Freestyle Swimming

Dave scotts drills

2009-11-19T20:37:00.001-08:00

Swimming Balance

2009-10-05T12:34:00.000-07:00

Being able to balance your body ensuring proportionate body mass distribution is
key to fluent swimming. Unfortunately this fact doesnt get the attention and
emphasis it deserves in swimming circles...

there are two kinds of balance the swimmer has to work with.

1. The latitudinal balance that is balance across his head and legs.

2. The logitudinal balance that is balance on either sides of sides of his body.

Both balances are critical for proper kicking, stroking and breathing.

I came across the article that gives great tips on balance and drills to achieve correct
balance. Unfortunately this article no longer exists on their website hence I had to save it
here before we would lose it. Thanks to the author for giving his valuable inputs.

Happy Balancing !

Swimming Balance

*From www.slb-coaching.com (Contact Coach@SLB-Coaching.com or Coach@AGTri-Institute.org for Triathlon Swim coaching: Tri Stroke Clinic or Private Swim Coaching. All offered at Asphalt Green.)

"One of the more difficult aspects of swimming for adults is balance. Maintaining the most streamline position in the water and propelling yourself forward presents a series of problems, especially for adults.

Three of the Five Keys to Swimming involve balance – streamline body position, horizontal body position and hip roll. Learning to maintain a streamline and horizontal body position is the first step to improving your swimming efficiency and speed.

Balance involves two axis – longitudinal and lateral movement. The “ideal” position is to be on flat top of the water with your spine in a “neutral” position – eyes focused straight down, back of your head just at the surface, shoulders and upper back out of the water, your butt out of the water (that’s why Speedo puts their name on the seat of all of their bathing suits!) and your heels out of the water. Your body should be in a straight line – head to toes.

The lateral axes comes into play while swimming – using your hips to add power to your stroke and adding streamline by keeping your body straight.

The drills to do are alphabet drills, one arm swimming and no arm swimming.

Alphabet drills –

Place a kick board against your torso – top just below your arm pits and bottom at your waist. Lie prone in the water and form the letter “X” – legs apart and arms extended above and to the sides. Gently exhale as you float in the “X” position. Second, form the letter “Y” – legs together and arms extended above and to the sides. Again, gently exhale as you float in the “Y” position. Finally, for the letter “I” – legs together and arms together directly above your head (the back of your head should be in line with the back of your arms). Again, gently exhale as you float in the “I” position. The goal is to learn to feel your balance “I” position.

With all three letters – “X” “Y” and “I” – focus on your balance – both longitudinal and lateral. Keep movement to a minimum. “Memorize” the position you can establish while doing the “I” drill. This is where you want to be when swimming. Use both kinesthetic and visual cues to maintain this balanced position.

One Arm Swimming –

Start using the side that is easiest for you to breath on – most people have a “favorite” breathing side. Push off the wall in the “I” balance position and glide. Begin stoking with one arm and keep the opposite arm extended in the “I” balance position. Use a gentle kick. Your stoke should be slow and with a pause as your extend your stroking arm forward – imagine a “phantom” stroke with the opposite arm. Breath on each stroke. It is very important to use a slow stoke so that your breathing is “normal” and you do not hyperventilate.

Alternate arms either every lap or every length. The non-favorite breathing side will be more difficult, so you may want to get the drill down on your “favorite” side before attempting it on the opposite side. The goal is to maintain the balance “I” position as you stroke.

No Arm Swimming –

Start in the “I” balance position, but one arm is at your side (the other is extended above your head). Using a gentle kick (fins will help) rotate your hips and torso to breath. Keep the breathing rhythm the same as in the One Arm Swimming drill – nice and slow. The goal is to begin the rotation with your hip and keep your torso straight. Do not let your hips rotate separately from your shoulders. You are just rotating the balance “I” on to it’s side.

Alternate sides either every lap of every length. Again, the non-favorite breathing side will be more difficult, so you may want to get the drill down on your “favorite” side before attempting it on the opposite side. "

Swimming - How to develop an Effective Catch

2009-09-25T07:41:00.000-07:00

These TI coaches are awesome. Thanks to Shinji (TIJapan), Gadi (TIIsrael).

Pull can be exhausting ... if the catch is not right... following is a catch using minimal
energy... repetitive practice of catch is going to payoff impressively in developing
a good technique... Snorkel is probably your best friend in keeping a balanced streamlined
body position while practicing this catch drill.

Happy Catching !

Want to practice Splashless, bubbleless smooth Freestyle... Learn from Shinji

2009-09-18T06:16:00.000-07:00

Below is a compiled list of tips and advice from Youtube given by this incredible
Swimmer/Coach paramount in improving your swimming technique to next level.
Shinji has also responded to several questions (noted below in italics) asked by
freestyle learners. Enjoy !

