Am I alone in pursuing freestyle only?
I never understood/appreciated anything other than "swim as fast as you can from A to B".
I was a long time hard-core runner, and the different swimstrokes seems to me to be akin to running backwards or sideways. (Or....heaven forbid......Racewalking!!)
Why shouldn't swimming follow the same path as running? Ie No stroke rules. Just go from A to B in the water anyway you wish? As fast as you can.
School me! Kick my ass! In my newbieness I cannot understand anything other than "A to B in the water as fast as you can."
Why do we have these 4 different strokes? It seems like a beauty contest. (I expect to be crucified for such blasphemy.)
Educate me, USMS people. Help me understand why you would want to find a way to swim slower!! :)
Do you swim with a team & coach? If you only want to swim free then swim alone 'cuz our team coach requires all to learn 4 strokes.
I swam with masters teams for many years. While the coach assigned stroke sets, I can't recall a single instance when they gave a swimmer a tough time for substituting in something else (other than the usual ribbing). Someone could have a myriad of reasons why they can't do a particular set (injury, tapering come to mind right away).
I've never been much of a butterflier (I can do a 25, on a good day a 50, but not more than that continuous). I would often substitute in *** when the coach assigned long fly sets.
That said, and I'm also mostly a distance freestyler... I have a rule that at least 10% of my workout is non-free. Some days I do more than 20% non-free, but others it is just over 10%. That seems like a reasonable goal for me.
Typically I do a long warm-up, with a bunch of 75 free/25 stroke mixed in. I do something similar during my warm-down. I'll often do some *** and/or back-specific sets (I'm supposed to swim the 200 *** at nationals :afraid:)
Do you swim with a team & coach? If you only want to swim free then swim alone 'cuz our team coach requires all to learn 4 strokes.
I swam with masters teams for many years. While the coach assigned stroke sets, I can't recall a single instance when they gave a swimmer a tough time for substituting in something else (other than the usual ribbing). Someone could have a myriad of reasons why they can't do a particular set (injury, tapering come to mind right away).
I've never been much of a butterflier (I can do a 25, on a good day a 50, but not more than that continuous). I would often substitute in *** when the coach assigned long fly sets.
That said, and I'm also mostly a distance freestyler... I have a rule that at least 10% of my workout is non-free. Some days I do more than 20% non-free, but others it is just over 10%. That seems like a reasonable goal for me.
Typically I do a long warm-up, with a bunch of 75 free/25 stroke mixed in. I do something similar during my warm-down. I'll often do some *** and/or back-specific sets (I'm supposed to swim the 200 *** at nationals :afraid:)
