Underwaters as you get older - How many, and can you improve on them?

Great question 67King,

From my perspective, there are three aspects to factor in.

The first is physiological.  Your lung capacity and VO2 max will decrease over time.  Lifelong athletes can lessen the decline, but not eliminate it.  If your young collegiate coach is not aware of this, he should read up - it is pretty well documented.  Personally, I did not feel the impact until about 5-6 years ago (64-65).   Until then, aerobic capacity was never the limiting factor.  Now, OMG!  UDK and restrictive breathing come at an immediate cost - consumes huge amounts of O2.

The second is technique which Allen comments on.  UDK requires intensity and purpose.  From my observation at the pool and as an official, too many swimmers do it because someone told them to do it and their technique (casual and poorly done) actually slows them down.  They "play" at it and it slows them down.  Personally in my prime, I UDK'd during the first 2-3 turns of fly and backstroke races, and never on freestyle (except the start and first turn).  After that, the O2 consumption was not worth it.  

Although it may be worth experimenting with, my recommendation is to focus all of your effort on making your off-the-wall streamline as absolutely streamline as possible.  Push-off for all you are worth and hold that streamline as long as possible.  When you feel yourself slightly slowing down, add some subtle 60% flutter kicking for 1-2 seconds, and then breakout.  My freestyle goal was to start my first stroke 7-8 yards off the wall.  It was not the right strategy for a 50 or 100, but it was really good for 200 and above.  It was fun to watch others expending energy on the surface while I streamlined underwater - going the same speed and conserving energy.

NOTE:  Some swimmers have limited shoulder/upper body flexibility, so any streamlining is a challenge.  For this sub-set of swimmers, UDK is very hard and not helpful on most cases.

Thirdly, UDK and the number you take is race distance specific.  What works for 50s and 100s isn't going to work for 200s and above (unless you are Leon Marchand).  Short races (50s and 100s) are NOT very 02 (oxygen) limiting whereas the => than 200s are very oxygen limiting if you go into oxygen debt by UDK too long off walls.

At 70, I don't work on UDK anymore.  Streamlining 6-8 yards off the wall is my focus.  I go into oxygen debt otherwise.  A coach once said about streamlining - never enough and never too much.

Hope this offers some perspective and assistance.

Paul

Great question 67King,

From my perspective, there are three aspects to factor in.

The first is physiological.  Your lung capacity and VO2 max will decrease over time.  Lifelong athletes can lessen the decline, but not eliminate it.  If your young collegiate coach is not aware of this, he should read up - it is pretty well documented.  Personally, I did not feel the impact until about 5-6 years ago (64-65).   Until then, aerobic capacity was never the limiting factor.  Now, OMG!  UDK and restrictive breathing come at an immediate cost - consumes huge amounts of O2.

The second is technique which Allen comments on.  UDK requires intensity and purpose.  From my observation at the pool and as an official, too many swimmers do it because someone told them to do it and their technique (casual and poorly done) actually slows them down.  They "play" at it and it slows them down.  Personally in my prime, I UDK'd during the first 2-3 turns of fly and backstroke races, and never on freestyle (except the start and first turn).  After that, the O2 consumption was not worth it.  

Although it may be worth experimenting with, my recommendation is to focus all of your effort on making your off-the-wall streamline as absolutely streamline as possible.  Push-off for all you are worth and hold that streamline as long as possible.  When you feel yourself slightly slowing down, add some subtle 60% flutter kicking for 1-2 seconds, and then breakout.  My freestyle goal was to start my first stroke 7-8 yards off the wall.  It was not the right strategy for a 50 or 100, but it was really good for 200 and above.  It was fun to watch others expending energy on the surface while I streamlined underwater - going the same speed and conserving energy.

NOTE:  Some swimmers have limited shoulder/upper body flexibility, so any streamlining is a challenge.  For this sub-set of swimmers, UDK is very hard and not helpful on most cases.

Thirdly, UDK and the number you take is race distance specific.  What works for 50s and 100s isn't going to work for 200s and above (unless you are Leon Marchand).  Short races (50s and 100s) are NOT very 02 (oxygen) limiting whereas the => than 200s are very oxygen limiting if you go into oxygen debt by UDK too long off walls.

At 70, I don't work on UDK anymore.  Streamlining 6-8 yards off the wall is my focus.  I go into oxygen debt otherwise.  A coach once said about streamlining - never enough and never too much.

Hope this offers some perspective and assistance.

Paul

Windrath said:

I go into oxygen debt otherwise. 

This is really the crux of my question.  I know the coach knows there is .  His prompting was all about encouragement and pushing me to do more than I think I can.  He knows my daughter, whose UDK's are more responsible for her being on scholarship than any other aspect of her swimming.

I've got a pretty decent push off the wall.  Even when I'm totally gassed, and at the end of a 2000 main set with very little rest, I still make it out past the flags, and that is with minimal (1-2) UDK's.  But I regularly make it 7-8 yards without much effort.  I could probably have good underwaters on a 50, but I think the 100 is where any potential I would have for improvement lies.  Like you said, a 200 is too far (unless you've ever see Claire Curzan's 200 back - still a good 11 yards underwater off last wall).  Of course, it is a little easier on back since you can breathe at will.  But my daughter, who goes 14M like clockwork on the 100's of both fly and back, is only going 7-8 on the 200.

There is another aspect of this thread that has not come up yet, so I will mention it - Shallow Water Blackout.  As you press your UDK capability, be sure to know the signs of Shallow Water Blackout.  For me, it was a tingling, cold sensation in my feet that indicated a blackout was imminent.

And, as you work on this, the coach needs to be completely engaged and watching because a swimmer will simply stay under or, if at the end of the pool, will quietly slip underwater.  If the coach isn't watching, don't do anything where you are pushing the envelop.

As a personal example, in my 20s, my lung capacity was pretty high.  Hold my breath for 4 minutes kind of thing.  I decided during one practice to swim down and back at the 50 mtr pool underwater.  About half way back and close to the bottom, I blacked out.  Obviously, I live to tell this tale, but I don't know how.  I just remember regaining consciousness while hanging on the lane line. No guards/swimmers saw it.  I had no clue it was about to happen.

Stay safe and make sure people are watching!

Paul

Yep.  Used to do 16X25 underwaters with fins on a regular basis when doing solo swimming, but there was also more rest than the workouts I'm doing now where I'd be incorporating UDK's into each lap.  But I recall when this happened a few years ago:  www.cbsnews.com/.../