Why are most of us good at certain strokes and not others? Is it genetics, body type, coaching, preference?
And why are some of us good at long axis, but not short axis? And vice versa?
Or why are we good at one short axis stroke, but not the other?
As a kid my leg strength was much better than my upper body strength. Also I had/have unusually flexible ankles for outward rotation. That and the fact that I am short and walk like a duck means I am blessed(doomed) to swim breaststroke.:banana::banana::banana:
I am blessed(doomed) to swim breaststroke.:banana::banana::banana:
And what about that short axis butterfrog thingie? I'd say you're doomed there. :mooning:
I'm short and have strong legs and flexible ankles, but I still seem unable to do that evilstroke. I do not, however, walk like a duck. I guess it must be the shoulders and core that account for the short axis fly.
I have no idea about freestyle. :confused: I look like the exact opposite of a stereotypical sprint freestyler. I guess it's just fast twitch and upper body strength overcoming the other handicaps?
I do have hyperextended elbows to help on backstroke and the strong core helps with SDKs.
Still, I sure look more like a short axis swimmer than a long axis swimmer ...
Tom Jager (the former WR holder not Jaegermeister) once said the best swimmers in the pool are the sprinters. His reasoning was that no one chooses to be the "Distance Guy" or the "200 Fly Guy". He just has to do it because he can't swim the 50 as fast as the sprint guy. I thought it was humorous to say the least. As I watched the sprinters train, I longed to be in that lane. Much better to do a couple of fast swims per workout, then work on starts and turns rather than 10X400 backstroke descend!
LOL, thank you for that... believe me, I didn't choose the 200 fly... or the 400 IM... or the distance events... it just turns out that I am all slow twitch muscle fiber with a natural predisposition towards those events. I did learn to love the 400 IM though; it's my all time favorite event. For the record I have never envied the sprinters. Sometimes I even beat them at their own events. That's happening less and less often, I admit. Who's up for a 200 fly?
Last week I had a visitor from a remote village in Alaska - he has never watched TV, never read a newspaper, and he has never seen anybody swim. Here is our conversation:
Eskimo: So what do like to do for fun ?
Trojan: I really enjoy swimming every day and I compete in swimming events against other people.
Eskimo: Oh - I have never seen anybody swim as a sport. The water is a little bit cold where I live – but it sounds like fun. You said there are swimming events – what does that mean ?
Trojan: Well - you can compete in different distances against other people and you are also timed. The distances are between 50 and 1500 Meters and we also have four different strokes. If you are really good, you can compete against other people in the Olympics.
Eskimo: I heard about the Olympics - I am not from Mars. But what are different strokes - what do you mean with that ?
Trojan: Well - Freestyle is the fastest - there you can swim which ever way you want, but the fastest is the Crawl. You alternate pulling with your arms and kick with your legs. Then we have the Breaststroke, Butterfly and Backstroke.
Eskimo: Backstroke ? What is that ?
Trojan: You swim on your back, head first.
Eskimo: Why ?
Trojan: Because that's one of the strokes.
Eskimo: Well, that may be a good reason for you, but I don’t think they have backwards running or backwards cycling – do they ?
Trojan: No – not really.
Eskimo: So instead of swimming the fastest way possible, you turn your back and make it a little more difficult and slower ?
Trojan: yes - that's basically it. Breaststroke is even slower and you have to move with both legs / arms at the same time, like a frog.
Eskimo: A frog ? Sounds something like a bunny-hop in the water ? Do they have bunny-hopping on land as a sport ?
Trojan: Not really - they pretty much just run and jump on land.
Eskimo: So if you can swim on your stomach and your back, is there also a side-stroke in your swimming events ?
Trojan: No – not any more – I think they used to have this, but it did not catch on.
Eskimo: Why not – you might as well – or how about going with your feet first – I bet that would be even more difficult ?
Trojan: This is just we started doing over the last 70 years.
Eskimo: So - who is the best swimmer at these Olympics Games people always tell me about ?
Trojan: Well - there is one guy who can all these different events and won a whole bunch of them and there is another guy who won two of the Freestyle events and got close in a third.
Eskimo: Well - these other strokes sound really strange to me -- I think the best swimmer should be the fastest. Who really cares who can go the fastest on their back or swim like a frog.
Trojan: But it is really difficult to be fast at all these different events at the same time.
Eskimo: It is also difficult to run backwards really fast or jump on one leg really fast for a mile. So this Freestyle guy is the fastest swimmer ?
Trojan: Well - not really - he is the best at the 200m and 400m. That takes about 1:45 min and 3:40 min.
Eskimo: That's not very long - my sledge dogs can run for days without getting tired -- I think they are better athletes than your swimmers. What about the guy winning the shortest event, shouldn't he be the best swimmer out there ? He is the fastest.
Trojan: Well - he can only swim the 50 -- that's not enough if another guy can win 2,3 or four events.
Eskimo: But he is the fastest - that means he is the best. These longer events, don't seem to be very long - I heard people run for over 2 hours - and they don't even run backwards.
Trojan: Well - you really have to understand the sport to judge who is the best.
Eskimo: You may be right - but I still don't understand why people would swim anything else than Freestyle....
Now long v short axis body types...I think that's a myth. Simply put: there is the perfection of a Breaststroker's physique, and then the rest of you.../quote]
George: You and SwimStud can call it the crawl. That terminology just makes my skin crawl.
And I don't know if long vs. short is a myth. There was a thread correlating body types and stroke that seemed relatively accurate. There are always many exceptions to any stereotype ... or else I would not be doing sprint free. Not sure I've really embraced that yet. I'm just not tall and skinny like my "twin."
Fort - what stroke is freestyle..... Fly? Backstroke? Butterfrog? Breaststroke? Sidestroke? or Crawl? or all of the above.
Semantics, George! Freestyle is crawl. 99% of the time that's what people do in the freestyle events. In fact, my own observations from masters and USA-S meets is that it is a 100%.
There is clearly no reason to swim like a frog ... except maybe to save your shoulders.
It's to bad that Trojan mentioned freestyle. I would have said the crawl is the fastest stroke.
The crawling thing would have really confused the Eskimo.
But Tom Jager was once a nationals qualifier in the mile. So he had distance talent at some point in his life. I'm sure it helped his 100s.
Good point. Don't you think as he excelled in sprints, that he said forget the mile I am a 50 guy! I know I would and isn't that kind of your credo per your posts on Arizona Masters? Believe me, I am envious, I wish I could sprint. It looks like a lot more fun than swimming the 400 IM.
