Video from zones

I just got to watch Swimstud's videos from Zones. First, I want to say this: for a person who has only been swimming for several months, I don't think I could perform that well. Sure, starts, turns, and stroke need more work, but everyone's does. And it is apparant that our friend here is taking people's advice and working on everything. Having said that, I think Rich's backstroke start had more comedy than the turn. The turn is just slow right now because you haven't done a ka-zillion of them yet and truly figured out the stroke count from the flags to the wall. And you probably already know that when the buzzer goes off, you should let go of the backstroke bar :rofl:. And don't just push off the wall, but thrust yourself backward and upward. This, too, will come. When your back start becomes more correct, you will then have a problem all of us backstrokers do: preventing our feet/legs from slipping down the wall.:rofl: On your backstroke technique, the thing that struck me the most was your knees are breaking the surface of the water. They need to be kept underwater at all times. By breaking the surface, it causes a "bicycling" effect which you don't want and it prevents the kick from coming from the hips. I was looking for something in particular in your backstroke armstroke; I think I saw (sometimes only) the back of your hand entering the water instead of the pinkie-finger entering first. Not sure about this, but I thought I saw that. And if the back of the hand enters first, your catch will be very delayed, most probably when your arm gets parallel to the shoulder instead of in the beginning of the hand/arm entering sooner via pinkie-finger. I'd say you are a good candidate for the back; you need a bit more technical help and backstroke laps. Improving back will only make your 100IM faster. My last comment: I was more wowed than I thought I would be. Great job!! donna

I just got to watch Swimstud's videos from Zones. First, I want to say this: for a person who has only been swimming for several months, I don't think I could perform that well. Sure, starts, turns, and stroke need more work, but everyone's does. And it is apparant that our friend here is taking people's advice and working on everything. Having said that, I think Rich's backstroke start had more comedy than the turn. The turn is just slow right now because you haven't done a ka-zillion of them yet and truly figured out the stroke count from the flags to the wall. And you probably already know that when the buzzer goes off, you should let go of the backstroke bar :rofl:. And don't just push off the wall, but thrust yourself backward and upward. This, too, will come. When your back start becomes more correct, you will then have a problem all of us backstrokers do: preventing our feet/legs from slipping down the wall.:rofl: On your backstroke technique, the thing that struck me the most was your knees are breaking the surface of the water. They need to be kept underwater at all times. By breaking the surface, it causes a "bicycling" effect which you don't want and it prevents the kick from coming from the hips. I was looking for something in particular in your backstroke armstroke; I think I saw (sometimes only) the back of your hand entering the water instead of the pinkie-finger entering first. Not sure about this, but I thought I saw that. And if the back of the hand enters first, your catch will be very delayed, most probably when your arm gets parallel to the shoulder instead of in the beginning of the hand/arm entering sooner via pinkie-finger. I'd say you are a good candidate for the back; you need a bit more technical help and backstroke laps. Improving back will only make your 100IM faster. My last comment: I was more wowed than I thought I would be. Great job!! donna