I'm 35 years old 175cm 64kg male self taught swimmer starting from zero 5 years ago. I swam laps for a while, but soon developed interest and passion in swimming fast over short distances and relentless daily practice.
I have times in all strokes, but use freestyle as main benchmark. First time I tried to swim short course 100m freestyle I timed around 1:40. Over time this improved to 1:35, 1:27, 1:17 and reached a plateau there.
So I went through a year or so of the Starting Strength program, deadlifted 100kg in sets of 5 and squatted 80kg. I began to feel like my body line, explosiveness, starts and push offs improved. Freestyle time didn't improve dramatically, only down to 1:15.
At that point I felt I knew plenty about training of energy systems from Olbrecht, so I decided to only focus on improving my pure speed. I take 17 seconds for a push 25 in 18 strokes at 90-100 spm.
I followed Boomer's Freestyle Reimagined and took my stroke apart 4 weeks ago. A stroke change is clearly going to take 4 months or years to happen, not 4 weeks, but I am beginning to lose the enjoyment. I am hugely motivated to see myself break the 15sec 25m and ultimately the freestyle minute, and have no idea whether it is possible with no youth swimming background.
I posted on the UK Swimming Forum, but had no reply and thought I would post here too in search for tips or similar experiences. Would appreciate any comments!
I've seen an adult successfully join an age group program, and haven't tried that myself. I swam with a masters club for 2 years, which was a lot of fun, but these seem to be geared towards fitness and training rather than focused development of speed. Moreover, I am not quite so fast and fit to join some of the higher profile clubs. I've been to see a number of coaches/swimmers for advice, including Swim Smooth, who all had valuable input, but nothing seemed to really point me towards some a big area of improvement. I feel like I might be missing an obvious one. There are definitely areas like "feel for water" and "stroke efficicency" that remain mystical to me despite having read volumes.
If you're looking to get the edge on a sprint race such as the 100m freestyle, you may want to also focus on your start and your turns, as well as a dolphin kick off the start and the walls (if you have a fast dolphin kick to begin with).
Technique makes a huge difference, but only if you practice it consistently. If you're looking for a clinic, you'll want to find one that not only points out areas to improve, but also tells you HOW you can improve on a daily basis, and providing you with drills and tips that you can incorporate into your workouts. (Incidentally, if you happen to be in Florida in November, we are hosting a freestyle stroke clinic at Anastasia Fitness in Saint Augustine!)
I agree that 18 strokes per 25m sounds like quite a lot. You could certainly benefit from the expert eye of a coach here, someone who can take a look at your stroke and tell you what areas you need to improve and how to improve them. If you're so inclined, you can also try posting a video of your stroke here and the forumites can offer feedback.
If you're looking to get the edge on a sprint race such as the 100m freestyle, you may want to also focus on your start and your turns, as well as a dolphin kick off the start and the walls (if you have a fast dolphin kick to begin with).
Technique makes a huge difference, but only if you practice it consistently. If you're looking for a clinic, you'll want to find one that not only points out areas to improve, but also tells you HOW you can improve on a daily basis, and providing you with drills and tips that you can incorporate into your workouts. (Incidentally, if you happen to be in Florida in November, we are hosting a freestyle stroke clinic at Anastasia Fitness in Saint Augustine!)
I agree that 18 strokes per 25m sounds like quite a lot. You could certainly benefit from the expert eye of a coach here, someone who can take a look at your stroke and tell you what areas you need to improve and how to improve them. If you're so inclined, you can also try posting a video of your stroke here and the forumites can offer feedback.
