www.swiminfo.com, in an article about 27-years old Olympic Algerian sprinter Salim Iles who two days ago in France set a new African record in 100 meter freestyle in a 50 meter pool at :49.00, claims that age 29 is now considered the "prime years for male swimming".
One day ago, Franck Esposito (Fra.), age 31, swam 1:54.62 in 200 meter butterfly in a 50 meter pool, second fastest time in history, marginally behind Michael Phelps (US) 1:54.58, age 17.
(As a side note, Esposito is not a giant like 6' 7" Tom Malchow (US), or tall like Phelps' 6' 3", he is 5' 11").
Alex. Popov (Rus.), Mark Foster (GBR), John Miranda (US), Ron Karnaugh (US), Sven Lodziewski (Ger) are clear Olympic-level calibers for male swimmers past the age of 30.
So, age 29 is now considered within the "prime years for male swimming" in this sport that is physically fitness-driven.
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Originally posted by SupaFly
I definitely agree that swimming is mostly conditioning.
...
I bet that if Thorpe were asked to swim head-up freestyle holding rocks in his hands he'd still go ridiculously fast, even though swimming with the head up is technically very wrong, and so is holding clenched fists. I heard that he can kick a :56 for 100 meteres. Sure the ankles are flexible and he has good kicking technique but it's essentially just huge power.
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This alone is proof of swimming being a physical activity before being a technical skill activity.
An unexperimented swimmer, with not many blood vessels connecting the legs and the heart, would need a heart rate of 160 beats per minute to pump oxygen into the legs when kicking, through the few blood vessels the new swimmers has. With an untrained heart not sustaining for long 160 beats per minute, the kicking would end up as a pathetic try for a few seconds only. It happens all the time at any YMCA near you.
Ian Thorpe (Aus.) with lots of blood vessels connecting the legs and the heart through aerobic development, would easily need way less than 160 beats per minute to pump oxygen into the legs' muscles he built, when kicking in much more impressive effort. With a trained heart, 160 beats per minute, that's a piece of cake for Ian Thorpe.
It was reported in www.swiminfo.com that in a near-100% kicking effort, with heart rate in the 200 beats per minute, Ian Thorpe was doing 5 x 100 meter kick in a 50 meter pool, leaving every 5:00, and coming in 1:01.
Olympian Tom Wilkens (US) is said to achieve and hold 210 beats per minute when swimming a sub 4:19 400 meter IM; artificially raising the heart rate into the 200s in a unfit person even for a few seconds and not for 4:20 like in Tom Wilkens case, would quickly give that person a heart attack.
Achieving this cardiovascular physical fitness, that is what ranks swimming along with cross-country skiing and marathon running, physically and not skill-wise at the top of all fitness sports.
Originally posted by SupaFly
I definitely agree that swimming is mostly conditioning.
...
I bet that if Thorpe were asked to swim head-up freestyle holding rocks in his hands he'd still go ridiculously fast, even though swimming with the head up is technically very wrong, and so is holding clenched fists. I heard that he can kick a :56 for 100 meteres. Sure the ankles are flexible and he has good kicking technique but it's essentially just huge power.
...
This alone is proof of swimming being a physical activity before being a technical skill activity.
An unexperimented swimmer, with not many blood vessels connecting the legs and the heart, would need a heart rate of 160 beats per minute to pump oxygen into the legs when kicking, through the few blood vessels the new swimmers has. With an untrained heart not sustaining for long 160 beats per minute, the kicking would end up as a pathetic try for a few seconds only. It happens all the time at any YMCA near you.
Ian Thorpe (Aus.) with lots of blood vessels connecting the legs and the heart through aerobic development, would easily need way less than 160 beats per minute to pump oxygen into the legs' muscles he built, when kicking in much more impressive effort. With a trained heart, 160 beats per minute, that's a piece of cake for Ian Thorpe.
It was reported in www.swiminfo.com that in a near-100% kicking effort, with heart rate in the 200 beats per minute, Ian Thorpe was doing 5 x 100 meter kick in a 50 meter pool, leaving every 5:00, and coming in 1:01.
Olympian Tom Wilkens (US) is said to achieve and hold 210 beats per minute when swimming a sub 4:19 400 meter IM; artificially raising the heart rate into the 200s in a unfit person even for a few seconds and not for 4:20 like in Tom Wilkens case, would quickly give that person a heart attack.
Achieving this cardiovascular physical fitness, that is what ranks swimming along with cross-country skiing and marathon running, physically and not skill-wise at the top of all fitness sports.
