Dynoswim Blog Comments Feed

sheryl said: It is amazing how much training these athletes do! They have to be strong swimmers and so their tra

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:35:00 -0500

sheryl said:

It is amazing how much training these athletes do! They have to be strong swimmers and so their training includes a lot of lap swimming (including underwaters and butterfly). Training includes stretching/flexibility excercises, drilling, ballet, pilates, weightlifting, and of course hours and hours of practicing the routines. I hope that as this sport gains membership and momentum it will also gain the respect that it deserves.

In fact, even the younger kids train a lot. My daughter, Melanie, is just 15 years old and competes in synchronized swimming. She and her teammates (the Synchro Belles from Palm Coast FL) train 11 out of 12 months a year and have trained between 10 and 24 hours a week during these 11 months (with training peaking 4-6 weeks before nationals).

on the entry Did you know...?

Scott said: Agreed. There is no such thing as an easy turn. It is an exchange of momentum. Time on the wall i

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:11:41 -0500

Scott said:

Agreed. There is no such thing as an easy turn. It is an exchange of momentum. Time on the wall is lost time and time and effort not spent maintaining that momentum and accelerating is a waste of time effort. Races are won and lost on the turns. Look at video from 2004 and 2008 of the elite athletes from the Olympics. It is shocking.

Don't hate on Michael Phelps though. Like it or not he raises the profile of our sport. Do you think he puts in the time/pain/effort for love or money? It is just too hard to do for money.

on the entry Olympics and Walls

josh said: Yes, I would of enjoyed that workout. If we didn't have all that hail and lose power that night I w

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 17:16:29 -0500

josh said:

Yes, I would of enjoyed that workout. If we didn't have all that hail and lose power that night I would of made it.

on the entry Kicking and Conditioning

josh said:

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:22:58 -0500

josh said:

Interesting article about Ian Crocker:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/04/sports/olympics/04swimmer.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

on the entry Outside The Lines: Gold Rush

Coach Nate said: Thanks Judi. Swimming and running both complement each other very well for just a vast number of re

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:57:29 -0500

Coach Nate said:

Thanks Judi. Swimming and running both complement each other very well for just a vast number of reasons. However, there is no correlation between running fast and kicking fast. Point of fact, I have several elite runners on my team who can barely kick a 100 under 2m. They just try to muscle their way through it as opposed to the more subtle finesse motion of undulation and snapping of the ankle. Shoes help tremendously with that motion and with making those ankles more flexible. We also do a TON of vertical flutter and fly kick. Every practice starts with ~5 min of Vertical kick. We teach very high frequency kick with the lowest amplitude this way. Then I have them throw snorkels on so they can watch their legs while they do it. Works very well!

on the entry A Cure for Speed?

Judi said: Thanks, Coach Nate for another interesting article. Kicking with shoes. Very interesting. I may try

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:58:04 -0500

Judi said:

Thanks, Coach Nate for another interesting article. Kicking with shoes. Very interesting. I may try that.

I also found the information about runners interesting as well. I’ve been beating myself up over the fact that I can’t run well. I get shin splints regardless of whether I stretch or ice afterwards. I thought that running would improve my swimming. I just took it for granted that runners have stronger legs, which equates to a stronger kick. Not necessarily so. I’ll stop beating myself up over the fact that running just isn’t my thing and put more emphasis on my kick sets. Thanks again. I enjoy your articles.

on the entry A Cure for Speed?

josh said: Awesome! At the end they have various events you could watch from the Olympic trials as well.

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:06:23 -0500

josh said:

Awesome! At the end they have various events you could watch from the Olympic trials as well.

on the entry Scenes from Olympic Swim Trials in Omaha

scott said: Good to all of that. I have looked at a lot of video from different training sessions of elite and

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:52:55 -0500

scott said:

Good to all of that. I have looked at a lot of video from different training sessions of elite and not so elite swimmers and I believe that extra little bit of hyperextension when used properly provides a distinct advantage.

