I have a question about gliding in freestyle. My way of swimming is that after each stroke I stretch my leading arm, glide and then I go over to the next stroke if you know what I mean.
Now someone is telling me that it''s more efficient to immediately go over to the next stroke without the gliding phase while your arm is stretched.
What do you think is more efficient.
True, but with his stroke rate at just under 1 second per stroke, that still means he is spending 15% of each stroke cycle in a 'glide.'
I did say that this depends upon your body type and fitness. In general, taller swimmers will 'actively streamline' more than shorter swimmers. Also, as we are all energy wasting machines in the water and as the most common stroke issue I see is swimmers not ensuring they have a good catch, I think many swimmers would benefit from focusing first on stroke length to build efficiency and effectiveness into their technique and next on stroke rate and power. The biggest lesson I took away from the whole full body tech suit experience was just how important drag reduction is - emphasizing stroke rate before stroke length, I think, is a recipe for a higher-energy costing stroke and less speed.Yes I agree. To the original poster, I think it shouldn't ever feel like your arms stop to glide. Once your arm is fully extended you should initiate your catch.
True, but with his stroke rate at just under 1 second per stroke, that still means he is spending 15% of each stroke cycle in a 'glide.'
I did say that this depends upon your body type and fitness. In general, taller swimmers will 'actively streamline' more than shorter swimmers. Also, as we are all energy wasting machines in the water and as the most common stroke issue I see is swimmers not ensuring they have a good catch, I think many swimmers would benefit from focusing first on stroke length to build efficiency and effectiveness into their technique and next on stroke rate and power. The biggest lesson I took away from the whole full body tech suit experience was just how important drag reduction is - emphasizing stroke rate before stroke length, I think, is a recipe for a higher-energy costing stroke and less speed.Yes I agree. To the original poster, I think it shouldn't ever feel like your arms stop to glide. Once your arm is fully extended you should initiate your catch.
