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?
Former Member
Ok if we are talking average Joe/Jane, good shape but not phenomenal shape, with 6 hours a week to spare on training. then yeah I can imagine a greater disparity between sprinters and distance folks.
I image a top tier masters athlete my age or older (I'm conceding to the younger folks) would still kick my butt in a 50 or a 200, regardless of their preferred status.
I also think it's easier to intitally become a sprinter than a distance swimmer, then when you realise you're not tip-top fast you work on getting a bit faster over the distance. Just my opinion. I mean it's possible to have a natural graity to a race style, but it doesn't eliminate the attainment of other racing styles through hard work and training.
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...
:lmao:
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?
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!
Johhny W swam American Crawl not Freestyle.I always thought Johnny Weissmuller won Olympic Gold in the 100 meter freestyle (twice), 400 meter freestyle and 4x200 meter freestyle relay (again twice). Okay, I agree that while swimming these Freestyle races, Weissmuller chose the American Crawl (not Australian Crawl) as his style. However he was still swimming freestyle.
And in today’s world at least in short course yards, amongst the elite swimmers, freestyle is more like 60% streamlined dolphin kicking and 40% American crawl.
But back to the original question “Why are most of us good at certain strokes and not others? Is it genetics, body type, coaching, preference?” I think it has a lot to do with genetics. My mother is a distance freestyler (excuse me crawler) and a flyer (butterflyer if we must be completely accurate), I am a distance freestyler and a flyer, and both of my children are distance freestylers and flyers. While my son is a wanna-be sprinter and my daughter disavows the ability to butterfly. None of us can do breaststroke, in fact my son’s coach has banned him from doing breaststroke in his presence. Nature or nurture? I vote for nature (breaststroke just isn’t natural).
there's a rather interesting project that USA Swimming undertook around the 2000 Olympics. it's rather dense, lots of numbers and stats, but gives some insight into the connection between body type (ie genetics) and specialization in given strokes (treating sprint free and distance free as separate "strokes"). rather than getting yelled at for linking to the study, go to USA Swimming's website and type in "Anthropometrics" in the search feature. the first link that comes up is what i'm refering to...
granted this is for elite swimmers, but it's still rather interesting, if you don't mind all the numbers. (just a hint, if you scroll almost the whole way down, there's a quick summary for women and men in each stroke.)
and as an aside, i know i fit into the backstroke category pretty well, especially the lack of vertical jump :laugh2:
... as an aside, in many European countries breaststroke is called "school stroke", i.e. it's the first stroke that little kids are taught in school swimming lessons... :blah:
there's a rather interesting project that USA Swimming undertook around the 2000 Olympics. it's rather dense, lots of numbers and stats, but gives some insight into the connection between body type (ie genetics) and specialization in given strokes (treating sprint free and distance free as separate "strokes"). rather than getting yelled at for linking to the study, go to USA Swimming's website and type in "Anthropometrics" in the search feature. the first link that comes up is what i'm refering to...
granted this is for elite swimmers, but it's still rather interesting, if you don't mind all the numbers. (just a hint, if you scroll almost the whole way down, there's a quick summary for women and men in each stroke.)
and as an aside, i know i fit into the backstroke category pretty well, especially the lack of vertical jump :laugh2:
Thanks Mollie. Fly is probably the best fit for me, except that I do have fairly long arms/torso. I guess that helps with backstroke. Fly was my best stroke for most of my age group career and I was generally better at 100s than 200s.
I look nothing like the freestyle sprinters they describe whatsoever. I think this season I was ranked higher in the long axis strokes -- contradicting my fly body. (I guess the fly body needs better fly shoulders.)
I don't know about this genetics thing. Other swimmers in my family are/were evilstrokers. If they're not swimmers, they're long distance runners.
and as an aside, i know i fit into the backstroke category pretty well, especially the lack of vertical jump :laugh2:
Well I can jump Supergrover...that correlates with not being able to do backstroke...admit it though...you kind of have sympathy for me there...
hehe
I suspect that the reason we can ask the question is because there is a combination of factors at work in determining which strokes and distances will suit which individuals best.
In some cases, genetics (including both body type and things like fast-twitch muscle ratios) probably play a role. While there are cases like Fortress's, it is also not uncommon to hear of child backstrokers whose parents were the like, etc.
In some cases, personality probably comes into play. Sprinters and distance swimmers often enjoy different aspects of a race -- sprinters may thrive on competition, adrenaline, a feeling of power, etc. Distance swimmers may thrive on a feeling of overcoming fatigue, rhythm, a sense of pace or building, etc.
Finally, I would say that the ever-elusive "feel" for a stroke makes a big difference. Some people have an intuitive sense of fly timing, for example. Some novice swimmers don't have to be taught to use a high elbow catch or to turn their feet out in breaststroke. Why? I suppose this is a reiteration of the original question. Nevertheless, as a coach of young swimmers, I find it fascinating.