The biggest problem I see with runners and kicking is ankle flexibility as well. With my more willing athletes, we work a lot on that flexibility. That flexibility also benefits cyclists (more watts can be generated with a dynamic range of motion) and triathletes although with the latter there needs to be a more comprehensive stretching routine for that area after running and track workouts.

The only other issue that I personally run into that has made my kicking progress so slow is that after 50 or more miles on the bike in the morning, the last thing I want to do is a rigorous kick set (cramps, fatigue, swearing). Nonetheless, the work still needs to be done.

on the entry A Cure for Speed?

Coach Nate said: Scott, I am going to try and dig up an old article I have on the hyper-extension theory as I have al

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:13:19 -0500

Coach Nate said:

Scott,
I am going to try and dig up an old article I have on the hyper-extension theory as I have also read that. I have found and also discussed at length with PT's that people who run regularly, or more than regularly, are at a disadvantage because the tendons on the top of the feet tend to get tighter the more you run. It is both a defensive mechanism for the body and a way to ensure strong running. The problem is, you can pick out the runners right away in a workout during a kick set as their feet/ankle/calf are locked. Pretty much frozen up so they end up kicking water up and down as opposed to away. We spend a lot of time just trying to get those suckers to loosen up. My sacrifice to these swimmers is the drill. We try to incorporate more of it into warmup swims and in larger stroke workouts so that we can get the kick in. I am absolutely convinced that that extra kick time will help. Gotta keep the balance though...

As a side note, there was an article about Natalie Coughlin in the New Yorker back in 2004, (reprint is here - http://projects.seas.gwu.edu/~fsagmae/Swim%20Pages/NewYorker.htm)
There is one particular section about when she went to swim with Teri McKeever during her shoulder injury at Cal. I have always loved this section of that article:

"But there is also, famously, the Natalie Coughlin kick. Coughlin's miserable injury year, as it turned out, delivered her to Cal with the most aggressively practiced kick in American swimming. She has tremendous lung capacity-when she was nine, and ill with bronchitis, her X-rays showed such oversized lungs that technicians initially told her mother that there must have been a mixup in the files-and McKeever began working with her on the best way to develop the kick and her breath control to maximum effect, especially during the strategically crucial underwater segment permitted at the start of each lap."

on the entry A Cure for Speed?

scott said: I would tend to agree with almost all of this. KIcking is a large part of speed but how much is crit

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:04:37 -0500

scott said:

I would tend to agree with almost all of this. KIcking is a large part of speed but how much is critical and also there is a technique to kicking as Coach Nate points out. There are also certain genetic advantages some folks have that others do not. Ryan for example (known him since he was in HS as I coach a a rival HS) has a pretty pronounced hyperextension of his legs and size 13 feet. I heard a stat once from another coach so I cannot vouch completely for the veracity of this but I was told that somewhere in the neighborhood of 80% of the world class athletes have this same trait (hyperextended knees). Gary Hall for example and several others that I know from this area (Flordia) that are trials qualifiers are the same way. Can everyone benefit from kicking at practice regularly? Absolutely! I have always had a weak kick but I have been working on it and can feel the difference! The degree to which a coach or athlete commits time to a particular thing just depends on the athlete though. Some would benefit more from more drills and stroke work first in conjuction with a more moderate amount of kicking. Unfortunately most of us have limited training time (work, family, messing around on the computer) and must prioritize what aspects of swimming we work on in what sequence. Kicking is up there for me at the moment but I used to hate it. Slowly but surely, I am making progress.

on the entry A Cure for Speed?

Coach Nate said: There are two approaches that the coaches at West Side apply to flyers... For the folks who have ba

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:22:17 -0500

Coach Nate said:

There are two approaches that the coaches at West Side apply to flyers...

