What do YOU need to do to have a major swimming breakthrough?"
I started this thread over in the work outs section which I think doesn't get as much traffic as the general discussion board
so here's the link
forums.usms.org/showthread.php
but my point is,
No matter what, the time between right now and your focus meet is going to pass, and the things you do to prepare for your meet is of the UTMOST importance.
the choices you make
the chances you take
swim hard in practice
rehearse racing
I want to read your story about your breakthrough.
Decide it starts today
that this season will be your best season EVER
What do you need to do to make this true?
Ande
Hi Ande, thanks for your advice. I got both your replies. I decided to reply here as you indicated this was the thread you checked most often.
You are quite right: I need to do some weight training. I do no dryland exercises at all. In fact I don't even warm up. The most I will do is lazily flick my arm so that my bicep makes a slapping sound against my chest, touch my toes and dive into the pool. I do always do a 500m warm up and I have never had any problems with pulled muscles or the like. I shall search this forum for some dryland exercises to do.
I shall invest in a fastskin suit when I find a meet to compete in. Finding the meet in Taiwan is probably going to be the more challenging of the two tasks.
My main problem area is my kick. So poor is my kick that it takes me 60 seconds to kick 50m in a 25m pool (and that is with the advantage of the turn). In fact I am not even sure whether I should be kicking from the hip or from the knee. My legs just seem to go up and down and I hardly move forward. Kicking with a board raises my head and chest, makes my waist drop and causes more resistance.
I should have mentioned that I swim 15 - 19 strokes per length in a 25m pool. 15 if I am really concentrating and manage 4 SDK's off the wall and 19 if everything is going to pieces. I probably average out somewhere at about 17. I have no idea what my stroke count is when I am sprinting because I am too busy thinking about other things to count my stroke.
The other area I need to improve on is my turns. However, I have already found some good advice on this forum about turns and I now stroke through the turn instead of just gliding in with both arms at my side. I also now turn completely before twisting onto my stomach. This has helped in more ways than one. Not only are my turns faster but this method has the added advantage of helping me launch off the wall at a lower depth and thus allowing me to do more SDK's than I could previously. (Previously I would tend to pop up too quickly and, at best, I could manage two SDK's).
Thanks for your advice and encouragement Ande.
Sincerely Syd
Hi Ande, thanks for your advice. I got both your replies. I decided to reply here as you indicated this was the thread you checked most often.
You are quite right: I need to do some weight training. I do no dryland exercises at all. In fact I don't even warm up. The most I will do is lazily flick my arm so that my bicep makes a slapping sound against my chest, touch my toes and dive into the pool. I do always do a 500m warm up and I have never had any problems with pulled muscles or the like. I shall search this forum for some dryland exercises to do.
I shall invest in a fastskin suit when I find a meet to compete in. Finding the meet in Taiwan is probably going to be the more challenging of the two tasks.
My main problem area is my kick. So poor is my kick that it takes me 60 seconds to kick 50m in a 25m pool (and that is with the advantage of the turn). In fact I am not even sure whether I should be kicking from the hip or from the knee. My legs just seem to go up and down and I hardly move forward. Kicking with a board raises my head and chest, makes my waist drop and causes more resistance.
I should have mentioned that I swim 15 - 19 strokes per length in a 25m pool. 15 if I am really concentrating and manage 4 SDK's off the wall and 19 if everything is going to pieces. I probably average out somewhere at about 17. I have no idea what my stroke count is when I am sprinting because I am too busy thinking about other things to count my stroke.
The other area I need to improve on is my turns. However, I have already found some good advice on this forum about turns and I now stroke through the turn instead of just gliding in with both arms at my side. I also now turn completely before twisting onto my stomach. This has helped in more ways than one. Not only are my turns faster but this method has the added advantage of helping me launch off the wall at a lower depth and thus allowing me to do more SDK's than I could previously. (Previously I would tend to pop up too quickly and, at best, I could manage two SDK's).
Thanks for your advice and encouragement Ande.
Sincerely Syd
