Everyone who watched coverage of the World Championships this year no doubt noticed Michael Phelps new distinct lope in his freestyle. I know a lot of other swimmers do this too, and their freaking fast, so this morning I asked my coach about it. She looked at me quizzically and said it's a very bad habit to have and if you don't do it naturally just forget about it.
But, Phelps didn't have this very obvious lope up to now, and he just broke 5 world records with it. So it doesn't seem like it can be that bad. I'm not to prove my coach wrong, I'm just curious.
So if anybody knows anything, please share. Why does it make some fast and for others it could be considered a bad habit? What's the trick to learning it? If it is a bad habit, why did Phelps bother to pronounce it?
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Former Member
I watched the race in the worlds a few times the other day. It seems to me that Van den Hoogenband was faster between the walls in the first 150 but that Phelps killed him on the turns. On the fourth 50 Phelps obviously had more gas in his tank and pulled away. I'm not an elite swimmer though, so maybe I missed something. Did anyone else get that impression? If that was truly the case maybe the lope in his stroke wasn't all that helpful.
Skip Montanaro
I adressed this same kind of observation in posting #10 above ....only I had the opposite impression in that I conjectured that the lope in his stroke during the first 150 may have allowed him to stay smooth and relaxed (saving and conserving energy) ...and then he used the extra energy he saved on the first 150 to blast the last turn and bolt the last 50 home the way he did....but who knows? It is hard to tell exactly....If the lope helped him to ride his own bow wave as Kirk conjectured, then perhaps he was able to save up extra energy during the first 150?? It is an interesting possibility if nothing else.
Newmastersswimmer
I watched the race in the worlds a few times the other day. It seems to me that Van den Hoogenband was faster between the walls in the first 150 but that Phelps killed him on the turns. On the fourth 50 Phelps obviously had more gas in his tank and pulled away. I'm not an elite swimmer though, so maybe I missed something. Did anyone else get that impression? If that was truly the case maybe the lope in his stroke wasn't all that helpful.
Skip Montanaro
I adressed this same kind of observation in posting #10 above ....only I had the opposite impression in that I conjectured that the lope in his stroke during the first 150 may have allowed him to stay smooth and relaxed (saving and conserving energy) ...and then he used the extra energy he saved on the first 150 to blast the last turn and bolt the last 50 home the way he did....but who knows? It is hard to tell exactly....If the lope helped him to ride his own bow wave as Kirk conjectured, then perhaps he was able to save up extra energy during the first 150?? It is an interesting possibility if nothing else.
Newmastersswimmer
