The other day when I read the thread of FREESTYLE STROKE I found many technique terms of swimming, like catch water, anchor your hand, etc. Or shall I say a lot of swimming physics or principles?
Could someone recommend some onlie free articles about this swimming physics? I am a new swimmer.
Thanks a lot.
There was a great article in the ASCA magazine about lift vs drag propulsion a few months ago(I wish I was organized enough to say which one.) The point I got from it was that human swimming motions were way too complicated to be modeled as drag or lift. They probably included both,but we lacked the studies to say for sure. The way free is being taught now seems to accentuate drag forces. Breaststroke seems to be even harder to quantify than free as the pull and kick have more of a circular component,though some coaches are emphasising that less and less.
I had a friend who was a hydro worker who was burnt very badly he touched live wires with his hands. He lost one arm to the elbow and three fingers on his other hand.
He could no longer sprint or play waterpolo but he could surely swim front crawl. He would train with my brother Tom who was one of the top marathon swimmers in the world. He could knock off a lot of miles in around 25 mins and was a wonderful swimmer. I can not imagine the physics he applied. He truly had a feel for the water.
It is better to debate a question without settling it, than settle a question without debating it. From the article below.
Everything is so mixed up and we stiil do not know what happens sportsci.org/.../skeptic.html Who is 100 percent right.
Very interesting! But that adds difficulites to my practise since I now do not know what is right and what is not. Maybe I should try to "feel the water"? But is there any sign showing that I do FEEL the water?
When your time per length begins to drop and the amount of strokes you're taking is staying the same or begins to lower, your feel for the water is improving. Keep working on improving your EVF.
Very interesting! But that adds difficulites to my practise since I now do not know what is right and what is not. Maybe I should try to "feel the water"? But is there any sign showing that I do FEEL the water?
As a guy who's always had trouble with swimming at a competitive level, i've looked into the physics alot.
Through trial and error over the years i've found that your natural bouyancy makes the biggest difference to how fast you are going to be able to swim.
Consider this, two boats, one's water line sits 20cm under the water, the others sits at 50cm. Obviously, the one sitting at 20cm is going to be using less power to move through the water.
A good test is to go to the deep end of the pool, put your hands by your side and try stand vertically. If you have a positive bouyancy, and thus alot of swimming potential, you should settle with at least part of your head above the water. If you are like me, and have a negative bouyancy, you will end up falling to the bottom like a rock. (In fact i'm so bad I can take a semi deep breath, lay horizontally with my arms wide open and still sink to the bottom).
Someone told me that Ian Thorpe's coach gets swimmers to do this and tell them straight away whether they should swim or not.
If your body naturally wants to sink in the water, its very hard to hold an effective technique because of the compensation required to keep yourself afloat.
I'm normally a 20-21min 1500m (1.20-1.23 pace) swimmer in the pool. Put on a wetsuit and add extra bouyancy and i'm 17-18min swimmer (1.08-1.12's).
The sad thing is for the people like me out there, is unless you want to be a triathlete (thus wear wetsuits all the time!), is that there's not much you can do about it (except put lots of fat on, which floats), no matter how fit you get, and how much you change your technique and balance, you'll always be at a major disadvantage to those who can skim across the water.
There is a problem with your reasoning about buoyancy. First most good sprinters and breaststrokers will sink if not swimming. Second,as you go faster swimming at the surface you will automatically rise in the water as you go faster than your bow wave. At slower speeds buoyancy helps,but not really at faster speeds.
There is a problem with your reasoning about buoyancy. First most good sprinters and breaststrokers will sink if not swimming. Second,as you go faster swimming at the surface you will automatically rise in the water as you go faster than your bow wave. At slower speeds buoyancy helps,but not really at faster speeds.
Yea I'd agree with this. There were huge variances in the longer duration swim times, but my 50fr time remained pretty much the same.
This discussion of bouyancy is interesting. My family has all done this test and my wife and daughter float like corks horizontally on the surface. My son & I sink to a vertical position. I must have neutral bouyancy as I will stabilize with the top of my head just below the surface.
But we do remind them that they will always have to be far more mindful of balance skills than more buoyant swimmers.
I have noticed that if I don't concentrate on my body position all the time I will end up swimming with my hips down.
BTW My wife and daughter swim distance and my son & I are sprinters.
