My Swim Video

I'm in San Angelo, very close to Abliene. Graduated from Central High in 1980. I grew up in Midland, graduated from Midland High in 1987. Still swim there when I go home to visit my parents. Nice to see some West Texans around these parts.

Thanks for the feed back, keep it coming. I agree I do have a bad habit of looking up, trying to break it. And I do sometimes lift my head when aproaching the wall. I think it's because I want to make sure I'm not not close or to far away. Very bad eye sight, I don't wear my contacts swimming because I can't afford to loose them. This evening I worked on keeping my head down, using more of the lane markers to help me judge wall distance, and only looking forward with my eyes not raising my head when coming into the wall. And trying to remember to keep my arms streched out. I think it's just little tweeks. But those tweeks can also make or break you. After 6 months of practice I have my first meet next Thursday. I'm excited and scared. My old HS coach is hosting a Alumni meet, it's just for fun, so I figure why not. He's even letting me come in this week to work on starts etc. I think that's so cool, because the 'Y' doesn't let us dive. - Although you can if the right lifegaurd is working : ) I've tried getting my stroke count down, - question - is that possible at 5' 3"

Yes you can get your SPL lower by exteding a little more on the catch and by going further underwater on the turn. Given how strong your stroke looks I think 15-16 SPL is reasonable,maybe even fewer. Good Luck at the meet. That stroke looked so nice, I think she can does fewer SPL too. Way to go Concho Pearl, and training all on your own.! :applaud: But I think scy frestyler said that SPL ain't everything. There is SR too. Should your feet be a smidgeon further apart when you hit the wall on your flip turn? I may have to watch the video again. You are very brave to post a video. Commendable! Keep up the nice work.

Hi San Angelo, it's ex-Abilene here. I know I didn't comment too much on your video except to say that you do swim smoothly and we all know this is a very good thing. Stroke per length can usually be reduced to a point and I would shoot for that some. I do think your right arm crosses centerline slightly as it is going from the recovery to the pull portion. And I also didn't see any bubbles coming from your hands which is a very good thing. The turn thing can get tricky. When I was learning where exactly to start the turn, both swimming slow and faster, I also lifted my head slightly "to look" just to make "certain." But after learning this, now my last pulldown stroke with both arms at my side are before the Cross at the end of the pool. I glide for a mili-second and commit to the turn. You may actually be turning too close to the wall and need to start it just a tad earlier. Nothing any worse than turning too short and your thighs are scratching your nose!!! Except to miss it entirely but I think more people are too close to the wall than far away from it. But do streamline more off the turn, it will help. Many great suggestions here from many people. Donna

video.google.com/videoplay Somehow Google restricts my access to your video from my country. I really wish I could see it so I can learn something. Anyway, nice job!

I've tried getting my stroke count down, - question - is that possible at 5' 3" Good luck at your meet! Meets are fun. Speaking as one who is 5'4," you could get your stroke count down maybe a little bit, but it looks pretty good to me. You'll need more than a 2 beat kick for that though. Plus, shorter folks tend to have higher SRs. Nothing wrong with that. Ideally, you want to keep your SR constant while working on increasing your SPL. Muppet's right, there's another thread on this. Muppet: I've seen that freestyle of yours. It's quite pretty. Nice SPL!:applaud: Now, I've never seen your fly or butterfrog, so feel free to provide us with some video coverage.

I've tried getting my stroke count down, - question - is that possible at 5' 3" Nice idea for a post, btw! I like the video idea! The "Stroke Rate vs Stroke Length" thread is getting some hits about that. You've got a nice-looking stroke that I wouldn't mess around with all that much if I were you. But you may be able to knock out a stroke or two just by trying to reach out a tad more and working on a strong kick. If you really want to drop your stroke count, you can do massive amounts of ketchup free, the drill where you hold each armstroke out in front of you for 3 seconds the drill where you try to swim a length with as few strokes as possible :2cents: