Swimming Myths

RE: Swimming Myths

Former Member — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 16:57:15 GMT

Try this for floating on your back. My wife showed me this, because I have always had sagging legs floating on my back. Put your arms straight alongside your ears with the palms up. Then bend the wrists so that the hands are pointing to the sky (ceiling). I have no idea why this works (the physics doesn't seem to fit) but my feet immediately come to the surface and I can float on my back for long periods this way. Let me know if this works for anyone else. It generally works for everybody. In a normal standing position the center of mass for your body (usually in your abdominal/hip area) is different than your center of buoyancy (usually in your chest/lung area). The center of mass is always below the center of buoyancy (think of a hot air balloon). Your center of mass changes depending on the position of body parts (especially the arms), and the center of buoyancy changes in relation to body position (standing vs. prone). The easiest way to float is to bring the two center points of mass and buoyancy closer together. By extending your arms straight behind/over/in-front-of your head when floating you are changing the balance point in relation to your center of buoyancy, shifting more mass above the buoyancy point, which helps to pull your legs up. (Yes, the fulcrum thingy.) Flexing your wrists and pointing the fingers to the sky, while bending the knees, further shifts the center of mass. This usually allows the bulk of the body to be kept more horizontal in the water, thus bringing the centers of buoyancy and mass that much closer together. This is the same principal that is behind “front quadrant swimming”. Which uses the arms to shift the balance point further forward as you move through the water, thus making it easier to maintain a more relaxed, streamlined position while swimming. Here are two articles by Coach Emmett Hines at the USMS site that i found exceptionally useful: Swimming in Circles (on "Front Quadrant Swimming") Of Gravity and Air (or Is Your Head Attached?) (on Mass and Buoyancy)

RE: Swimming Myths

Former Member — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 16:43:39 GMT

Unfortunately the myth about African Americans is not dead--I just heard it the other day from a swim instructor at our local YMCA. I corrected her. The fact of the matter is that there are more genetic differences between individuals of the same race than there are between races. The concept of race is not grounded in genetics

RE: Swimming Myths

Former Member — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 16:32:50 GMT

Truth or Myth? Someone told me the other day that Breaststrokers have bigger thighs then the other swimmers.

RE: Swimming Myths

Former Member — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 15:55:39 GMT

Myth: Inclusion of animated gif’s (dots, bananas, dead horses, etc) enhance the value of a discussion forum post.:2cents: Very funny Rob!

RE: Swimming Myths

Former Member — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 15:53:41 GMT

RE: Swimming Myths

Former Member — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 15:52:25 GMT

RE: Swimming Myths

Former Member — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 15:32:07 GMT

:banana: :laugh2: :joker: :blah: :blah: :blah: Have one on me :drink: :drink: :drink: :snore:

RE: Swimming Myths

Former Member — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 13:33:19 GMT

Myth - Pigs cannot swim they cut their own throats. I have seen a pig swim and of course many other animals can swim. Myth - I have also heard dogs can swim I was there when a marathon swimmer (he named it after Marvin Nelson a famous marathon swimmer) threw his dog a boxer dog in the water and it would have drowned if he did not go in to save it.

RE: Swimming Myths

Former Member — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 13:06:17 GMT

The kind of people best suited for swimming are human beings, with red blood flowing in their veins. So how do you account for Jim Borkowski? I'd also heard the body density myth. I didn't think anything of it either way. I guess preference and availability count for sporting choices more than ethnicity. Then again "white men can't jump" is BS too...individuals of all creeds and colours can do all sorts of things. There are not too many black ice-hockey players either (that I know of; please correct me if I'm wrong--I don't mean anything by it)...anyone have a myth for that? Athletes are athletes...

RE: Swimming Myths

Former Member — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 11:48:24 GMT

Lesson from this: you don't have to be African American to be dense. You don't have to be male either. I still can't float on my back without a little kick every so often.

