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.
Larry,
Unless I missed it, you have not mentioned what your training program is like – frequency and volume/practice. If you are NOT practicing 3-5x per week and swimming at least 2,000 yds/meters each time, you are probably not putting enough time in.
Having said that, no amount of swimming with inefficient technique is going to make you faster. You have reached a threshold that only technical improvements can change. Swimmers with inefficient technique are like “dragsters on ice.” Adding more horsepower only spins the wheels faster – there is no increase in speed.
There is a theory in speed boat design that applies to swimmers: “The longer the boat, the faster the boat.” In swimming, this translates to techniques that reduce drag. If you look forward when you swim, your legs will drop and you increase drag. If your arms are mostly straight when you pull, you increase drag. If you have poor ankle flexibility, you increase drag. More drag = slower swimming.
Try these two tests: a) using a kick board and flutter kicking, how many kicks does it take you to go from one end of the pool to the next and how fast? and b) how far can you glide when pushing off the wall? Glide as far as you can – on or under water – holding your breath the entire time.
The “a” test is a measure of foot size and ankle flexibility. Poor ankle flexibility adversely affects everything in swimming. The “b” test is indicative of how streamline you can make your body which also affects everything in swimming. Better streamline = less drag = more speed.
These are just the beginning steps of determining what is holding you back. Looking forward to the results :)
Paul
Larry,
Unless I missed it, you have not mentioned what your training program is like – frequency and volume/practice. If you are NOT practicing 3-5x per week and swimming at least 2,000 yds/meters each time, you are probably not putting enough time in.
Having said that, no amount of swimming with inefficient technique is going to make you faster. You have reached a threshold that only technical improvements can change. Swimmers with inefficient technique are like “dragsters on ice.” Adding more horsepower only spins the wheels faster – there is no increase in speed.
There is a theory in speed boat design that applies to swimmers: “The longer the boat, the faster the boat.” In swimming, this translates to techniques that reduce drag. If you look forward when you swim, your legs will drop and you increase drag. If your arms are mostly straight when you pull, you increase drag. If you have poor ankle flexibility, you increase drag. More drag = slower swimming.
Try these two tests: a) using a kick board and flutter kicking, how many kicks does it take you to go from one end of the pool to the next and how fast? and b) how far can you glide when pushing off the wall? Glide as far as you can – on or under water – holding your breath the entire time.
The “a” test is a measure of foot size and ankle flexibility. Poor ankle flexibility adversely affects everything in swimming. The “b” test is indicative of how streamline you can make your body which also affects everything in swimming. Better streamline = less drag = more speed.
These are just the beginning steps of determining what is holding you back. Looking forward to the results :)
Paul
