I am attempting to perfect my start and turns for the breaststroke. I recently reviewed three articles on the breaststroke turn which I found on the USMS web site. All had different recommendations for the turn pullout. The article by Budd Termin and David Pendergast recommended holding for 1 second after pushing off the wall before beginning the pullout. Another by Wayne McCauley recommended 3 seconds. Another by John Moffet just says "as you begin to slow down, start your pullout." I know there has to be an optimum time and it may be somewhat swimmer dependent, but the difference I see between these three authors is huge. Can anyone help me understand this dilemma. Ray
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You can gain or loose a full second during that first stroke up.
If not more...
I have recently tried four new things to my stroke and all related to the pulldown phase (all of them are of course common to the experienced but I thought I should share them with the rest of you anyway)
#1 After the pulldown I place my hands on my thighs until recovery
#2 After the pulldown I shrug my shoulders to decrease resistance (i think i go more narrow that way)
#3 During recovery i try to have my hands in "karate" mode and sweep them up as close to my body as possible keeping my elbows in. Might sound extremely self evident, but up til three weeks ago it wasnt for me...might tell you more about my level of swimming than the level of this tip...
#4 As Wayne said above, I try also to time so that I am as wide as possible when going up (i have failed completely sometimes, but when I succeed it is like putting on the afterburner and I feel that i can keep that extra speed a couple of meters as well)
just my :2cents:
/Per
PS And reg wating until the other guy makes his pulldown...well that might work in a competitive field, but primarily against that other guy. You might loose ground towards the rest of the field because both of you are pulling to early or too late. I vote for...pull when optimal...and optimal you find out during endless testing i race speed DS
You can gain or loose a full second during that first stroke up.
If not more...
I have recently tried four new things to my stroke and all related to the pulldown phase (all of them are of course common to the experienced but I thought I should share them with the rest of you anyway)
#1 After the pulldown I place my hands on my thighs until recovery
#2 After the pulldown I shrug my shoulders to decrease resistance (i think i go more narrow that way)
#3 During recovery i try to have my hands in "karate" mode and sweep them up as close to my body as possible keeping my elbows in. Might sound extremely self evident, but up til three weeks ago it wasnt for me...might tell you more about my level of swimming than the level of this tip...
#4 As Wayne said above, I try also to time so that I am as wide as possible when going up (i have failed completely sometimes, but when I succeed it is like putting on the afterburner and I feel that i can keep that extra speed a couple of meters as well)
just my :2cents:
/Per
PS And reg wating until the other guy makes his pulldown...well that might work in a competitive field, but primarily against that other guy. You might loose ground towards the rest of the field because both of you are pulling to early or too late. I vote for...pull when optimal...and optimal you find out during endless testing i race speed DS