RE: Swimming Myths

TRYM_Swimmer — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 11:47:44 GMT

RE: Swimming Myths

knelson — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 11:37:40 GMT

Myth: Rob Copeland is an old fuddy-duddy ;)

RE: Swimming Myths

Rob Copeland — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 11:24:04 GMT

Myth: Inclusion of animated gif’s (dots, bananas, dead horses, etc) enhance the value of a discussion forum post.:2cents:

RE: Swimming Myths

m2tall2 — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 08:57:45 GMT

Swimming won't make you lose weight (within a reasonable one hour a day training) is not a myth, however you look better even though your weight is the same. Gotta go run or lift weights to get some of the weight off. No, this is definitely a myth. I lost 35 pounds from swimming alone at about 30-45 minutes a day. You can't burn 700 calories in a workout and not loose weight. You can, however, have a big mac with fries afterward because you are extra hungry after swimming vs. other sports and completely negate the weight loss effects of the workout. Typically, an hour of swimming makes you ravenous, and hour of jogging does not. If you put back more than you burn, of course you don't loose weight. But that doesn't mean you can't loose weight swimming.

RE: Swimming Myths

ljlete — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 05:58:31 GMT

During the summer after my junior year in college and well into double digits of a pretty good swimming career, I went to the Boy Scout camp for the Worcester MA council as I was an assistant scoutmaster. When I went to get checked out at the beach so I could go swimming and use the boats, the ever helpful instructor did not want to give me the "swimmer" designation because I could not float on my back without a little bit of sculling yet I could have easily taken a few laps around the lake without any trouble. I finally convinced him and was able to be a "swimmer" during my stay. During college, the coach got on me for kicking my feet a little bit during breaststroke pulling without a pull buoy. I told him I had no choice. He would not hear of it. So I pulled a couple of laps grinding my toe nails on the bottom in the shallow end. He latter let me use a pull buoy. Lesson from this: you don't have to be African American to be dense (physically or mentally)! Leo

RE: Swimming Myths

Former Member — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 05:19:01 GMT

Truth or Myth? Someone told me the other day that Breaststrokers have bigger thighs then the other swimmers. Based on my experience I’d say truth. I believe it was earlier in this thread someone commented about their inner thighs not being all that developed. I think mine are pretty well developed and all I do is mostly swim (with some, but not a lot, of Yoga as well). It seems to me that when done correctly (ankles outside of knees) the whip kick uses a lot of inner thigh strength, but someone better versed on Kinesiology should know for sure. I do about as much breaststroke as the other three popular strokes. Now that I’ve given it some thought, it seems all the kicks use quite a bit of thigh power. In the past few years I’ve been doing a lot of dolphin kicks on my back too (to help with my fly practice), and in the last year or two I’ve noticed some rather amazing changes in my leg muscles (I’m seeing muscles in my legs now that I never knew I had!). As for those hot swimmer babes (broad shoulders and all), I like a healthy set of gams, so bring on the kick sets! :-D

RE: Swimming Myths

The Fortress — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 02:21:02 GMT

Based on my experience I’d say truth. I believe it was earlier in this thread someone commented about their inner thighs not being all that developed. I think mine are pretty well developed and all I do is mostly swim (with some, but not a lot, of Yoga as well). It seems to me that when done correctly (ankles outside of knees) the whip kick uses a lot of inner thigh strength, but someone better versed on Kinesiology should know for sure. I do about as much breaststroke as the other three popular strokes. Now that I’ve given it some thought, it seems all the kicks use quite a bit of thigh power. In the past few years I’ve been doing a lot of dolphin kicks on my back too (to help with my fly practice), and in the last year or two I’ve noticed some rather amazing changes in my leg muscles (I’m seeing muscles in my legs now that I never knew I had!). As for those hot swimmer babes (broad shoulders and all), I like a healthy set of gams, so bring on the kick sets! :-D This is not enough to make me convert to breaststroke! Although I'm happy to keep dolphin kicking for the gams and glutes. I agree that, very generally, Michigan Husker's observation on breaststroker thighs seems to be true, although, as always, there are many exceptions. Mini-Fort has pretty buff thighs and she's, sigh, a breaststroker. Although I keep reminding her to call herself a "swimmer."

RE: Swimming Myths

Former Member — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 15:46:12 GMT

The kind of people best suited for swimming are human beings, with red blood flowing in their veins.

