I need some theories on why this could be true: Assuming that both swimmers are kicking/pulling/swimming freestyle for the same distance with the same effort and without fins and paddles, swimmer A consistently kicks slower than swimmer B and swimmer A consistently pulls slower than swimmer B but swimmer A consistently swims full stroke faster than swimmer B.
The only thing I can think of that might make this true is that swimmer A's body positioning in the water and/or body rotation changes somehow when swimming full stroke and that that change reduces drag but I can't think of what that "somehow" could be. Maybe the rotation that occurs when pulling is making the kick more effective than when only kicking..?
It occurred to me when using a pull buoy this morning that swimmer B may be benefiting from better body position and more speed from the pull buoy's floatation.
It could also be that Swimmer A isn't entirely comfortable with a buoy and alters her posture in a detrimental way or does something funky with her stroke to compensate for the discomfort when using it.
If the kick speeds are measured using kickboard, the same sort of phenomenon could apply.
And to speculate even further, if you have a situation where A is not great at using the gear/isolating the kick and pull AND B is not great at putting them together/swimming without the gear...
It occurred to me when using a pull buoy this morning that swimmer B may be benefiting from better body position and more speed from the pull buoy's floatation.
It could also be that Swimmer A isn't entirely comfortable with a buoy and alters her posture in a detrimental way or does something funky with her stroke to compensate for the discomfort when using it.
If the kick speeds are measured using kickboard, the same sort of phenomenon could apply.
And to speculate even further, if you have a situation where A is not great at using the gear/isolating the kick and pull AND B is not great at putting them together/swimming without the gear...
