Check
www.youtube.com/watch
Whoa... I'm speechless... well, momentarily anyways...
That is incredible, I've never seen anything quite like
this before!! What a perfect example of a totally unique
stroke, a bizarre phenomena that might not ever become
mainstream swimming philosophy.
I mean, it would be near to impossible to try and mimic
this stroke pattern, not to mention, how could someone
actually describe this appropriately in words...???!!
Attempting the impossible, just for the sheer need of
understanding, how could I let this opportunity "swim"
away?
His mix of technical variables are somewhat shocking,
and trying to describe his kick pattern combined with
his torso and pulling action is a slightly daunting task.
I mean, this appears to be a hybrid swimming stroke,
combining elements of butterfly and freestyle, with very
little semblance of previously accepted principals. This
may be the new "stroke" or just something that works
solely for this man.
Personally, I'm not willing to risk everything by endorsing
this stroke, but I will not disappoint by trying my best to
explain it.
His windmill action above water has been seen before, not
a complete shock, but it is when we look under-water that
I'm completely flabbergasted...
All the concepts I've known about sprint freestyle are almost
completely contrary with Stefan Nystrand.
Where should I start?
1. He bounces through his stroke, a tighter version of
the body dolphin action, during freestyle??!!
2. He swims "uphill", totally bizzare, but this is what I'm seeing.
You can even pause his stroke in the 25 meter under water angle,
and the result is uncanny. It appears that he rotates from side to side,
so fast, that the resistance from his body position is mitigated.
3. His "catch" stays near the surface, and he begins pulling
immediately, he doesn't wait for his forearm to be perpendicular to
the bottom of the pool. ***GASP*** Instead, he almost drops his
elbow, and pulls at 45 degrees, in exchange for faster tempo, and
the body dolphin.
4. His kick, ummmmm, his kick... What is that? A four-beat freestyle/dolphin blend? It's like his legs are assisting with the upper body set-up and over-all body-dolphin action.... ???!!!????!!!!
Okay folks, not sure what else to say, except.... WOW!
Former Member
I always tell my age group swimmers to move through the water quietly.
"If you fight with the water...it's going to fight back". Less resistance is ideal.
Having said that...if one of the kids were waging war with the water...I'd take them aside and go over the zen of swimming.
I played this clip a few times along with the others...my perspective has been slightly shifted. Although I still advocate smooth swimming.
Even if he looks like Johny lap swimmer doing the all out sprint from the deep end to the shallow....he's fast as ....
www.youtube.com/watch
Quicksilver, that vid is over 5 years old...his technique now is even more extreme than 2002...so he must think he has found something great in this otherwise he would have gone back to the herd...right?
You're right.
The above water now looks more like the inverted backstroke everyone described.
Much cleaner. ..but still an aggressive hand and arm entry.
An unusual style altogether.
This man has HYPER-EXtendable arms and shoulders. He can put his hands on his waist, and have his elbows touch eachother in front of him. The same movement he uses for his strong catch right when breaking the surface.
That should explain why he is not shoulder injured. Also, he never does more than 3000 meters / workout. His training is perfectly tailor made for him. And he performs.
// O
This man has HYPER-EXtendable arms and shoulders. He can put his hands on his waist, and have his elbows touch eachother in front of him. The same movement he uses for his strong catch right when breaking the surface.
That should explain why he is not shoulder injured. Also, he never does more than 3000 meters / workout. His training is perfectly tailor made for him. And he performs.
// O
Ooosc,
You seem to have a lot of inside info reg Stefan. Anything else you can reveal for the rest of us?
:notworthy:
What I found interesting ...not only with his swim...but also at the short course yards championships...is how many sprinters are using the straight arm recovery.
Kind of looks like inverted backstroke. Can't argue how fast it is though.
Ive seen it that people use the straight arm recovery could be something that its alot faster then to use the bended arm! you will get a better and probebly a faster stroke!
Sure, I'm really just trying to understand the mechanics...
To be totally honest, I don't know with absolute certainty
how Nystrand does what he does. (Good conversation starter though)
The kick is very important for maintaining body position, and in most cases the kick is an integral part of sprinting, without a doubt... The comment about the video analysis guru, was an error on my part... Actually, I spoke with him today, and obviously I misunderstood his comments from 10 years ago... he was speaking about relative propulsion from the kick in comparison to the arm cycle, fair enough... I still don't understand how Nystrand does what he does...
Again, I was just trying to understand this anomaly, this isn't something I personally subscribe to. In fact, without my kick I really wouldn't swim very well at all...
That is the whole idea behind this thread, to improve the kick...
forums.usms.org/showpost.php
Happy Swimming,
Anyone like the description I provided of Nystrand's underwater mechanics?Well, since you asked, I believe that you a way off base in your analysis of the propulsive force of Nystrand's kick
I do agree that the energy output required to produce effective forward motion with the kick is far greater than that needed to generate a similar speed pulling alone. However, today’s elite swimmers are trained to use both pulling and kicking to increase speed.
Just looking at the videos, I’d guess that Nystrand can kick 50 SCM in under 30 seconds. This is not a trivial propulsive force and does significantly increase his overall swimming speed.
“the energy saved in his legs can be used in the main propulsive engine, his arms.” The man is swimming for 22 seconds, there is no need to save energy for his arms. These are anaerobic swims, there is no saving energy from legs to use in arms.
The video analysis guru, is correct for races over a mile, but in today’s world, the kick is an important propulsive force in most every elite pool swimmer.
There were a few swimmers using a straight arm recovery, nothing like Nystrand’s windmill. It appears that the straight arm swimmers have a slightly higher tempo than the traditional swimmers. Their hand speed on recovery is definitely faster and this may lead to a quicker hand speed on the pull. But I couldn’t say for certain.
I didn’t notice Coughlin using a straight arm recovery. What I did see is that of all the women, she was superior to the field in maintaining speed from dive to transition to swim, and then into and out of turns.
Lochte on the men’s side was also crushing all his walls, especially in the backstrokes where he beat the field by a yard or so on each turn. Very similar to Phelps’ fly and free turns.
My personal thought is that windmill and straight arm recovery can place a tremendous strain on the shoulders, however with the lower mileage volume and increased weight room work of modern sprinters (50-100), they can better handle this strain without as much risk of injury. Swimmers who train at a higher volume need to a more human physique friendly stroke.
