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?
I totally agree with Bob. You can get training effect and technique improvement from mindful yardage. Strength,endurance,and technique are all important,but technique will get you faster,faster. That is just as true for the elite swimmer as the novice. Thats why they spend so much time on video taping. I am one of the better breaststrokers in my age group,but last year a coach had me REALLY working on streamlining after the kick.(I thought I was before,but I was wrong.) This dropped my stroke count one stroke per 25 at the same speed. If I take 78 strokes for a 200 LCM and you take 110 you'll have to be in much better shape to beat me. Also in distances up to 200 M,explosive strength is at least as important as endurance. You don't build explosive strength with long swims, you build it with weights and (mindful) sprinting.
I totally agree with Bob. You can get training effect and technique improvement from mindful yardage. Strength,endurance,and technique are all important,but technique will get you faster,faster. That is just as true for the elite swimmer as the novice. Thats why they spend so much time on video taping. I am one of the better breaststrokers in my age group,but last year a coach had me REALLY working on streamlining after the kick.(I thought I was before,but I was wrong.) This dropped my stroke count one stroke per 25 at the same speed. If I take 78 strokes for a 200 LCM and you take 110 you'll have to be in much better shape to beat me. Also in distances up to 200 M,explosive strength is at least as important as endurance. You don't build explosive strength with long swims, you build it with weights and (mindful) sprinting.
