I learned freestyle a year ago and recently hit a major personal milestone of sub 1:30 for an all out 100m sprint (SCM). Very happy about this :-D. Here is my stroke video.
www.dropbox.com/.../Oct-8-2018-free-all-angles.mp4
Three months ago, my all out times were 1:39.6 (100m) and 0:21 (25m). Now they're 1:29.8(100m) and 0:20.2 (25m). So clearly I'm making more progress aerobically than stroke technique-wise. I'm guessing/assuming 25m all-out speed depends on technique.
All-out 100m: 1:29.8 (spl: 24)
All-out 25m: 0:20.2 (spl: 20)
css-pace: 1:40 (I can do 10x100 with 20 second gap). My spl ranges from 21-22 for these 100s.
I do mostly 50s and 100s (trying to pay attention to stroke count). The only drill I currenty do is single-arm free style (8x25 on each side). Since I started this drill a month ago, it has improved my DPS a lot. I swim 6 days a week (12km).
My next target is 1:20 for 100m :)
I would love to hear your feedback on what I should focus on next.
Good Morning One-Eyed-King,
Thanks for the video. Head/upper body position is more streamline. Now, to my eye anyway, there are three more things to work on:
a) Body alignment (most important): I see too much pelvic tilt (aka "anterior pelvic tilt") that can be caused by a number of things. In my experience, triathletes often have this because their hip flexors are tight from their running and biking position. Your pelvic orientation is limiting power and increasing drag. Thought many will disagree, I like kicking with a board (looking straight ahead) because it "encourages" a more superman (yoga) orientation. Of course, this assumes no back, neck, or shoulder issues. This might take some dryland and stretching routines to change your pelvic tilt.
b) Kick Amplitude:The distance from the top to bottom of your kick is pretty large. At the top, it looks like your calf/knee is out of the water and at the bottom, your foot is about 12" below your body. This creates alot of drag (bottom of your kick) and wastes effort (leg coming out of the water). This is due in part to your pelvic orientation in "a" above. Try kicking "silently" meaning your feet do not break the surface of the water and your amplitude will decrease which reduces drag and does not waste energy.
c) Ankle Flexation: If you can improve your ankle flexation (higher degree of toe point) throughout the kick, you will reduce drag and increase speed. This may be out of your control or, with stretching, a longer term "project" to fix.
Your current kick speed is pretty good. Kicking 25 m in under 20 secs is very good. Your tempo looks good to me.
Kicking faster and swimming faster are not mutually exclusive. They are not equally correlated either. IMO, the kicking drills you are doing will not help you incorporate kicking into your pulling because of your specific situation, it is possible the anterior pelvic tilt keeps you from optimal body alignment. Good body alignment is the single most important technique to master in swimming.
My suggestion is to focus on altering your pelvic tilt (if possible) to get closer to a small superman (yoga) alignment position. If you can achieve this, it will change alot of what you do.
Good Luck.
Good Luck
Good Morning One-Eyed-King,
Thanks for the video. Head/upper body position is more streamline. Now, to my eye anyway, there are three more things to work on:
a) Body alignment (most important): I see too much pelvic tilt (aka "anterior pelvic tilt") that can be caused by a number of things. In my experience, triathletes often have this because their hip flexors are tight from their running and biking position. Your pelvic orientation is limiting power and increasing drag. Thought many will disagree, I like kicking with a board (looking straight ahead) because it "encourages" a more superman (yoga) orientation. Of course, this assumes no back, neck, or shoulder issues. This might take some dryland and stretching routines to change your pelvic tilt.
b) Kick Amplitude:The distance from the top to bottom of your kick is pretty large. At the top, it looks like your calf/knee is out of the water and at the bottom, your foot is about 12" below your body. This creates alot of drag (bottom of your kick) and wastes effort (leg coming out of the water). This is due in part to your pelvic orientation in "a" above. Try kicking "silently" meaning your feet do not break the surface of the water and your amplitude will decrease which reduces drag and does not waste energy.
c) Ankle Flexation: If you can improve your ankle flexation (higher degree of toe point) throughout the kick, you will reduce drag and increase speed. This may be out of your control or, with stretching, a longer term "project" to fix.
Your current kick speed is pretty good. Kicking 25 m in under 20 secs is very good. Your tempo looks good to me.
Kicking faster and swimming faster are not mutually exclusive. They are not equally correlated either. IMO, the kicking drills you are doing will not help you incorporate kicking into your pulling because of your specific situation, it is possible the anterior pelvic tilt keeps you from optimal body alignment. Good body alignment is the single most important technique to master in swimming.
My suggestion is to focus on altering your pelvic tilt (if possible) to get closer to a small superman (yoga) alignment position. If you can achieve this, it will change alot of what you do.
Good Luck.
Good Luck
