Joining a Masters Program

RE: Joining a Masters Program

Former Member — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 16:15:36 GMT

Hi Tory! You've offered me some great advice on my weight issues, now I'll try to offer you some swimming advice... :) Is there any way that you can do BOTH a "stroke and turn" clinic as well as the masters practices? I would look into both programs and see how often they run and if there are any certain requirements. Maybe you could do the stroke clinic one night a week and practice with the team 2 nights a week, or whatever you see fit. That way, you could let yourself review what you learned in the practices. My opinion is that you concentrate on your stroke, especially if you feel it is that sloppy. Reason being is, once you develop your stroke, it can be hard to break certain patterns. I've been a long time competitive swimmer and I found that its difficult to break bad stroke habits the longer you let yourself continue to swim that way. Up until I was 12, I was swimming butterfly with only a single kick. It took me almost a year to incorporate a double kick, and when I did, my times improved significantly. It seems like your concern is swimming more efficiently and faster in the water. Correcting your stroke will definitely help you with this. If your timing is off and if you are doing your kick wrong, you are most likely hindering your ability to move faster in the water. I guarantee once you work on your stroke/turn techniques, you will see big improvements!!

RE: Joining a Masters Program

Former Member — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 08:22:33 GMT

I had night two of the swim clinic section of my triathlon training Wednesday night. Today I swam and did 200, then 100 on each of four drills (with 100 in between trying to incorporate the skill into the regular swim). I figured I'd be able to do about 75% of what normally do in the time I had, but actually ended up doing my normal swim with drills and rests. (On days I just swim, I generally don't take rests, since I'm training for an endurance event.) Obvoiusly the drills were helping me move more water. I could also "feel" the difference in each stroke. It was akward and my body kept wanting to go back to what was comfortable, but I felt really pumped when I left the pool. (Until I discovered someone had walked off with my hair stuff and had to spend the rest of the day in bad hair hell...but that's a story for another time.) I think I'll find a good stroke clinic first and then research the Masters team. Thanks for the input everyone!

RE: Joining a Masters Program

Former Member — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 13:47:04 GMT

Our Masters program incorporates a lot of stroke work for the people who need it and less for the ones with good technique. If there are several Masters programs in your area, shop around. Coaching quality also varies. We are fortunate to have a coach who has experience as an elite competitor at the NCAA and national level, was a top caliber Masters competitor, and has years of coaching all levels of swimmers. See if you can get a local swim coach to work with you for some one-on-one or semi-private lessons. That is better than having an instructor with no competitive or coaching background. If you have a videocamera try to get somebody to film you so you can see with your own eyes. It helps if you have reference footage of what it's supposed to look like. I find that sometimes the most obvious stroke fault is a symptom of something else that is wrong but less obvious. Example - insufficient body roll can cause a wide arm recovery which can cause a foot to kick out or the other arm to scull out wide as counterbalance. The solution for that problem is not to focus on narrowing the kick but to roll more appropriately and fix the wide arm recovery. Our sport is full of opportunities for you to analyze and figure out how to improve your technique and go faster, which helps keep things interesting while you're going up and down the black line.

RE: Joining a Masters Program

Former Member — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 12:02:35 GMT

Depends on the Masters program. Ours is uncoached so there would be no opportunity for stroke help. The lanes are crowded so you really have to be able to make the workout. I would go watch and see if you think you can MAKE the workout (or close) in the slowest lane, and see how crowded it is. Talk to the coach and tell him/her your situation and see if you could fit in. If there is plenty of room and the paces vary to your level, it's probably a great opportunity for you. If the paces are FAST and the workout crowded, I don't think it's the right thing and this time, and I'd lean toward a stroke clinic in that case.

RE: Joining a Masters Program

fatboy — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 10:27:13 GMT

Tory, Congratulations on the weight loss! Most teams in our area will let new swimmers come and try out one or two workouts to see if the team is a good fit. Maybe the team or teams in your area do the same. Talk to the coach of each team and see what they recommend. Again, great job changing your lifestyle and losing the weight.

RE: Joining a Masters Program

Former Member — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 10:15:27 GMT

join the masters program and ask for help. my personal experience is they will leave your stroke alone unless you ask. that does not mean they dont want to help because if they dont you wont come back so just ask and have fun