Today, swimming swiming was a wash. Too many people at the pool. By the time it cleared out I didn't have enough time to do a full set.
So, I decided to spend my shortened time to try to swim like Phelps. I had just watched a Butterfly video.
I did a few laps normally (at speed), a few like Phelps (my version - at speed), and a few normally again.
The Phelps versions of my 50 yard butterfly were 2 seconds faster: 28 seconds vs. 30 seconds.
I was laughing pretty hard when I saw the times.
All I really changed was the depth of my body wave. In the video Phelps has this gigantic body wave. His head is about 3 feet underwater at the lowest point of his arc. I also found that in attempting to have the same size arc (I bet I was doing a 2 foot arc) that I had to breath every stoke like he does to keep the momentum up. I also found that I was able to have a larger kick going underwater that deep.
It was pretty cool. Thought I'd share. I'm hoping that if I can hone it or get to a place where I'm comfortable with this new style that I'll be able to drop even more time. We'll see.
Normally I'm a huge skeptic, but I'm always up for trying new things. Sometimes they work, and this is one of those times. Pretty amazing.
Parents
Former Member
I tried the new technique today at practice also and found it to be much as Marc and Hooked on (and others here) have described it....I didn't count my strokes but I could tell I was getting more distance per stroke with the increased body wave.....I also felt like I was going faster (or at least as fast) as I was before the change....only with less effort....I felt like I just loped along (fairly effortlessly) for 2 50's in a row using the new method Marc described in the 25 meter pool at our YMCA....and I clocked in just a little faster than I normally swim them in...(I repeated the 2 50's again shortly thereafter and got the same result)....I think that the technique will probably pay off the best in the 200 fly (as Gkami pointed out below) b/c the effort level was lower and the stroke was just longer and more relaxed this way.....Thanks for the tip Marc!
newmastersswimmer
I tried the new technique today at practice also and found it to be much as Marc and Hooked on (and others here) have described it....I didn't count my strokes but I could tell I was getting more distance per stroke with the increased body wave.....I also felt like I was going faster (or at least as fast) as I was before the change....only with less effort....I felt like I just loped along (fairly effortlessly) for 2 50's in a row using the new method Marc described in the 25 meter pool at our YMCA....and I clocked in just a little faster than I normally swim them in...(I repeated the 2 50's again shortly thereafter and got the same result)....I think that the technique will probably pay off the best in the 200 fly (as Gkami pointed out below) b/c the effort level was lower and the stroke was just longer and more relaxed this way.....Thanks for the tip Marc!
newmastersswimmer
