Hello!
I´m from Germany 25 years old and I hope my english is understandable... :)
I´m swimming for 3 years now, and I really love it and want to be as good as i can!
For the last year i started practicing very hard. 5-7 times a week, but i have the problem that i dont see any improvements in the 50m of any stroke...
I dont have a Trainer, and there are no forums like this in german where i could ask someone. at the moment i´m swimming with someone i know from university (but he is a much better swimmer than me, 25.2s on 50m) but he doesnt know how to help either, hes just telling me to keep training^^ thats what i will do anyway!!
Maybe someone has experienced a similiar problem and knows how to fix it. i will try to explain where the problems in my swimming skills are...
when i started swimming and learned the techniques by myself, watchning youtube videos and reading a lot of books about swimming i have been improving very fast until i swim ~30s on 50m short course. that was about 1,5years after i started. about half a year later i was down to 28.8s on 50m short course, but from this point on wasnt improving anymore. that 28.8 is still my best time...
last weekend i swam 30.1 on 50m long course. i dont understand it because i put so much effort in my swimming training, and i got better i.e. in holding good times in intervalls, or in 100m and 200m and longer distances. but no improvement in 50m. i believe i´m naturally a sprinter, i always was, in evry sport i did, canoeing, and bicycling which i first did on the street but then changed to velodrome. still i love swimming more than any other sport i did.
that 30.1 makes me kind of upset... so that i want to train even harder >.
Im usually training in intervall-sets: Like 10x50m on 0:50 or 8x100m on 1:45 in freestyle or 2:00 for IM... im mixing evrything up, and do 4x50m drills between hard intervalls.
My training could look like this:
400m warmup swim
5x200m Free on 3:10
50m easy
400m flutterkick followed by 8x50m
4x50m drills
8x100 IM on 2:00
200-400m cooldown
I´m also sometimes swimming butterfly, breasttroke and backstroke, but mostly freestyle.
For Butterfly im going 31.5s and Breaststroke 37.8. My backstroke is terrible, maybe as fast or a bit slower than my ***^^
In last half year i was doing a lot of Flutterkick sets, and just kicking 800m, cause i believed just making meters in flutterkick should help me, and it did. Yesterday my training was not so long. i tried 20x25m on :45 and then i did flutterkick 8x50m on 1:30 and 8x25m on 0:45.
my times in 50m flutterkick ranged from 1:02-1:05 at 25m :25-:30
the 25s really felt good, in the middle of the set my stroke felt better than usually, in the end maybe 20 repeats were to much.
Yes - if you want faster 50's , then you will need to more speed work at that distance. I do not have many "fast twitch" fibers, so i like distance more. Sorry about the caps.
You can swim faster faster
When you train: swim and kick short distances at top speed.
like 15 meters & 25 meters then get more rest before you do your next repeat.
Time yourself. Track your times.
follow my suggestions in
Help! My Flutter Kick is horrible.
Lift weights and get stronger.
Hello,
This week i trained a lot at race pace, doing 50m and 25m on long rest. and a lot of flutterkick. i set a new personal record on the 50m shortcourse flutterkick in 54s.
Today i did a short video of 50m freestyle. it was after training so its not the fastest but u can see my technique^^.
the breakout was extremly bad and really ruined the time for that one, i felt how i slowed myself down... the time taken was 29.87s but it was without startsignal. the quality is not as good, i have a lame smartphone, and at some times my legs are not really in the picture^^
www.youtube.com/watch
That was a good 50!
You were 14.5 out, and 15 low back, which brings 2 things to mind:
1)Though you took 5 more strokes back, you were only just over 0.5 faster on the first 25 which seems that you can improve your start. Wiki plyometrics, also power training with weights can help too (there is an Olympic style power lifter masters swimmer who does 25M in 9.2, with little pool training). Work the streamline position throughout, avoid lifting head forward
2) You may be conditioned for more than a 50, 25 training is good but also try to improve your 15m times from the block.
A knock-out start and breakout can turn a 29 swim into a 27-28
Others more experienced in this area should soon chime in, stay tooned ..
Grüβe
You didn't get out far on the start.Work on more explosiveness by doing some vertical jumps and doing several starts at each workout.Your first 2 strokes were slower tempo than the rest,get into your rhythm ASAP.On the start you seemed pretty good with your SDKs,but on the turn you came up quick.On the turn you need to be underwater long enough to get under the turbulence you bring into the wall in your wake.
Hi Narco,
It's great that you are seeking to improve your swimming on your own, and seeking advice from videos/books and from this forum. However, as others have suggested here, you should try to get an independent stroke analysis from a coach, whether on-deck or online. You seem to be focusing mainly on improving your time in the 50 free - and while your time is certainly important, it is not going to improve without first improving the mechanics of your stroke. Getting an opinion from a properly qualified coach will allow you to determine your areas of weaknesses and what types of drills and workouts you need to pursue in order to improve.
Based on your video, there are several weaknesses in your stroke technique that are not allowing you to improve as much as you can. For example, your left arm is not finishing completely - therefore you are not getting as much distance per stroke. There are a variety of drills that can improve the symmetry and balance in your stroke. Your arms are also slipping and spinning through the water, as opposed to helping you move forward more efficiently. In other words, you are not making gains that are proportionate to the amount of effort you are putting in to the stroke. Here is a link to an article that provides some drills to help you develop your catch : www.swimspire.com/.../
You might also want to consider getting customized workouts based on your specific needs. I noticed that the workout you gave as a sample is significantly lacking in drills and technique work, which at this point is something you need most.
Good luck!
Thank you very much!
Yeah that first 25m was kind of slow, normally when im going out somewhere like 13.3-13.7s on 25m, i think in this case it was the bad breakout. i was to deep in the water when i did my first pull.
I really need to work on my starts, i rarely do that and they dont feel powerful at all.
9.2s on 25M are awesome, i think i need 7s for only the first 15m.
i will, like you say, from now on, do several starts in every workout.
and will try as well to do more dolphinkicks after the turn.
for streamline: i think i tend to look forward in sprinting, i will try to avoid that.
i hope with that, and a lot of flutterkicktraining i can improve my times!
thank you alot, for watching over my swimming and helping me!
i thought about lifting wheights, but i dont know if now is the right time to start with that, or if i should try to improve more without that first? i often read it can be bad for technique.
i thought about lifting wheights, but i dont know if now is the right time to start with that, or if i should try to improve more without that first? i often read it can be bad for technique.
I'm sure that getting massive won't help technique, but that's not going to happen. When you are tired from doing weights, you might find it hard to hold a good technique, but you'll get used to that.