For the folks who have bad habits cultivated over many years of poor fly swimming, we have to basically identify the major problems and attack those. It can take many months of constant focus to fix these issues. The three most common faults that we focus on and fix are:
1) the movement of the head - somewhere in the 80's or 90's someone thought it would be a good idea to start evangelizing the notion that head movement in fly was good - anyone who has watched fly change over the last few years has noticed that the understanding is now that keeping the head absolutely still and relaxed keeps the hips higher and body flatter (a la phelps). the same applies to breaststroke...we teach swimming around the head, not letting the head start the stroke.
2) the time between entry and pull through - too many swimmers enter the water with their hands far outside and then delay pulling them through - this leads to the up and down body motion that literally stops the stroke - we teach over and over that as soon as the hands enter they need to immediately pull through - no waiting
3) last but not least, kick timing - the number one issue we see is bad kick timing - so much emphasis on the exit kick (exit being when the hands start recovery) and not enough emphasis on the entry kick and that also leads to the up and down effect - we teach subtle kicks and more snap of the ankles

For the flyers who are just starting out we start at the basics:
1) From a standing position we have them do rainbow jumps both with arms at the side and arms over head - then we graduate to a rainbow jump followed by one fly kick under water and then resurfacing - then we move to that motion followed by a low water kick followed by another kick right before resurfacing - next motion is that plus one recovery stroke - last portion of the drill is all of that plus one follow through stroke
2) we spend a lot of time teaching PROPER one arm fly drill - We see soooo many swimmers do that drill wrong and its maddening - the one arm fly drill should NOT look like a one arm free drill - the body should stay flat, the arm should come around on a parallel axis to the water and there needs to be a two kick per stroke momentum
3) kicking - we have found that the best way to learn a solid fly kick is both doing vertical fly kick and fly kick on the stomach with a snorkel and arms at the side - neither is fun but both have a very high rate of attrition

there are too many drills to name that are great with fly but its the basic ones that we always come back to...3r/3l, Biondi drill, Fly arms with breast kick, 3d/1u...etc. Email me and I would be happy to discuss these more in detail with you.

on the entry What's Wrong with Butterfly?

Mike Laux said: As a former 200 flyer, I struggle with shoulder problems when I attempt anything more than a 25 in p

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:56:20 -0500

Mike Laux said:

As a former 200 flyer, I struggle with shoulder problems when I attempt anything more than a 25 in practice. That equates to only swimming the 50 in meets.
I'm a firm believer that fly should be done properly or not at all.
I would love to know the method that you use to extend the distance that one can swim the stroke. We do a lot of fly drill, but not much fly swim.
In coaching my high school kids and clinics, i do find that although some are reluctant to try, the majority of the kids are willing to do whatever butterfly I give them. I just don't want them to dvelop bad habits.

on the entry What's Wrong with Butterfly?

Coach Nate said: I think it does lie somewhere in the psyche. In my experience, and perhaps since I have only coache

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 08:13:20 -0500

Coach Nate said:

I think it does lie somewhere in the psyche. In my experience, and perhaps since I have only coached in the New England region its a localized thing, the average swimmer has a strong aversion to fly for whatever reason. This goes hand in hand with coaches who have a strong aversion to asking adult swimmers to do fly in workouts. I don't think that this is something that just happens one day but is a cultured and grown thing that starts much earlier. I have no empirical data to back up this assertion other than my own observations after all these years. If you don't blance every time the coach gives a fly set, kudos to you AND your coach!

on the entry What's Wrong with Butterfly?

Dave Samuelsohn said: Geez. So your research population included hundreds of swimmers, and since you found just one who w

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 06:55:00 -0500

Dave Samuelsohn said:

Geez.

So your research population included hundreds of swimmers, and since you found just one who was willing to train overdistance butterfly, you conclude that it's all in our heads....?

Tecnically speaking, slow over-distance butterfly isn't butterfly - it's more managing buoyancy and momentum. You also place all the stress on the your swimmer's shoulders.

Sorry but either way, it sounds like a pretty unbalanced way to train a swimmer.

I suggest Glucosamine.

on the entry What's Wrong with Butterfly?

Doug said: Those videos are really informative. I never really concentrated on things like head placement befor

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 00:47:38 -0500

Doug said:

Those videos are really informative. I never really concentrated on things like head placement before. I think that if anybody who is a swimmer watches these videos they can learn quite a lot to improve their stroke.

on the entry Go Swim Videos!