Help with sprinting strategy

Leonard. Racewalking? The only sport where if you pass wind you'll be disqualified for missing a stride...

World class sprinters and wanting to become faster are, of course, two different things. But, if you want to get faster quicker, here are some suggestions. #1 - Increase ankle flexibility by forcing pressure on the tendons of the ankles. Placing a rolled-up towel on the floor and then putting the top of your feet on the towel, then sitting on your heels is a great flexibility increaser. You could also pull on your ankles with your hands, another simple exercise. The point of course is, - Ankles that aren't flexible are a hinderance to speed. # 2 - Improve your catch or Early Vertical Forearm. There are a lot of videos swimdownhill.com/.../page3.html that show great swimmers and many of the fundamentals and nuances that make them great. Watch them and try to emulate them. #3 - Use isometric or static exercises that help improve the shoulder strength that allows the forearm and elbow to stay in that EVF position. Great sprinters have great should adductors. #4 - Improve the soleus or the muscle behind the gastrocnemius (calf muscle) this muscle helps you jump and get off the block and the wall with more speed and distance. Good luck!

Leonard. Racewalking? The only sport where if you pass wind you'll be disqualified for missing a stride... Don't start - people have died for less. Besides, is racewalking any stranger than butterfly, breaststroke or backstoke? Be careful, my employer currently is expanding to put all of Canada under our cruel and merciless data analysis grip. I will own you soon. -LBJ

Solar, Tell me how you can see the flash outdoors, you would have to have your head turned in a very uncomfortable position. Agreed, at least I think ... I donno. 99.9% of competitions in our province are held indoor. We've had a decent outdoor pool since 2005. We held the Worlds in here. Our local pool is in the region of Quebec. And that's the best pool in the region, and by far. 50mx8 lanes. And the flash is so intense you don't have to worry. You can't really miss it. We have a good knowledge of the other pools as well (nation wide).

Heck yes, racewalking is stranger. I love watching the Olympics where the ferret-faced judges finally swoop in with literally steps to go and majestically disqualify these tortured individuals for doing the same stuff they have been doing the whole race. Brilliant absurdist comedy; if Samuel Beckett had seen racewalking, he would have felt no need to write Waiting For Godot.

I think Terry has some very good points about strength in that he distinguishes between water strength and weight room strength......especially when comparing short course to long course. Speaking only for myself, I find that when I decide to be a sprinter (about every 3-4 years simply to piss John off) and focus on the 50/100 the increase in power from lifting hard and focused sprint trainiong at the pool I see major differences: 2003 (focus on 200/500, minimal weights, mid distance swimming) 50 free:21.96 100 free:47.05 200 free: 1:43.37 500 free: 4:48.06 50 fly: 23.07 100 fly: 51.56 2004 (50/100 focus, lots of emphasis on weights and sprint work) 50 free: 20.95 100 free: 45.95 200 free: 1:45+ (unrested) 500 free: skipped 50 fly:23.62 (unrested) 100 fly: 50.26 2005 (mid distance training, no weights, shoulder problems leading to surgery in Oct) 50 free:21.78 100 free:47.76 200 free: 1:45.93 50 fly: 23.37 100 fly: 51.53 2006 (focus on 50's for worlds, back to heavy emphasis on weights/speed work) 50m free: 24.2 50m fly 25.9 So for me its pretty clear that the change in training has an effect and feel the difference big time of lifting in the pool. To Terry';s point on short course/long course....I did stop lifting for worlds 6 weeks out and felt the change in stroke length/count.

Leslie, actually the shoulder problems came about from a combination of longer yardage plus weights.....I switched trianing focus partly beacuse I couldn't lift (and din't want John's ego crushed anymore for at least another year or two). I should also emphasis that I don't lift "heavy" per se, rather I use a combination of plyo's and fast training circuit work that I first saw the ASU team using 3 years ago (Nick Brunelli's success with it was my motivation)....yoga is also a critical part of my training... PS: The evil-goodsmith is NOT related to me, unless by chance my parents put him up for adoption at birth...which may have been the case when they saw how puny he was! :rofl:

World class sprinters and wanting to become faster are, of course, two different things. But, if you want to get faster quicker, here are some suggestions. #1 - Increase ankle flexibility by forcing pressure on the tendons of the ankles. Placing a rolled-up towel on the floor and then putting the top of your feet on the towel, then sitting on your heels is a great flexibility increaser. You could also pull on your ankles with your hands, another simple exercise. The point of course is, - Ankles that aren't flexible are a hinderance to speed. # 2 - Improve your catch or Early Vertical Forearm. There are a lot of videos swimdownhill.com/.../page3.html that show great swimmers and many of the fundamentals and nuances that make them great. Watch them and try to emulate them. #3 - Use isometric or static exercises that help improve the shoulder strength that allows the forearm and elbow to stay in that EVF position. Great sprinters have great should adductors. #4 - Improve the soleus or the muscle behind the gastrocnemius (calf muscle) this muscle helps you jump and get off the block and the wall with more speed and distance. Good luck! #1 aint going to do jack #2 is good because technique is a key factor in spriting #3 and #4- you have to lift to be an athlete and if you dont know what I mean go to theraceclub.net and read some of the stuff by coach jake.

...better to use plyometrics.... I found this site a few moths ago and find it interesting www.readysetgofitness.com/.../11_muscle_fiber_types.html Cool read. This bit really got my attention: “Researchers show that anaerobic exercise (short, quick-burst, get you winded fast) is the type of fitness training that increases exercise-induced growth hormone. And growth hormone is, without question, the most powerful body fat-reducing, muscle-toning, anti-aging, and anti-middle-aging agent known in science.” I had to google “plyometrics”... and got this: “In recent years this distinct method of training for power or explosiveness has been termed plyometrics. Whatever the origins of the word the term is used to describe the method of training which seeks to enhance the explosive reaction of the individual through powerful muscular contractions as a result of rapid eccentric contractions.” I have never really focused on sprint activity because it seemed out of my reach, but I guess I should rethink this. A few months ago I added a segment to my practice of doing as many 50 fly as I could do in 15min. Then it was 6 or 7. Now it is 8 or 9. I guess that qualifies as sprint activity, but (as always) I usually wait till I’m not gasping for breath and my heart rate is something less than that of a rabbit pursued by a fox. Timed intervals would probably be better based on what I see and hear, but I prefer to simply listen to my body.

Evil one.....on a serious note (I know...hard to believe)...you and I have talked about this at length and one thing we both agree on is part of the reason we are swimming the times that we are as masters is the substanial increase in strength we both had vs. in college. In my case I'm 30lbs heavier (although 15 of that is fat)....but I never lifted in high school and was so over trained and broken down in college couldn't put on weight/muscle. Taking a dozen years off and playing volleybal, skiing, tennis, climbing, kayaking.....and eating all lead to a pretty big inrease in strength. PS: when are we going to drag Frenchy la Geek behind the woodshed and beat the crap out of him....we should have had Rowdy do it when he was down there!