"I do not pursue swimming faster for freestyle (I race breaststroke and IM) and my motto for freestyle is "The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection". I have at least 13 sensors built and they tell me if something is wrong. I still practice splash-less, bubble-less hand entry which only Terry can accomplish.

Sensors:Hips for balance, top of the head for axis to roll, shoulders to avoid over-rotation, elbows for recovery and position, fingers for entry, knees for snapping legs, heels for the same.

When you kick correctly, it does not matter 2 or 6 beat kick. Everything is not easy to master. You back should always be flat to reduce drag. Leveling your pelvis might work to get your back flat. Kicking does not matter for the first phase of learning freestyle.

1) When you skate (please refer TI drills), stop your kick and snap the bottom side of your legs and roll your hips. It will tell how to coordinate your snap with the hip roll.
2) I breathe every 2 or 3 stroke. At 1:14, you can see I am breathing every 3 stroke.

If you mean high elbows for recovery, it is important not to engage the shoulder muscle, but to use shoulder blades.

After snapping your leg, try to extend it just beneath the surface. It will put another leg in lower position so that you can snap the correct side.

(Kick)It does not have the effect directly, but it helps to roll my hips and twist my torso, which creates "spear-motion" with propulsion.

(How deep does your hand go under water when in the pull-through phase of the stroke? I think I am reaching too deep and encountering more resistance.)

My elbow is lower than my shoulder, and my hand is lower than my elbow, and my fingers are lower than my palm. I try to keep this relation during the pull phase.

(I wonder if you could say a bit more about the hand entry. The Easy Freestyle DVD teaches hand entry at an angle, but the videos I've seen of Terry swimming in open water, his hand entry seems to be more like yours and also entering the water beyond the elbow of the other hand. I'm just a bit confused as to which I should practice and why - angled entry or more parallel to the water?)

The best position would be the elbow line. But the height of the elbow is more important. If you keep your elbow high during recovery, you can utilize the potential energy into momentum. I try to keep my elbow high and it sometimes makes my entry points further.

I pull my arm "forward" instead "up". After that, I stretch shoulder blade instead using shoulder muscle. Yes, I "swing" my forearm before the entry.

Hip rotation is coordinated with twisting torso and hand extension. And the hip rotation is triggered by snapping legs. So the power is conveyed from back to forward.

(I've got one question about "kicking". In Terry's book of Total Immersion, it said that "You don't really have to 'kick'. You just stop kicking (pause), and your left leg will kick automatically with your right-arm extension (and vice versa) as a natural balance just like when you are walking." But I didn't find "automatic kicking" in my practice.)

I think that kind of phenomenon will happen if you get balanced well. If you are not balanced, you will sink when you stop kicking. To release your head in the water and swim downward will be the first step to reduce your kick.

(Shinji's advise on using Kick boards)

Hey, kicking practice with kick boards is every sinker's problem. I think the way of kicking is different from freestyle. As long as you want to swim freestyle, it might be better to practice without them.

The most common Kaizen(opportunity of improvement) point about breathing is your head position. When you enter and spear your hand into the water, you tend to put your head together with your hand and that makes your head position lower. You always want to keep your head position beneath the surface even you do "angled" hand entry. To press the water by your chest instead of your head might work, too.

It is natural that the number of strokes increases when you increase your tempo. The goal to swim is not to swim with fewer strokes, but to swim comfortably with your moderate number. I can swim 25m with 9 or even 8 strokes (2 beat kicking and no underwater kick after push off), but my comfortable number is 11 with 1.2 sec tempo. Know your comfortable number and tempo first. Then try to reduce the number or increase the tempo with the same number to improve your skills.

As long as your kick does not consume more energy than that used for propulsion, you can swim with ease. Try to narrow amplitude of you r kick by 30% once you feel balanced by releasing your head in the water.

Kicking above the surface of water tends to occur if your recovery takes too much time so legs have to wait somewhere. As kobac mentions, over rotation is one of reasons for slow recovery. I recommend to use Tempo Trainer to solve the problem. Try to use 1.4 sec per stroke and reduce the tempo by 0.02 to find your best tempo.

The reason I can breathe with my head submerged is I create "bow wave" and it makes the surface of the water lower. The depth of the wave is relative to the submerged area and speed. If you submerge your head and you get enough acceleration before rolling your head, you can get enough space to breathe. I do not intend to do "Popeye" mouth, but my video looks I do it.

Since extending your arm is part of creating propulsion, it is better to do so. But if you have any problems, just focus on acceleration of hand entry (after your hand enter the water).

How do you sink during recovery? If your legs sink, your body is not balanced because you do not get enough propulsion from your pulling. Try to submerge your head to get balanced. If your extend arm sinks, you lose your buoyancy. Try to minimize your exhalation during recovery.

