In the overgrown jungle known as "the Fastest Age", this idea came up:
Originally posted by gull80
I thought that anchoring was more a figure of speech, although I did read in TI that your arms/shoulders are much less important than your core muscles (which I still find hard to believe).
I brought up the baseball pitcher analogy that is popular. Craig mentioned he knew of that example, but the pitcher gets to push off the ground. I gave a counter example of throwing in water polo (in an all-deep pool ;) ). At that point, we both got sucked back into... ah... another discussion.
I wanted to start this thread, to see if it would yield any interesting insights. I was talking to a Masters swimmer who went to a training camp at the Olympic Training Center, and she mentioned that the main emphasis was to engage the core muscles during your swim.
I'm certain that I am not using ideal power transfer. I hope that I am not misrepresenting Craig, in saying he is not sure about how this is done.
Parents
Former Member
Excellent topic and discussion.
I can definitely atest to the value of a very well conditioned core.
As a 49year old (late bloomer, didn't learn to swim until age 33) now a competitive master and distance/ marathon open water swimmer , as well I do some 'splash and dash' indoor events too ;), my conditioning of my core has made an incredible difference.
In the pool, body balance has vastly improved, kicking is a huge improvement, efficiency of my pull is oceans better, and backstroke and fly have blasted my personal bests sky high.
By being able to transfer my power and stabilize my core, my ability to stay balanced in rough open water has also drastically improved. Hence my times for these swims (5kms, 10km, 26kms and 34kms) have also seen great improvements.
I include dryland in most workouts post pool, and these include shoulder exercises, core body work and stretching. And I cajoule others to join as this area is part of my regular job.
At first these exercises seem difficult, but very soon you will notice the difference. And there are endless variations of each exercise, guaranteed to take the boredom away. (And you thought a pull buoy was just for the water) :)
As a child I was a tennis player, and I learnt how to hit powerful shots by a 'whip' action from my body to connect with the ball and hit and place the shot. Maybe that training has helped me to transfer the core power to swimming.
Kiwi
Excellent topic and discussion.
I can definitely atest to the value of a very well conditioned core.
As a 49year old (late bloomer, didn't learn to swim until age 33) now a competitive master and distance/ marathon open water swimmer , as well I do some 'splash and dash' indoor events too ;), my conditioning of my core has made an incredible difference.
In the pool, body balance has vastly improved, kicking is a huge improvement, efficiency of my pull is oceans better, and backstroke and fly have blasted my personal bests sky high.
By being able to transfer my power and stabilize my core, my ability to stay balanced in rough open water has also drastically improved. Hence my times for these swims (5kms, 10km, 26kms and 34kms) have also seen great improvements.
I include dryland in most workouts post pool, and these include shoulder exercises, core body work and stretching. And I cajoule others to join as this area is part of my regular job.
At first these exercises seem difficult, but very soon you will notice the difference. And there are endless variations of each exercise, guaranteed to take the boredom away. (And you thought a pull buoy was just for the water) :)
As a child I was a tennis player, and I learnt how to hit powerful shots by a 'whip' action from my body to connect with the ball and hit and place the shot. Maybe that training has helped me to transfer the core power to swimming.
Kiwi
