Since getting back into masters swimming after a long (12 year) hiatus I've been playing around with the track start which came into vogue after my first "retirement". I'm still torn between the two and have been trying to find what fits me best.
The last month or so I've had a chance to watch ASU, UA, Auburn and UNLV swim meets and what's interesting is that I only saw one or two swimmers using a traditonal "grab" start. I know a few of these coaches and they all said the same thing, it's hands down the fastest start of the two.
Recently a new group has introduced a program caller "PowerStarts" (www.quickgetaway.com) which advocates the complete opposite philosophy. By the way, I'm NOT endorsing this TI type program but do find it interesting!!!
I've had a chance to discuss some of this with Wayne and have basically come to the conclusion that a traditonal grab (power start style) start still works best for my body type (and lack of fast twitch ability!). I do however need to commit the workout time to run a series of 15 M sprints and see what really works.
Anyone else have any thoughts on this?
Parents
Former Member
Here's my take (feel free to do with it what you wish)...
Grab start has to be more powerful, both feet get full thrust off the blocks, the minimal amount of force that can be applied with the arms in the track start just doesn't seem like it overcomes the loss of power by having one foot back.
One nice feature they've been printing in world class meet results is the reaction time splits. They are fairly similar across the board. It would be interesting to research who does what start and what the average RT's are. No technical data here but I would imagine the difference is negligible between the two groups of starters (even when considering races are decided by 1/100ths).
The main concern that I see when determining what start a swimmer should use is entry depth. Grab starts lend themselves to steeper entries while the track start provides a flatter plane and more shallow entry.
It seems the grab start would make sense for breaststrokers (pullouts) and for people with fantastic underwater dolphin ability. Good dolphin kickers can kick faster than they can swim, therefore it is advantageous to them to remain underwater kicking.
A poor underwater dolphin kicker would be well-advised to surface sooner to take full advantage of their start speed and begin swimming before they could possibly slow down below their maximum race pace. I think these swimmers should experiment with the track start. I see it in age group swimming a lot, a deep dive, the young swimmer kicks to the surface and has really slowed down before they begin swimming. That's also why I'm a proponent of surfacing at a max of 5 yds off the turns for most age group swimmers as well. They just don't seem to have the leg strength and core body strength to make UW kicking a benfit - yet.
The other option is to learn to shallow out a grab start entry, or to surface sooner.
As Tall Paul was saying, a lot comes down to taking the time with your coach or your swimmers to do 15 yd sprints and figure out what works best. For the 50 and 100 swimmers (maybe even 200 swimmers) 2/10ths or 3/10ths can be a big deal. I imagine a lot of the improvement will come from maximizing your use of your start speed in the first 10 yards than the .05 that you may lose while on the block doing one start pr the other. For you distance swimmers (first off you are wackos!) the start should be fairly inconsequential.
Regards,
RM
Here's my take (feel free to do with it what you wish)...
Grab start has to be more powerful, both feet get full thrust off the blocks, the minimal amount of force that can be applied with the arms in the track start just doesn't seem like it overcomes the loss of power by having one foot back.
One nice feature they've been printing in world class meet results is the reaction time splits. They are fairly similar across the board. It would be interesting to research who does what start and what the average RT's are. No technical data here but I would imagine the difference is negligible between the two groups of starters (even when considering races are decided by 1/100ths).
The main concern that I see when determining what start a swimmer should use is entry depth. Grab starts lend themselves to steeper entries while the track start provides a flatter plane and more shallow entry.
It seems the grab start would make sense for breaststrokers (pullouts) and for people with fantastic underwater dolphin ability. Good dolphin kickers can kick faster than they can swim, therefore it is advantageous to them to remain underwater kicking.
A poor underwater dolphin kicker would be well-advised to surface sooner to take full advantage of their start speed and begin swimming before they could possibly slow down below their maximum race pace. I think these swimmers should experiment with the track start. I see it in age group swimming a lot, a deep dive, the young swimmer kicks to the surface and has really slowed down before they begin swimming. That's also why I'm a proponent of surfacing at a max of 5 yds off the turns for most age group swimmers as well. They just don't seem to have the leg strength and core body strength to make UW kicking a benfit - yet.
The other option is to learn to shallow out a grab start entry, or to surface sooner.
As Tall Paul was saying, a lot comes down to taking the time with your coach or your swimmers to do 15 yd sprints and figure out what works best. For the 50 and 100 swimmers (maybe even 200 swimmers) 2/10ths or 3/10ths can be a big deal. I imagine a lot of the improvement will come from maximizing your use of your start speed in the first 10 yards than the .05 that you may lose while on the block doing one start pr the other. For you distance swimmers (first off you are wackos!) the start should be fairly inconsequential.
Regards,
RM
