Since I am sort of forced to swim alone rather than on a master's team this summer I often end up swimming after/before/next to someone who has horrible technique. I'm not nitpicking here, but I'm talking about dragging legs, barely getting arms out of the water, and nearly stopping to breathe on freestyle, or arms that kind of lazily flop down during the backstroke.
The question is, if you see someone doing something like that do you offer help with their stroke / or pointers?
Currently, I don't. But I'm somewhat torn. I don't want to sound arrogant and like I know everything, or to hurt someone's feelings, but I can't help thinking how much less energy these people would expend, and how much more success they would have swimming if they swam correctly. So, what do you do?
Over the years of swimming on my own before I joined masters, it seemed quite common to talk to others in lanes nearby, especially if I saw them on a regular basis. Many of them shared tips for me, and I did for them as well.
One of the best unsolicited advice times for me came from a lifeguard at a college pool I was using for a summer. Basically, the place was dead while I was there, so it was just her watching me. I think she got tired of seeing me struggle, and many times she got in the water to work with me. I learned flip turns that summer, cleaned up my free and ***, got a handle on back...started a little on fly. She even had me practice some land drills for the next time. I bought a swimming book also, and asked her questions about some stroke movements. If it wasn't her, I probably wouldn't have felt strong enough to ever join a masters team.
That said, I'm always hesitant to offer advice. I sure don't want to teach them something wrong... But if I get asked, I do try to help as I can.
I don't usually say anything to people about their strokes, but I do offer advice about their flip turns if I see they are trying to learn it.
Just last week there was a guy trying it out. Couldn't get it at all. So when I was done my workout (I never inturrupt my workout!) I asked him if he wanted a pointer. The I gave him some basic pointers, and offered to point him to the FLIP TURNS VIDEO link. I got his email address and sent him the link.
So far I have done this with three people who all wanted the link.
But one guy did turn me down. I swim with him pretty regularly, and he's rather quick, but slow on the turns. If he could keep up on the turns, I'd have someone who could push me for any distance. (I didn't tell him this, though.) I just asked him if he would like to make his turns faster, but he wasn't interested. He's a triathlete, and a pretty damn good one. Turns don't matter for his purposes, and I fully understood and let it drop.
Besides flip turns, I rarely talk stroke techniques with people. Unless they ask first. But I have made one exception. There is this 17-year-old kid who just took up swimming in the past year. He's captain of his high school cross country and track teams, and he wants to be a triathlete. In a year he has become a formidable swimmer, and I can hardly contain my excitement for his progress. I think we're going to be reading about him in years to come. He's unusually humble for an athlete of his calibre. As he has progressed, I spoke up to him about some things I noticed. He never seemed put off, so I haven't held back. Nowadays there is nothing I can add, so we just talk about what's next on his horizons (upcoming mini-triathlons, his college plans, stuff like that.) Sometimes I wonder if I make a pest of myself, and I just hope I don't.
Personally, I'd love unsolicited advice from the "power swimmers" at my pool. I'm usually too intimidated to introduce myself and ask for pointers. I don't think you guys know how hard it is for a novice to come in and stake out a lane next to someone who's in the middle of, say, 6 x 150 on 2:30 IMs.
People who slap their hands and arms down in the water during free. People attempting back with no concept of catch and pull. People attempting back moving so hesitantly - in fear of running into something.
But no one asks so... I try to avoid lanes alongside the water surface slappers and look away from backstrokers with flailing arms. I'm there to do my own thing.
Management informed me at one pool that lifeguards are encouraged to offer pointers to poor swimmers but I've never seen any of them do anything but roll their eyes.
Originally posted by aquageek
I think this is a definite fallacy on his part and on tris/open water swimmers in general. An improper flip turn or even an open turn takes a whole lot more effort than a decent flip turn. If your tri buddy could do a proper turn, he could devote even more of his energy to proper swimming, which in the long run benefits him more. By choosing to do a bad turn, he is wasting effort.
I have found that the more I work on my flip turn, the more I am able to improve my swimming overall. But, I guess that's not part of the tri manual.
Right, but once I offer unsolicited advice and it is turned down, I stop pressing the issue.
I don't generally, but when I do I strike up a conversation about swimming and find something positive to say about the stroke. That usually evolves into a discussion about technique. Sometimes you gotta go down the slide to get into the pool.
Originally posted by ande
You can also offer to hire an elite swimmer or coach
for a private lesson.
broke college students are often happy to help and get paid
ande I would love to pay somebody with significant swimming skill to teach me a thing or two. If any of you ever find yourselves in the Monterey/Salinas, California area and want to make a few bucks, look me up!
Originally posted by IndyGal
Personally, I'd love unsolicited advice from the "power swimmers" at my pool. I'm usually too intimidated to introduce myself and ask for pointers. I don't think you guys know how hard it is for a novice to come in and stake out a lane next to someone who's in the middle of, say, 6 x 150 on 2:30 IMs.
Make sure you understand the rules and then try a free trial membership at a local health club. You'll get a lot of power swimmers and be forced to learn fast. Nothing to be intimidated about as you probably wont ever see any of those people again.
I am very reluctant to give advice, even to my training partners, unless they ask. I think it is flat rude to offer unsolicited advice. If someone wants your opinion, I suspect they will ask.
