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?
Recently there was a video of a man, age group 65-69 in a race. He had the most beautiful, older-style breaststroke. The video was of another man winning eventually, btu what caught me was that after each push off this man caught up to and passed on every lap.Just reinforces other advice on this thread to stay with what works best for you-don't change just to change to what's current. If anyone here can tell us where to find it, check it out
If this is the video I am thinking about, it was the 60-64 age group at Auburn.If so the swimmer with the"old style" is Robert Wright.I have watched him swim several times and I think the reason he is able to go so fast with that style is his ability to ride very high in the water ,which I suppose, decreases drag. Is this the video? www.youtube.com/watch
It sounds as if you are just returning to swimming after some time off. I'm glad to hear that you are getting "new" info concerning strokes.Don't get overloaded to the point you do not enjoy swimming. We all change our stroke to what is "new" for a while to see if it works for us.
Swam my first meet since the 80's earlier this month. Something else that I noticed has changed is the short course start. I remember having to have both feet at the front of the block back in the day. Now a staggered stance (one foot at the front of the block, one back) is allowed. I only remember being able to do that at long course meets.
