I'm absolutely amazed at the amount of misinformation on swimming, especially on the internet. One website I saw instructing the specifics of the backstroke advocated a completely illegal turn.
A bodybuilder site said that depleting your stores of Glycogen by starving your body of it actually helped the body move faster. I'm not buying that. You can't swim without it.
Other sites like USA Swimming, have a lot of kids with a lot of questions who for some reason don't ask their coaches or parents. Lots of ear infection questions - which are fairly preventable by wearing a swim cap.
Early on in my learning I suffered a severe injury by practicing a drill recommended by one of the so-called experts in swimming technique, who shall remain nameless. That's led me to pay closer attention to sports medicine specialists and surgeons who swim.
Everybody's body is different and has specific limitations. For example, the Neer Test for your shoulders. The entire approach to pitch, catch, pull, etc... is highly individual. I trust top athletic coaches and top swimmers and doctors.
One site on backstroke listed something very technical which actually made sense and works wonders but after running a search a dozen ways through Google I found no one knew of it or spoke of it other than that 1 site!
Who do you trust? What are your thoughts on this?
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Originally posted by tomhendersonfl
Connie, I agree with Bob that you have the right kind of coach...... snipping for shortness.
Yeah, I've been through self coaching, and through TI for 2-3 years, and finally making most progress after I found a good masters program and a knowledgeable coach invested full time in masters swimming. With a good coach
Personally, I made more progress in 6 months then I have in 3 years of self coaching and TI.
Between the workouts and clinics and personal lessons and goal setting and motivational programs available within the team you get a great package. I agree with you that they are hard to find.
Primarily, as far as I understand is because it is near impossible to make a sustainable living on what masters swim coaches get paid, and yet to run a great wekll rounded program one needs a full time investment.
I find some swimmers (not necessarily you) an odd bunch, they want all this time and quality coaching and instructions and what not, but they seem to want it all for nothing.
As for watching the pro's, other then the novelty of it we really discourage watching them for the technique. Most pro's have very specialized things that they do, that they've learned over the years, and what works for them and their mindset and body Most often one can't do advanced things sucessfully before they get a good basic skills. Watching the pros, I've ween many people focus on minutia that ends up being to advanced for their personal improvement.
If one is to watch a pro, it's best to do it with qualified guidance.
For examplke, in our program, we do watch pro's on occasion, with help of dartfish, and compare the main technique elements watching you vs. a pro with sort of a textbook element of a technique, so a swimmer can visualize the correction they may be aiming for. Even after that, when they get their basic skills in the 'textbook ballpark' then a coach begins to watch you and help you adjust the technique to fit your body style and physical ability.
Especially in masters, giving consideration to one;s physical ability is very important, since unlike with kids swimming, there is much more emphasis on injury prevention.
Originally posted by tomhendersonfl
Connie, I agree with Bob that you have the right kind of coach...... snipping for shortness.
Yeah, I've been through self coaching, and through TI for 2-3 years, and finally making most progress after I found a good masters program and a knowledgeable coach invested full time in masters swimming. With a good coach
Personally, I made more progress in 6 months then I have in 3 years of self coaching and TI.
Between the workouts and clinics and personal lessons and goal setting and motivational programs available within the team you get a great package. I agree with you that they are hard to find.
Primarily, as far as I understand is because it is near impossible to make a sustainable living on what masters swim coaches get paid, and yet to run a great wekll rounded program one needs a full time investment.
I find some swimmers (not necessarily you) an odd bunch, they want all this time and quality coaching and instructions and what not, but they seem to want it all for nothing.
As for watching the pro's, other then the novelty of it we really discourage watching them for the technique. Most pro's have very specialized things that they do, that they've learned over the years, and what works for them and their mindset and body Most often one can't do advanced things sucessfully before they get a good basic skills. Watching the pros, I've ween many people focus on minutia that ends up being to advanced for their personal improvement.
If one is to watch a pro, it's best to do it with qualified guidance.
For examplke, in our program, we do watch pro's on occasion, with help of dartfish, and compare the main technique elements watching you vs. a pro with sort of a textbook element of a technique, so a swimmer can visualize the correction they may be aiming for. Even after that, when they get their basic skills in the 'textbook ballpark' then a coach begins to watch you and help you adjust the technique to fit your body style and physical ability.
Especially in masters, giving consideration to one;s physical ability is very important, since unlike with kids swimming, there is much more emphasis on injury prevention.