Thanks. It is common to teach straight arm recovery (with catch-up timing) to beginners. But TI teaches high elbow recovery because; 1) straight arm recovery makes you sink more, 2) high elbow recovery is easier for your shoulder, 3)the entry point can be closer to you with high elbow recovery. "

Special Thanks to Shinji !

Alexander Popov Technique

2009-09-18T06:09:00.000-07:00

Watch Alexandar Popov's technique the champion of all times.

Someone said "Alexander is a Swim God in Action" ... cant be less well said !

"The Roll over drill"

Cant focus on Kicking enough ! Check this drill ....

2009-09-10T09:09:00.001-07:00

Kicking and timing of kicking can be the trickiest elements of swimming... this drill
from GoSWIM TV can prove helpful to you as it has done to me...

Some comments made on this blog are quite important.

Kudos to Goswim & commentators !

"Hopefully the experiment will show the swimmer that a downkick with the right leg/foot early in the arm cycle of the right arm will generate maximum power. That timing of the kick augments the body rotation/snap to the opposite side which is how power is generated. The down kick of the right leg forces the right hip up which is the movement that gets the swimmer onto the left side which is the power generating movement.

The same with the other side. A down kick with the left leg/foot early in the arm cycle of the left arm assists in the body rotation back to the right side. While the body is rotating to the opposite side, the high elbow arm configuraion of the pulling arm is connected to the rotating body to provide the power to move the body forward through the water."

"Kick timing is indeed very important and a somewhat neglected subject (as is kick positioning); fine-tuning of the kick has an enormous effect on balance, streamline and, consequently, speed."

Enjoy !

How Swim Fins Help Your Swimming

2009-09-02T13:31:00.000-07:00

Training with Fins - About.com

Swimming with Fins - How Swim Fins Help Your Swimming

Do You Call Them Fins Or Flippers?

"Among the things that you can gain by using fins is improved ankle flexibility from the extra force the fins place on your ankle as you kick. Increased ankle flexibility will result in a more efficient flutter kick through better angles of attack on the water.

One of the greatest benefits of using fins is the ease of holding a better body position. This allows you to focus on other parts of your technique, such as body roll or timing. You should add fins to your workout kit, along with the rest of your swimming toys and tools. They have a lot to offer to make you a faster swimmer! Let me know if you give them a try. "

Freestyle - Balanced Kick

2009-09-01T14:06:00.001-07:00

Freestyle - Open-Water Breathing

2009-09-01T12:58:00.001-07:00

Z2 Zoomer Fins - Reviews

2009-08-28T09:20:00.000-07:00

Z2 Zoomer Fins seem to be quiet popular and have great reviews here at Amazon & Swimoutlet.

They seem to be more liked than their predecessors : the regular Blue & Red Zoomers. The good thing about Z2 Zoomers is they dont cause cramps after long usage in the pool.

The benifits of using Fins are in :
• Making legs work harder without overloading the muscles,therefore helping you sustain better form over a longer period of time
• Generating Higher propulsion that helps in maintaining higher body position and better body roll.
• Increasing your ankle flexibility.
•Simulating the body position that should really be when you are actually swimming without fins.
•Help you kick small and fast within the slip stream

Fins are a must for competitive and recreational swimmer for learning 'effective kicking'.

Excerpt on Zoomers from About.com

"Short or small bladed fins, such as Zoomers, allow you to maintain a foot speed closer to your regular kicking speed with no fins. They also add just enough extra surface area to give you more power from the kick. Zoomer-type fins come in two colors, blue and red. The blue fins are made of a softer material for folks new to short fin kicking or those that have a less efficient kick. They are less stressful on the ankle due to a more flexible fin blade, much more comfortable when starting out. The red are stiffer fins, resulting in more force per kick, but that also results in more stress on your joints and muscles."

Sculling - Sit Scull

2009-08-27T19:40:00.001-07:00

All Strokes - The Ins and Outs of Sculling

2009-08-27T19:29:00.000-07:00

Thanks to folks at GoSwim !

Finis Swimmer's Snorkel Benifits

2009-08-27T09:13:00.001-07:00

Benifits of Snorkel ....

1. Allows athletes of any ability to swim at normal
and much slower speeds with perfect stability and
a full range of motion.
2.Places greater emphasis on proper body alignment
as it is specifically designed to allow athletes to relax
in the water and maintain a completely laid out,
horizontal position

FINNIS SNORKEL seem to be the Best and swimmers
seem to have made solid improvements using this equipment...

See Amazon reviews to find what swimmers think about it...

How to swim efficiently with Natalie Coughlin

2009-08-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

Great freestyle drills !

