Whether or not one is a proponent or opponent of TI, I've started this thread for discussion of technique related questions and ideas. Maybe in futility :rolleyes: but who knows.
I may be somewhat starting to shift to a TI-neutral stance. Being involved in the discussions has led me to do more learning and research. But anyway, I'll even abide up front to a no bickering rule.
The first issue I wanted was to discuss the breaststroke pullout since Mattson brought that piece of research to my attention. Qualified opinions please :D
-RM
Parents
Former Member
I read an article on breastroke pull out a year or two ago when I started swimming again. I think it was the one mentioned on this thread and it was very interesting. Here is my summary, as I remember it. Please correct me if I am stating it wrong:
Coming off the wall, one should not slow down so much during the pullout that your speed is less than your swimming speed. Ideally, your pullout should be such that you maintain a high speed (at least as great as your swimming speed) the entire time. Many swimmers slow down too much, both before and after the arm pull, and after the kick, but particularly, for this article, before the pull.
This slow down occured for most of a set of very good breastrokers. When trained to start the pull sooner after the push off their turn times decreased. Most interestingly, most of the swimmers felt that they were pulling 'too early', before they felt that they had slowed sufficiently.
So my questions are, how is a swimmier to know, without fancy scientific instruments, when to start the pull? How soon after the pull should the kick occur, and how long should the subsequent glide be? Is it obvious that a long pull out is a good thing, and how do swimmers tell? (I do a long underwater off of backstroke turns, but it seems to me, with vigorous small dolphin kicks, to be much more strenuous than a long breastroke pullout.) Finally, I suspect that most coaches teach a pullout that starts too late, and how will they be educated differently?
I read an article on breastroke pull out a year or two ago when I started swimming again. I think it was the one mentioned on this thread and it was very interesting. Here is my summary, as I remember it. Please correct me if I am stating it wrong:
Coming off the wall, one should not slow down so much during the pullout that your speed is less than your swimming speed. Ideally, your pullout should be such that you maintain a high speed (at least as great as your swimming speed) the entire time. Many swimmers slow down too much, both before and after the arm pull, and after the kick, but particularly, for this article, before the pull.
This slow down occured for most of a set of very good breastrokers. When trained to start the pull sooner after the push off their turn times decreased. Most interestingly, most of the swimmers felt that they were pulling 'too early', before they felt that they had slowed sufficiently.
So my questions are, how is a swimmier to know, without fancy scientific instruments, when to start the pull? How soon after the pull should the kick occur, and how long should the subsequent glide be? Is it obvious that a long pull out is a good thing, and how do swimmers tell? (I do a long underwater off of backstroke turns, but it seems to me, with vigorous small dolphin kicks, to be much more strenuous than a long breastroke pullout.) Finally, I suspect that most coaches teach a pullout that starts too late, and how will they be educated differently?
