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.
Hi Larry -
Thanks for the info. The amount of training time seems ok - would be good to know what your volume is as well. Swimming 24 hours/month is good if you are averaging 2000-2500 yds/mtrs per hour, but not so good if you are only doing 1,000 yds/mtrs/hour.
Likewise, the kicking speed seems pretty good as well.
However, a glide of 7 mtrs suggests there is room for considerable improvement in your streamline position. I am about the same height and weight as you and could glide almost 20 yards when I was your age. I am down to 15 yards or so now - leg strength has dropped over the past 28 years. At that time, I was swimming 57 for 100 meters taking 15 strokes/length.
Great streamlining is important because the push-off is the second fastest you will go in a race. You will be faster only during the start. Holding that speed as long as possible is key and it will take you under the wave that follows you into the wall. You can practice the feel for streamlining by hanging from a pull-up bar with your hands overlapped, arms squeezing your ears, legs together, toes pointed, knees locked, and squeezing your belly button towards your spine. When you push off the wall, the top of your head should point towards the end of the pool. if you can see the other end of the pool, your head position is less than optimal.
You should attempt to streamline 7-9 yards off every turn you do. Speaking of which, are you doing open turns or flip turns? Bad flip turns can add 2 seconds/turn to your time.
Another skill to master is floating face down in the streamline position. This will give you immediate feedback about your balance in the water. If you can stay horizontal in a streamline position (holding your breath) with your heels at the surface of the water, you have good balance and muscle control. If you cannot do this, ask a synchronized swimmer to help. The better your balance, the faster you will go.
More to come with your reply.
Paul
Hi Larry -
Thanks for the info. The amount of training time seems ok - would be good to know what your volume is as well. Swimming 24 hours/month is good if you are averaging 2000-2500 yds/mtrs per hour, but not so good if you are only doing 1,000 yds/mtrs/hour.
Likewise, the kicking speed seems pretty good as well.
However, a glide of 7 mtrs suggests there is room for considerable improvement in your streamline position. I am about the same height and weight as you and could glide almost 20 yards when I was your age. I am down to 15 yards or so now - leg strength has dropped over the past 28 years. At that time, I was swimming 57 for 100 meters taking 15 strokes/length.
Great streamlining is important because the push-off is the second fastest you will go in a race. You will be faster only during the start. Holding that speed as long as possible is key and it will take you under the wave that follows you into the wall. You can practice the feel for streamlining by hanging from a pull-up bar with your hands overlapped, arms squeezing your ears, legs together, toes pointed, knees locked, and squeezing your belly button towards your spine. When you push off the wall, the top of your head should point towards the end of the pool. if you can see the other end of the pool, your head position is less than optimal.
You should attempt to streamline 7-9 yards off every turn you do. Speaking of which, are you doing open turns or flip turns? Bad flip turns can add 2 seconds/turn to your time.
Another skill to master is floating face down in the streamline position. This will give you immediate feedback about your balance in the water. If you can stay horizontal in a streamline position (holding your breath) with your heels at the surface of the water, you have good balance and muscle control. If you cannot do this, ask a synchronized swimmer to help. The better your balance, the faster you will go.
More to come with your reply.
Paul