RE: Swimming Myths

Former Member — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 15:01:14 GMT

Oh boy...here are some "myths"...: white men can't dunk. Whenever someone even infers that Africans from East Africa are better distance runners than the rest of the world, and that sprinters (okay, the first 10 best times ever in the 100 meter dash) that are Africans from West Africa, or descendants from the same are faster genetically, someone will rise up and raise hell. Of course, there are "freaks" within these statistics that will prove the statistics wrong, such as marathon record holder the white British girl, and a couple of americans and a brazilian african descent that are top swimmers. Yeah, and that guy from one of the Guyanas. BUT, this is a tricky and sensitive subject, I am out of here. And yet, show me the all star basketball team without Larry Bird and pot smoker what's his name (the movie guy) and how many non blacks do you have? I tried hard to make varsity at my high school, trained a lot, but I had was B-team material. That is my genetics...I was good here in the middle of Brazil, but mediocre in the middle of the Mid-South. Now I am back into the middle of Brazil and I am good again, because everyone else is so mediocre...billy fanstone.

RE: Swimming Myths

Former Member — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 14:39:18 GMT

I hate to say this but from my military training, there are issues with black swimmers. Blacks have a denser muscle structure which makes them (stereotipically) less bouyant. We know more bouyant is faster. That's not the issue. Its teaching to swim. Blacks have a harder time learning to swim because of this. Now let's add the other demographic issues: less access to swimming pools, no support for the sport, and probably parent that can't/don't swim. I now live in Atlanta, I recently went to a public pool. Everyone was having a great time, but almost every black child (up to and including teens) had swim aids! So, you take a harder than more entry to the sport, add a cultural differance, and no one to teach black children to swim; what outcome do you expect. Its sad, but its the outcome that drives the myth. The next time you think this is a myth, look around thepool deck and SEE who is there. This "myth" can be fixed. I happen to be a swim teacher in ATLANTA! I teach kids of all sizes, shapes and colors. (I teach a lot of *very* scared grown ups too) The African American kids do just fine! The "denser muscles is a myth. A lot of young people, particularly boys sink when they do a back float, but its across the board, not just African Americans.

RE: Swimming Myths

Former Member — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 14:32:21 GMT

RE: Swimming Myths

Former Member — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 13:50:34 GMT

For a number of reasons that one should have died a long time ago. The first national record I ever saw was in high school when Drew Brown, an African American, tied the National Prep School record for the 50 free in, I believe, 20.8 in 1969 or 1970. I don't remember which school he swam for (I suspect Deerfield, Exeter or Andover) but he did it in the Mt Herman pool. Leo That myth didn't die soon enough. Even though you knew swim champs in 1969 or 1970, my hubby was in military school in the mid seventies when he heard that little gem. His African American classmates where the ones telling him this and they obviously didn't follow swimming competitions, and they couldn't swim either!

RE: Swimming Myths

Former Member — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 11:45:08 GMT

RE: Swimming Myths

ljlete — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 09:26:39 GMT

Heres the best one: Black people can't learn to swim - its genetic, their bodies sink. My hubby heard this from his buddies at military school many years back and since he heard it from so many of them, he believed them. Until the day he met a black NAVY SEAL! Then this myth went out the window for my hubby. For a number of reasons that one should have died a long time ago. The first national record I ever saw was in high school when Drew Brown, an African American, tied the National Prep School record for the 50 free in, I believe, 20.8 in 1969 or 1970. I don't remember which school he swam for (I suspect Deerfield, Exeter or Andover) but he did it in the Mt Herman pool. Leo

RE: Swimming Myths

art_z — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 02:52:31 GMT

Yes, but good swimmers work out longer and therefore burn more calories. exactly. you can't escape the laws of physics. W=F*D www.tjhsst.edu/.../potent.htm work = force times distance. if you expend alot of force, over a short distance, you did the same amount of work as doing little force over alot of distance. you need to expand alot of force over a greater distance to increase the unit of work, which will thus have a great calories use. if my physics explanation sounds lousy, well, its been about 19 years since I took a class my :2cents: