General Tips for Making it to State (High School Swimming)
Former Member
Hey,
Im a junior in high school, and this is my second year swimming on an official swim team. I joined the swim team as a joke my sophomore year, but I now love the sport and want to take it very seriously.
I moved up to JV last year and I'm now looking to move up to varsity this year and do very well in the 200 I.M.
My stroke techniques need lot of work. My *** is by far my best followed by the freestyle. The backstroke and butterfly are pretty much the same.
My *** is pretty decent and my coaches have said I'm doing it right. However with my back and freestyle, my hips are swinging out and I'm fishtailing. My coach tried telling me how to do it, but I'm still doing it. How do I fix this?
With my butterfly, I feel like it's a little strained and it doesn't really flow like I feel it should.
Also my kicking is very very weak. After a 50 freestyle/Back/Fly and i start burning out (especially fly since I don't really know how to do it) *** kick is cake.
My sophomore year I swam the 100 *** at 1:17.21
My times as of now are:
50 Freestyle: 27.3 Seconds
100 ***: 1:26.54
50 Back: 38 Seconds
50 Fly: 32 Seconds
Right now I'm training primarily through weight lifting (Working on all areas of the body,) and some swimming.
I am really looking to go from being a decent swimmer to someone who can place 1st in state (ideally : D)
Any advice would be appreciated.
Parents
Former Member
I don't know if you are male or female but those are good times for someone who has only been swimming as long as you have and you should feel good about that!
Swimming is nearly all physics. You could try as hard as you like and be super strong but with poor form you are not going to go fast. And vice versa--even if you aren't the strongest person or trying your hardest if you have good form you will go faster than someone with poor form (and of course, being strong and trying hard while swimming with good form would be best of all.)
What I would recommend is see if you can find a good stroke coach and get some stroke work done. I agree that often times this is with a year round team. My high school coach was a great guy (I'm sure still is) but he did not do stroke work with us almost at all. I got that from swim camps and a bit from my year round team. Olympic swimmers generally do stroke work all the time. It is super important because over time we can forget proper form and start to get sloppy so all swimmers can benefit from it, no matter how good.
I think weights are great and will help but they should not be your primary source of training. Swimming comes first and if you can also do weights 3 times a week that's a bonus. You can also just do crunches and push ups daily at home. :)
Keep it up! You sound like you have a natural talent if you are going that fast already. :)
Reply
Former Member
I don't know if you are male or female but those are good times for someone who has only been swimming as long as you have and you should feel good about that!
Swimming is nearly all physics. You could try as hard as you like and be super strong but with poor form you are not going to go fast. And vice versa--even if you aren't the strongest person or trying your hardest if you have good form you will go faster than someone with poor form (and of course, being strong and trying hard while swimming with good form would be best of all.)
What I would recommend is see if you can find a good stroke coach and get some stroke work done. I agree that often times this is with a year round team. My high school coach was a great guy (I'm sure still is) but he did not do stroke work with us almost at all. I got that from swim camps and a bit from my year round team. Olympic swimmers generally do stroke work all the time. It is super important because over time we can forget proper form and start to get sloppy so all swimmers can benefit from it, no matter how good.
I think weights are great and will help but they should not be your primary source of training. Swimming comes first and if you can also do weights 3 times a week that's a bonus. You can also just do crunches and push ups daily at home. :)
Keep it up! You sound like you have a natural talent if you are going that fast already. :)
