Ok, when I was a kid on the swim team back in the early 1980s, we were taught that for freestyle, the pull arm begins the pull as the recovery arm lifts out of the water to begin the recovery. This is how I always swam freestyle. But then the other day, I was told by a coach that the timing has been modified. Now, apparently, the pull arm begins the pull towards the end of the recovery instead of the beginning. I should have known something was up months ago with all those catch up drills we were doing and when I heard my other teammates talking about their "glides" and not knowing what the hell they were talking about (as a sprinter, I never glided).
Then, I found out that now, when swimming breaststroke, the head is kept low into the water instead of forward with the top of the cap always peaking through the surface. When I learned breaststroke, letting the top of the cap (i.e., your whole head) under the water was grounds for disqualification. Is that no longer true?
And last but I'm sure not least, I found out that back flip turns are no longer practiced. Why not?
And what else has changed since the 1980s that I need to know about?
Tell your gliding teammates number of strokes x stroke rate = time. (I'm willing to bet they were trying to reduce number of strokes, because someone told them distance per stroke was important. Gliding slows stroke rate lots, tho!)
That's I thought! I thought why would I ever want to "glide"? You can't go faster gliding. You can only slow down or at best, maintain that speed. But I guess that's the sprinter mentality and for sprinters, I would agree that gliding is counterproductive. But in distance swimming, I can see why gliding would be important - paced top speed eventually peaks out in distance swimming and once you reach your paced top speed, endurance becomes the important factor in maintaining that speed. Without efficiency, endurance goes downhill.
In free fly and back you can go 15M underwater on the starts and turns.People with good dolphin kicks are really taking advantage of this.
In free, front quadrant swimming is "in" for distance swimmers. Many sprinters, especially the stronger men are basically windmilling,to get the maximum thrust as fast as possible.
In back,you can now turn over on your front and do a regular flip turn as long as it is one continuous motion.(you can't do any actual swimming once you turn over.)
I'm actually one of the swimmers who takes advantage of the 15M start with the dolphin kick. Dolphin kick streamlining is one of my specialties. 😊
I was a sprinter in my younger days but I am now a distance swimmer in training for a 12 mile solo relay next year so this "front quadrant swimming" is a technique I'm going to have to master. Right now, my average number of strokes is 13 for 25 yards and my SWOLF is 41.
How is turning forward from a backstroke better than a back flip turn? The only advantage I see is that it may help backstrokers who have trouble gauging their distance from the wall while they reach for it while on their back.
Have you first made sure your strokes don't fit the "If it isn't broke it doesn't need fixing" category?
If I'm not swimming as efficiently as possible, then something is "broken" or at least in need of a tune-up. And I know I can be more efficient than I am. I need to be able to switch off the sprinter in me and turn on the distance in me while I'm swimming distance, especially if I'm going to be swimming in a 12 mile race.
Tell your gliding teammates number of strokes x stroke rate = time. (I'm willing to bet they were trying to reduce number of strokes, because someone told them distance per stroke was important. Gliding slows stroke rate lots, tho!)
That's I thought! I thought why would I ever want to "glide"? You can't go faster gliding. You can only slow down or at best, maintain that speed. But I guess that's the sprinter mentality and for sprinters, I would agree that gliding is counterproductive. But in distance swimming, I can see why gliding would be important - paced top speed eventually peaks out in distance swimming and once you reach your paced top speed, endurance becomes the important factor in maintaining that speed. Without efficiency, endurance goes downhill.
In free fly and back you can go 15M underwater on the starts and turns.People with good dolphin kicks are really taking advantage of this.
In free, front quadrant swimming is "in" for distance swimmers. Many sprinters, especially the stronger men are basically windmilling,to get the maximum thrust as fast as possible.
In back,you can now turn over on your front and do a regular flip turn as long as it is one continuous motion.(you can't do any actual swimming once you turn over.)
I'm actually one of the swimmers who takes advantage of the 15M start with the dolphin kick. Dolphin kick streamlining is one of my specialties. 😊
I was a sprinter in my younger days but I am now a distance swimmer in training for a 12 mile solo relay next year so this "front quadrant swimming" is a technique I'm going to have to master. Right now, my average number of strokes is 13 for 25 yards and my SWOLF is 41.
How is turning forward from a backstroke better than a back flip turn? The only advantage I see is that it may help backstrokers who have trouble gauging their distance from the wall while they reach for it while on their back.
Have you first made sure your strokes don't fit the "If it isn't broke it doesn't need fixing" category?
If I'm not swimming as efficiently as possible, then something is "broken" or at least in need of a tune-up. And I know I can be more efficient than I am. I need to be able to switch off the sprinter in me and turn on the distance in me while I'm swimming distance, especially if I'm going to be swimming in a 12 mile race.
