All this back and forth between the breaststrokers and the freestylers (in particular) is all just in fun, right? I realize everyone has their favorite stroke (well, except for the IMers). I can't really swim anything other than freestyle, but I do enjoy the occasional bit of breaststroke (as long as I'm not in a big hurry and my knees are feeling okay). I think it allows me to concentrate on the catch fairly well which should help my freestyle, especially because I can actually watch what my hands and forearms are doing, not just guess based on "feel". So I guess in part I treat breastroke as a stroke drill for freestyle.
Yes? No? Maybe?
Thx,
Skip Montanaro
Former Member
... One more question... Is there a benefit to doing the Fly?....
One of the biggest surprises I got from really learning fly was how much core body strength is really involved in the other strokes. I thought I was deeply engaging core body muscles in my other strokes, but I gained a whole new level of understanding on this when I got proficient at fly.
---
As for free vs. *** I’ve heard that good freestylers (front crawl) are typically good at fly, but I know that fly is an offshoot of breaststroke. Go figure.
Personally I view *** as an opportunity to rest in an IM, or to get some extra points at a meet, but my times are really slow. I think to do *** fast is probably the hardest thing to do in swimming, there is just so much drag inherent in the stroke.
Does any one think that crawl would benifit from using a single arm breaststroke and recovery above the water eg by finshing the stroke where the breaststrokers do near the shoulder instead of finishing at the thigh??? or variables.
I think I am going to experiment.
One of the biggest surprises I got from really learning fly was how much core body strength is really involved in the other strokes. I thought I was deeply engaging core body muscles in my other strokes, but I gained a whole new level of understanding on this when I got proficient at fly.
That's good enough for me to give it a try. Make week after my taper.:drink:
