Freestyle stroke question

Kick boards are evil! also try one arm stroke drills.

Make changes but do the changes slowly. No rush to get there to over correct can be very bad. The one guy I have been helping has dropped 8 min in the mile, 40 seconds in the 100 all with very minor changes. He took 6 months to do this.

I'm disappointed to hear that your Master's Coach does not want to help you change your stroke. Old habits die hard, but they can die. First, lose the kickboard and do the kick sets without on your side, nose pointed down. When you need to breath take a stroke and switch to the other side. Second, do more pull sets without kicking or only using a small 2-beat kick. Focus on the efficiency of your arms. When your arm enters the water, stretch it out all the way in front of you aoubt 3 inches under the water. Practice breathing bilaterally. One every three strokes, every other side. It helps to keep the work load even for both arms and shoulders and will help with your stroke. Practice one thing at a time. For example, on Monday, focus only on fully extending your arm before you pull down. Then on Tuesday focus on something else. Practice, practice, practice. You can do it!!!

Thanks guys, MichiganHusker and Craigill, yah, I'll go along with the "kickboards are evil" idea. Lately I tend not to do kickboard sets on my own, just when I work out w/ the group and that's the going thing. I do drills on my own: catch-up, finger tip, bilateral breathing.... But the dreaded kick/roll thing... my attempts to do that are not for young children to view. ;) Of course, that doesn't stop me from doing them... I think of it as character building, altho I really am quite the character already. ;) Also, it makes me appreciate just plain freestyle all that much more! And if by some chance I could cut a nanosecond or three from my times, that would be lovely too.

Hello..... my name is John Smith. I've been a kickboardaholic for 37 years. In addition to this addiction I have been frequently seen using hand paddles and pull buoys during workout. I am a user and I am old. These toys make me feel more complete, and I can't seem to give them up. In addition they help keep me from whining during workout. My friends would prefer that I continue to stay hooked. John Smith

The average swimmer has so many faults it would be bad to try to correct all of your faults at one time. My first correction for crawlers is to make sure your shoulders touch your ears as the arm is recovering. Lets keep it simple.

Again, thanks, guys! Bud and Geochuck... the advice about keeping it simple is definitely welcome! And having some ONE thing to focus on sounds great. Bud, loved that parody about the hand entering the water first etc. etc. lol! Me, I'm no physics scholar, don't even play one on tv! And while swimming, I tend to not be too great with calculations (okay, I'll come clean... I'm not too great with calculations on land or anywhere else, but I won't go there...) I have noticed some odds 'n' ends: doing 25s where we start out hard and then ease off halfway and my time isn't radically different fr/ the ones where I push the whole way.... I also notice that my easy swimming times are getting better. Nothing that will result in Nike sponsorship, ha ha! But edging toward better. Next practice, I'll try a couple of those focus points--the elbow out first idea for some sets and Geochuck's point about shoulder touching ear for others, see which one seems to suit me more. I really enjoy the swimming--and paired with running, it's a totally winning combo! ... I do a hard workout in the pool on Thurs. and soon afterward, a track workout... When I first started to swim in a masters' group, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to manage both but I think the running and swimming feed each other and make me stronger.

Hi, I belive there is some truth in most of the statement. To keep the elbow high usually also makes it easier to rotate your body, which is good. But some manage to keep the elbow high, without rotating?! If you focus on kicking, the kick should start from the hip. But for me I just try to keep a steady kick. The only time I really push it is in the 50 or 100free. In most other distances there are other things to focus on first. And using a hard kick consumes a lot of energy and gives only a little extra speed. One thing that I often see is that many swimmers do not manage to keep the ankle streched and relaxed. With your foot pointing almost 45 degrees, it is hard to get something from the kick. If it splashes a lot that means that you kick "in the air" and should lower it a bit, probably you bend to much in the knees. I agree with most of the others - there is a difference between the kickbord kick and the kick while swimming. I had team mates in the 80's that could not kick at all (kick board), but during "regular" swimming it worked well. To change things takes time. But if you do not change things, how will you become better? Thats what swimming is all about - trying to improve. And when you change things things might feel a bit strange in the beginning. Good Luck! Jan

Good advice, and thanks Jan! And an update... At today's masters' practice, I put this question to the coach: "If you could get me to change ONE thing about my stroke to make it better, what would you change?" Actually his response was a combination of two things, combining what Geochuck and Bud said--elbow position and reach. We had a set of 4x100, first two hard, second two medium effort. (Bear in mind that the times I will mention are good... for me... I have no illusions here.) First two were both 2:05. I asked him the advice right after these two (was actually fairly pleased w/ these times, my goal being to get under 2 mins.). Then I focused on the advice (thought I was focusing before, but tried to increase my concentration even more on the points he mentioned). While my effort was easier in no. 3, the time was only one second slower, 2:06! I was really shocked what a difference such an adjustment could make. The next time slid up to 2:10... me getting tired of sustaining my hard won stroke improvement, maybe... but still, I've had slower times working a lot harder. Another observation: at the end of any swim workout, I usually go to the corner of a pool and do some "dips" (like those you might do in the gym only using the sides of the pool instead). But when I finished the "warmdown," I couldn't even think of lifting myself as I'd done after other workouts. Nothing left in the arms. (Gave it a moment's rest, though, and then succeeded.) I guess my arms and shoulders have to get used to that movement/reach. Also maybe abs need work.

Keep in mind that you will only get immediate improvement on advice if there was a big problem being fixed. If it is a subtle problem, you will have to wait for the long term to see the benefits. Think of this as the learning curve. If it is an inefficient stroke, the top speed will be limited, but you will be near that limit since you have been doing it a long time. A change to a better stroke will give you a faster possible top speed, but now you are back at the top of the learning curve. You may be slower in the short term, as you are building up muscle memory again.