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?
Parents
Former Member
Originally posted by gull80
There are two different arguments here. I don't think anyone questions the value of TI-like drills for the novice swimmer who needs to develop technique. The more interesting argument concerns the competitive Masters swimmer who has a limited amount of time to train. Granted, swimmers at even the elite level work on technique, but what proportion of their workout is comprised of drills? And why are the words "mindless" and "yardage" always linked on this forum? A set of 10x100s @ En2 or En3 pace has a purpose.
The words "mindless" and "yardage" aren't always linked in this forum. If you'll reread my post, you'll find that I also talked about "mindful yardage". It's a choice, and it makes a difference which one you pick.
I agree that the percentage of time a swimmer should spend on drills depends on whether he or she is novice or elite or somewhere in between. But, as I also noted in my previous post, drills are not the only type of mindful swimming. Even if a relatively small percentage of your practice time is being spent on drills, all of your practice time should be spent swimming mindfully.
Bob
Originally posted by gull80
There are two different arguments here. I don't think anyone questions the value of TI-like drills for the novice swimmer who needs to develop technique. The more interesting argument concerns the competitive Masters swimmer who has a limited amount of time to train. Granted, swimmers at even the elite level work on technique, but what proportion of their workout is comprised of drills? And why are the words "mindless" and "yardage" always linked on this forum? A set of 10x100s @ En2 or En3 pace has a purpose.
The words "mindless" and "yardage" aren't always linked in this forum. If you'll reread my post, you'll find that I also talked about "mindful yardage". It's a choice, and it makes a difference which one you pick.
I agree that the percentage of time a swimmer should spend on drills depends on whether he or she is novice or elite or somewhere in between. But, as I also noted in my previous post, drills are not the only type of mindful swimming. Even if a relatively small percentage of your practice time is being spent on drills, all of your practice time should be spent swimming mindfully.
Bob
