This thread is inspired by Jimmy T's musings re 'garbage yardage' which incited some debate pro and con, but, of course, resolved nothing.
I chose the thread heading, not to compete with Jim (who is a master wordsmith, albeit an epic hallucinator), but to allow posters to discuss any drill, set, exercise, common injury therapy, piece of equipment etc. that they feel will actually do damage to us. In other threads over the years, some of these opinions have been voiced, but I thought it might be useful to have a dedicated thread. Please have some grounds for your assertion, but you don't have to be a sports scientist either. Perhaps we could inspire some vigorous discussion?
I'll start by mentioning a basic one (to me): I loathe kicking with a kickboard. I feel that it compresses my cervical vertibrae and could lead to neck problems (I have a pre-existing neck problem and any time I try using a board it gets aggravated). I also feel that the board doesn't allow you to assume a correct body position for kicking.
Any takers? Feel free to state your own pet concern(s).
Kicking with a board if you have injured shoulders and/or neck can definitely aggravate those injuries and should be avoided. But I disagree about the "body position" thing, at least from the waist down. As far as your legs are concerned very little is different.
I do a lot of kicking without boards, a lot of it underwater. But when I feel like working my legs without having to worry about the whole needing-to-breathe thing, I'll grab a board. When I was in college, 100% of my kick sets were with a board and I was a significantly faster kicker then than I am now. (That said, I would not advocate doing 100% kick sets with a board even with healthy neck/shoulders.)
Fins are my weak point. I grant that they can be useful but any time I try to use them and work hard, they end up hurting my ankles and knees. And I simply cannot get the hang of swimming with zoomers or other fins: screws up my timing and I end up going about the same speed as without them, though with a little less effort.
I also don't get much out of stretchy cords, either on dry land or in the water. As a dry land exercise I find the resistance is just way too low to be very beneficial; I might as well be swimming. (But recently I've wondered if they may be useful in place of a pool warmup, if the warmup pool is not available.)
In the water, stretch cords are okay for short bursts, trying to get out as far as you can in a short sprint. But I hate the "swimming in place" drills against the cords because my stroke feels so different. And it is SO boring; I would never ever buy an "endless pool."
And I never get much out of assisted sprinting, when someone pulls you along so you go faster than normal. For me, normal speedwork works fine for that sort of thing.
Kicking with a board if you have injured shoulders and/or neck can definitely aggravate those injuries and should be avoided. But I disagree about the "body position" thing, at least from the waist down. As far as your legs are concerned very little is different.
I do a lot of kicking without boards, a lot of it underwater. But when I feel like working my legs without having to worry about the whole needing-to-breathe thing, I'll grab a board. When I was in college, 100% of my kick sets were with a board and I was a significantly faster kicker then than I am now. (That said, I would not advocate doing 100% kick sets with a board even with healthy neck/shoulders.)
Fins are my weak point. I grant that they can be useful but any time I try to use them and work hard, they end up hurting my ankles and knees. And I simply cannot get the hang of swimming with zoomers or other fins: screws up my timing and I end up going about the same speed as without them, though with a little less effort.
I also don't get much out of stretchy cords, either on dry land or in the water. As a dry land exercise I find the resistance is just way too low to be very beneficial; I might as well be swimming. (But recently I've wondered if they may be useful in place of a pool warmup, if the warmup pool is not available.)
In the water, stretch cords are okay for short bursts, trying to get out as far as you can in a short sprint. But I hate the "swimming in place" drills against the cords because my stroke feels so different. And it is SO boring; I would never ever buy an "endless pool."
And I never get much out of assisted sprinting, when someone pulls you along so you go faster than normal. For me, normal speedwork works fine for that sort of thing.
