I've never done much competitive/team swimming, but in all my years being around pools for my own fitness swimming, and lifeguarding...I had never seen nor even heard of this m.youtube.com/watch (it's a video I found on the internet). But while lifeguarding today I saw two women doing this during the lap swim session. They did a 800 tandem medley. Each would swim 100 in front, all four strokes. Interesting.
Dan
The video looks like the trailing swimmer is holding the feet of the lead swimmer. Talk about active drowning! The trailing swimmer cannot use their arms, so they push down on the leader's feet to get a breath, but that only serves to bury the lead swimmer's feet because they cannot kick.
That can happen so this can serve as a good body position drill. I've done this kind of tandem swimming, and even done fun races with another duo. One of the keys to going fast is for both the leader and follower to maintain excellent body position. It's also a bit like pulling a chute for the leader so if you don't have chutes, you can substitute this drill.
The video looks like the trailing swimmer is holding the feet of the lead swimmer. Talk about active drowning! The trailing swimmer cannot use their arms, so they push down on the leader's feet to get a breath, but that only serves to bury the lead swimmer's feet because they cannot kick.
That can happen so this can serve as a good body position drill. I've done this kind of tandem swimming, and even done fun races with another duo. One of the keys to going fast is for both the leader and follower to maintain excellent body position. It's also a bit like pulling a chute for the leader so if you don't have chutes, you can substitute this drill.
