instead of telling them to keep their elbow high, ask them to focus on tipping their wrist into a slightly cocked position and going a touch deeper with their hands. It will feel alien to them at first but from the pool deck you'll see the improvement right away.
Swim Smooth!
Leading With Your Hands
Thanks for all your emails and comments following last week's blog - your questions were about our description of this picture:
We said it showed "Michelle's dropping her wrist whilst breathing", you said "no, she's dropping her elbow". This is such an interesting point of perspective that we decided to discuss it this week - it could make a big improvement to your swimming.
Here's a zoom of Michelle's forearm and hand:
We can see really clearly there that you guys were right, looking at the line between forearm and hand, the wrist angle is good. However, relative to the water, her wrist is dropped and the palm facing forwards.
The problem with the position Michelle's reached there is twofold. With the elbow lower than the wrist it's going to be hard to get a good catch on the water as she's going to have to commence the next movement by pushing the water downwards rather than pressing it backwards. Also, with her palm facing forwards she's creating drag and again it's hard to press the water backwards from there. Instead, she should be in a nice strong catch setup position, as demonstrated by Mr Smooth here:
If you can achieve this position you'll generate more propulsion for a given effort and automatically reduce any deadspots in your stroke.
The question we'd like to ask is what came first, did the dropped elbow cause the wrist to drop? Or did the hand position drop the elbow? Against convention, we'd argue the latter. As humans we have good awareness (technical term: proprioception) of our hands and so we naturally co-ordinate and lead the stroke with them. Our awareness of the arms themselves is much lower and so they tend to naturally follow. By focusing on correcting the hand position - tipping the wrist downwards into the position shown by Mr Smooth - the forearm automatically raises into a higher elbow position.
For this reason, within Swim Smooth we often talk in terms of wrist positions. It's an example of our cause and effect methodology that runs through all our coaching. Focus on the thing at the cause of the problem - in this case wrist position - and the rest will click into place. It's a much faster and less frustrating way to make stroke corrections.
Coaches, try this yourself: If you have a swimmer who drops their elbows, instead of telling them to keep their elbow high, ask them to focus on tipping their wrist into a slightly cocked position and going a touch deeper with their hands. It will feel alien to them at first but from the pool deck you'll see the improvement right away.
Swim Smooth!
We said it showed "Michelle's dropping her wrist whilst breathing", you said "no, she's dropping her elbow". This is such an interesting point of perspective that we decided to discuss it this week - it could make a big improvement to your swimming.
Here's a zoom of Michelle's forearm and hand:
We can see really clearly there that you guys were right, looking at the line between forearm and hand, the wrist angle is good. However, relative to the water, her wrist is dropped and the palm facing forwards.
The problem with the position Michelle's reached there is twofold. With the elbow lower than the wrist it's going to be hard to get a good catch on the water as she's going to have to commence the next movement by pushing the water downwards rather than pressing it backwards. Also, with her palm facing forwards she's creating drag and again it's hard to press the water backwards from there. Instead, she should be in a nice strong catch setup position, as demonstrated by Mr Smooth here:
If you can achieve this position you'll generate more propulsion for a given effort and automatically reduce any deadspots in your stroke.
The question we'd like to ask is what came first, did the dropped elbow cause the wrist to drop? Or did the hand position drop the elbow? Against convention, we'd argue the latter. As humans we have good awareness (technical term: proprioception) of our hands and so we naturally co-ordinate and lead the stroke with them. Our awareness of the arms themselves is much lower and so they tend to naturally follow. By focusing on correcting the hand position - tipping the wrist downwards into the position shown by Mr Smooth - the forearm automatically raises into a higher elbow position.
For this reason, within Swim Smooth we often talk in terms of wrist positions. It's an example of our cause and effect methodology that runs through all our coaching. Focus on the thing at the cause of the problem - in this case wrist position - and the rest will click into place. It's a much faster and less frustrating way to make stroke corrections.
Coaches, try this yourself: If you have a swimmer who drops their elbows, instead of telling them to keep their elbow high, ask them to focus on tipping their wrist into a slightly cocked position and going a touch deeper with their hands. It will feel alien to them at first but from the pool deck you'll see the improvement right away.
Swim Smooth!
Thursday, September 02, 2010
Be Careful, Water's Very Foreshortening
**guys, do you think these are good enough examples to make the point?** **Is foreshortening the right word??**
Coaches, you need to be careful when critiquing a swimmer's stroke from above the water. Here's a couple of examples why:
James has a low body position which we should work on improving:
However from above the water it doesn't look nearly so bad:
Michelle's dropping her wrist whilst breathing here:
Yet from above the water it's hard to detect:
Just like that caveman found when he first tried spearing a fish in a stream and missed, the boundary between water and air is very distorting. Objects and depths appear more shallow than they actually are. If a swimmer's legs appear 20cm below the surface of the water, you won't be far off by doubling your estimate. If you can detect a slightly dropped wrist or elbow, then it's probably significantly worse that it appears.
Fine tune your observation skills and your stroke correction abilities will take a big step forward.
Swim Smooth!
Coaches, you need to be careful when critiquing a swimmer's stroke from above the water. Here's a couple of examples why:
James has a low body position which we should work on improving:
However from above the water it doesn't look nearly so bad:
Michelle's dropping her wrist whilst breathing here:
Yet from above the water it's hard to detect:
Just like that caveman found when he first tried spearing a fish in a stream and missed, the boundary between water and air is very distorting. Objects and depths appear more shallow than they actually are. If a swimmer's legs appear 20cm below the surface of the water, you won't be far off by doubling your estimate. If you can detect a slightly dropped wrist or elbow, then it's probably significantly worse that it appears.
Fine tune your observation skills and your stroke correction abilities will take a big step forward.
Swim Smooth!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)