Best Swimming/Trunk/Jammers

2009-08-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

Tried many different brands but the best one that is a real comfort fit is (about 23$ at Amazon.com)

Reebok Men's Reflex Tri-Color Reflex Jammer

Crawl Technique from Mark Foster

2009-08-19T06:50:00.001-07:00

Statutory advise on using Paddles

2009-08-18T11:20:00.001-07:00

I was surfing the web finding info on paddes and came
across this statutory information on overusage of paddles

"Definitely be careful with them. They are good training tools, but its very easy to overdo, and to give yourself rotator cuff problems. (Believe me, I know about this part of it!)

The paddles are not to be used to "get stronger" through resistance training. They should be used to improve your feel of the water, and to improve your stroke. They will specifically cure you of dropped elbows...espescially if you remove the bands that go around your wrist, and only leave the little band that goes around your middle finger. If you swim with dropped elbows the paddles will fall off.

Basically they provide greater surface area to your hand, and thereby greater resistance to the water. This is not about resistance training like using weights, but rather to exaggerate the feel of the water so that you can more easily appreciate the different resistance you feel when your hands are pitched properly, your arms are in the right place, etc. And also to give you the feeling of moving fast through the water.

Beware of overuse because they can give shoulder injury really really quickly. Read about them on the web or in training books. "

"In all my years of swimming, I NEVER used paddles with anything but the middle finger tubing. (The only kind I ever used were basic, rectangular, medium sized paddles.) That forces you to "finesse" your way through the water, rather than "force" your way. Paddles are best used for improving stroke technique. Your turnover will (and should) be slower with paddles. Focus on your stroke. Notice how your hands leave the water and how they enter and focus on your catch. You'll have fun playing with them. And like folks said - don't overdo it - it will lead to shoulder injuries. "

Remember, paddles are a tool, not a crutch! (I'm having memories of these guys at masters workouts who would CRANK when we were pulling, and then seriously LAG once they took their paddles off.) Don't let that be you! :)"

Hand Paddles/Gloves help a great deal in performing Drills

2009-08-18T07:13:00.000-07:00

The best hand paddles/Swimming Gloves might be :

Speedo-Aqua-Training-Swim-Gloves

Which drill helps train hands and improve strokes... ???

2009-08-18T07:03:00.001-07:00

Well, one of them which I found most effective was the one arm drill.... Read the description of Drill from Steve Tarpinians - "The Essential Swimmer" book....

but I made a small variation to that drill which is a kind of preping for this drill itself....
the variation can be called handbacked-one-arm-drill (TM) :P .... in this drill what you
do is fold one arm and let it rest on your back and then swim lengths in breath... the technique is exactly similar to one you see in this video in which the non-paddling hand is resting your back
instead of you trying to hold it stiff on your side which I found quiet less comfortable...

With this handbacked-one-arm-drill you can focus on movement of one arm at a time
and experience the entry, catch and push phases of freestyle... once you are done drilling both hands you will be ready to the official.... "One ARM DRILL"... see how easy it gets to do this
drill and how smooth your body rotations happen on performing that entry and how smooth that recovery happens....

One arm drill Video :

On recovery finger-tips should drag the surface of water .... this is the KEY to make sure the next phases of the stroke go right namely the rotation and extention...

Read the "FINGER TIP DRAG DRILL" from Tarpinian's book for more info....

Front Crawl - Must See tutorial

2009-08-11T07:43:00.000-07:00

Front Crawl - Must See tutorial

SwimTherapy - Frontcrawl Catch

2009-08-11T07:32:00.000-07:00

Amazing analysis of Front crawl.. a Must see tutorial for doing the right strokes

Hair, Greying, Discolouration, loss from Chlorine. Read this...

2009-08-10T07:54:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly my body hair has been discolouring after 4 weeks of swimming
.... was wondering why that was happening if it was the shampoo or the pool ...

Yeah found that chlorine was the culprit... and looks like there is no solution for it...

Following is interesting article on the subject printed by New york Times :
The Claim: Chlorine in Pools Can Cause Hair Loss

And one more article :

Chlorine Turned My Son’s Hair Gray, and Now It’s Thinning

good luck all you haired ppl ;)

Strength training by Ian Thorpe

2009-08-03T13:57:00.001-07:00

Go Thorpe !

Balance & High elbows all the way! - Freestyle Swimming

2009-08-03T06:14:00.001-07:00

Looking for good book to read all about freestyle ? Read this...

2009-07-31T22:00:00.001-07:00

Total Immersion: The Revolutionary Way to Swim Better, Faster, and Easier (Paperback)

This is the best book to learn about Freestyle swimming. Very practical and based on
making use of laws of physics. This work debunks the myth that a swimmer has
to be muscular to steer his weight through the water. This book and the companion dvd
are a must for all those who are serious about learning freestyle. I cant emphasise
it less all thos misconceptions are now of the door. Last but not the least the book and
dvd is all you need to learn smooth efficient freestyle ... I can vouch for it based on my
personal experience.