Just curious, does anyone use swimming devices during practice? Besides the standard kick board or pull buoy and paddles? When I work out with the Senior group on my USS team we always warm up with the snorkle. Usually consists of 8x100's on 1:20 then we follow up warm up with a set with snorkle.
I just started using the snorkle a month ago and find it somewhat difficult to use, although I am getting used to it. I have to fight the urge to want to turn my head and breath and doing flip turns can be a challenge especially if I am winded. There have been a few times I have had to stop due to choking on water. That being said, the snorkle does work on on proper head position in the water. Another device we use is the tempo trainer. I really like this device because it works on the arm speed and gets the muscle turnover burned into memory when swimming without tempo trainer.
Greg
In case anyone's wondering about the new username, something went amiss yesterday and I could not log in with my former username, Totalswimm, no matter what I tried. A note on my new username:
Kaizen is a Japanese term meaning Continuous Improvement, which I first heard in the early 80s. Initially popularized in the US in the 1960s by quality control expert W. Edwards Deming to describe how Japanese companies employed statistical analysis to make manufacturing processes more efficient. I like the optimism it conveys for an aging swimmer.
Terry:
When I first saw that name it made me think of a book that I read over 20 years ago called "Out of Crisis" Dr. W. Edwards Deming who was a man way ahead of his time. I remember his 14 points and 7 deadly diseases that I had to study to get certified in Design of Experiments. I will provide a link so people can see what this guy provided to American industry when first applied in Japan.
en.wikipedia.org/.../W._Edwards_Deming
George:
Maybe you can think up a new user name for me if you're not giving yourself a new one? I shouldn't have just put "Leslie." Way too boring. Kamikaze would definitely have been the wrong choice for Terry.
I may try fist gloves.
Leslie
I love the snorkle especially for warm up,warm down,and kicking. It helps with head position and I also find my shoulders hurt less when I use it. It is the only tool I use(except I had a coach who said starting blocks were tools and should be used regularly.)
Greg:
I'm tried the snorkle. We call it the "dorkle" because you look utterly idiotic when you put it on your head. :joker: I've had a difficult time with it the few times I've used it, especially on flip turns, so now it's sitting in my closet. But I'm told, by some college swimmers that use them regularly, that I should keep trying because they're good to train with --you can focus on head position and your stroke without worrying about the breathing. They told me that it took them about two weeks to get the hang of it and a month to become super proficient with it.
What is a tempo trainer?
Leslie
Greg,
I have almost no background in competitive swimming, but one summer in college I managed at a pool and swam with the training group that practiced there in the mornings. The coach had rigged up an underwater speaker with a metronome attached and used it to pace our strokes. I'm thinking maybe this is what your tempo trainer is like? Anyways, he would set the pace usually between 0.7 - 1.0 sec. 1.0 sec would mean one arm pull every beat in freestyle - which is a pretty smooth tempo. 0.7 was close to a sprint. It must have looked pretty cool from the deck to see a bunch of swimmers all pulling perfectly in synch.
In case anyone's wondering about the new username, something went amiss yesterday and I could not log in with my former username, Totalswimm, no matter what I tried. A note on my new username:
Kaizen is a Japanese term meaning Continuous Improvement, which I first heard in the early 80s. Initially popularized in the US in the 1960s by quality control expert W. Edwards Deming to describe how Japanese companies employed statistical analysis to make manufacturing processes more efficient. I like the optimism it conveys for an aging swimmer.
I like that name better than Kamikaze Swimmer, well picked new name.
Leslie
My daughters name is Linda and Abou Heif said her name in Arabic ment beautifulone. Leslie in Chinese is 萊斯利 Well then Japanese レズ it looks simple.
Or Russian Лесли
In the past month, I started using Techpaddles. They build muscle memory for Early Vertical Forearm, which is something I need to work on. It seems to be a slow process to make the change, but I think it's worth it. My coach says she has seen a change in the better in my form, so I will continue them.
JIM
