The first loss of a master is memory, the second...I forgot. I probably have already asked this question, but here goes:
Does anyone bring their arm straight down and out after the grab? I am talking no sculling, no lateral movement, just bringing the arm straight parallel with the line maintaining the elbow high position. This would be to avoid crossing the midline with your forearm. Even though I breathe on the left, I still rotate fully to the right (a learned and trained and voluntary movement), but even so my right forearm tends to the middle, while my left arm has less pull and is erractic. When I learned the crawl it was from watching Tarzan movies, later when I was 16 and in a USA high school they taught the S shaped movement or the straight down and back. In those days the breathing was to one side. Last question: aside from timing both methods, what are your preferences on the long dolphin versus "less dolphin" emerging sooner method of starts and turns on a 50 meter short course freestyle race? Thanks, billy fanstone
Former Member
i agree with george. i like sculling. it is fun. i really can feel the water.
Seeing those big hairy legs barely peeping out of the water while oncle they drink the pint by the nose :D
I donno, I never get tired :D
At least fun for the coach :D
Just wondered were all your masters male???
You've caught me out. I have no idea what my distance per stroke is. I will count sometime in the next couple days in a 25 yard pool. But I would say that I am on the high turnover end of things (although I'm pretty strong too). So I probably could benefit. Everyone on my team seems to do this sculling thing on their back, feet first, with their hands sculling above their head with a pull buoy. Does that help distance per stroke.
Solar Energy:
OK, I can eat sauce.
I counted tonight at practice. I'm usually 12 per 25 yards with a flip (13 with a finish) on free. But I'm also only 5'4". Is that really awful? Will I be eating a lot of sauce?
Do you like to eat?
My husband says that's all I do. :banana: It also irritates him that I refuse to eat anything that says "fat free" on it. :thhbbb: Then sculling is a good tasting sauce that you may eat, instead of one that you'd have to cook :agree:
I agree. No sculling drills for me. I think sculling is a big myth of the swimming world. Everyone says it helps your "feel" for the water and that it's "so good" for you. I don't get it. I don't "feel" it. It just annoys me to do it. Then with all due respect, this drill's exactly for you.
Which drill, Solar Energy? Sculling? Forward? Backward? What exactly does it help with? The catch? The pull? I like drills usually, I'm just never sure what I'm really accomplishing when I'm sculling other than having a nice little break. Any sculling will help, those that are more specific to the part of the stroke you want to improve are likely to help even more.
I may be wrong in my diagnostic too. Would you mind telling me how many stroke per 25m you hold in normal moderate pace training?
Because sculling is a drill that improves distance per stroke mainly. If you're already well served in this department then you might not need sculling.
I don't. Because my dps (distance per stroke) is already optimal. Though I'm not a fast swimmers because of talent limitations, I feel the water as thick as if it was maple sirup (doesn't taste as good though :eek: )
But here. If you don't mind me using myself as an example. I am a poor backstroke swimmer. I do hate this stroke. I don't feel this stroke. And can't even coach it to the same level I can coach butterfly or freestyle. If I wanted to learn backstroke, I would have to work on my feeling of water. Patching the leaks (and there are many).
You've caught me out. I have no idea what my distance per stroke is. I will count sometime in the next couple days in a 25 yard pool. But I would say that I am on the high turnover end of things (although I'm pretty strong too). So I probably could benefit. Everyone on my team seems to do this sculling thing on their back, feet first, with their hands sculling above their head with a pull buoy. Does that help distance per stroke. Yes I think it does (although it's not my favorite). It's a fast one, but I donno. It's not very specific. But yes you'll see many swimmers picking this one because of the speed they're able to reach.
I evolved as a coach in a very "rich" environment. Our team counted around 60-80 young kids (forming a school basically), 30 young age groupers (11-15yo) swimming in the afternoon going to school in the morning only, 30-40Universtitary level elite swimmers (3rd best team in Canada after BC and Calgary), around 10-20 elite international level swimmers, and around 5 groups of master swimmers. Add around 15-20 triathlete, half of which performed at elite level (state or provincial) with 3-5 doing well at a higher level, and 4-6 long distance swimmers all performing in world cup circuit. And add all swimming classes to general public (swimming 1,2,3,4).
The one drill that is shared by all these groups with no exception : scullings.
