Can someone explain to me the differences in the Kicking Rhythms? I feel that my kick is not consistent and is really holding me back. I feel like w the pull buoy I can swim all day but once I add in the kick I tire a lot quicker. Maybe this is common for everyone.
vo2, you have a great way of verbalizing what I'm slowly discovering seems to be the very crux of swimming well: an engaged core. I'm with Syd - almost 40 years of bad habits to overcome and finding that engaged core very elusive and fleeting - and tiring as all heck. So it's very helpful to hear you describe the "huge (initial) metabolic cost" of swimming this way. I had no idea just how huge it was. I was getting so tired so quickly in swim practice that I actually became hypochondriacal and went to see my doctor, telling him there must something wrong with my lungs or heart! But after an EKG, a stress test, and sucking on some gizmo called something like an "inspirometer," I can rest assured that I am just in the early stages of dealing with that huge metabolic cost of really using my core for maybe the first time in my life. If I even just stand with my hands clasped behind my back and squeeze my scapulas together - or do any other exercises that recreates swimming with an engage my core - I get winded pretty quickly. So it's great to hear that this is a normal stage of progress - a "hump" that needs to be gotten over - and that eventually will be gotten over. And slowly, it is happening: I'm able to do a 100 now while maintaining that engaged core feeling. Looking forward to my 1st 500 that way...!
vo2, you have a great way of verbalizing what I'm slowly discovering seems to be the very crux of swimming well: an engaged core. I'm with Syd - almost 40 years of bad habits to overcome and finding that engaged core very elusive and fleeting - and tiring as all heck. So it's very helpful to hear you describe the "huge (initial) metabolic cost" of swimming this way. I had no idea just how huge it was. I was getting so tired so quickly in swim practice that I actually became hypochondriacal and went to see my doctor, telling him there must something wrong with my lungs or heart! But after an EKG, a stress test, and sucking on some gizmo called something like an "inspirometer," I can rest assured that I am just in the early stages of dealing with that huge metabolic cost of really using my core for maybe the first time in my life. If I even just stand with my hands clasped behind my back and squeeze my scapulas together - or do any other exercises that recreates swimming with an engage my core - I get winded pretty quickly. So it's great to hear that this is a normal stage of progress - a "hump" that needs to be gotten over - and that eventually will be gotten over. And slowly, it is happening: I'm able to do a 100 now while maintaining that engaged core feeling. Looking forward to my 1st 500 that way...!
