Originally posted by Paul Smith
Here's the deal folks...forget about weights...if you REALLY want to make a significant break through in your swimming relative to competition stop swimming for 4-8 weeks and go to kick only workouts...as you ease back into swimming you will have the opportunity to "learn" how to integrate a new and powerful element to your stroke...something that 90% of the swimmers I see competing do not do well....
This really caught my attention. I seem to have been hearing this a lot lately: people coming back after a shoulder op, doing kick only workouts and then having their best seasons ever.
I don't doubt the authenticity of it either. I am just interested on what is actually going on. Why should this be the case?
Has anyone ever scientifically measured the amount the kick contributes to forward propulsion? I mean ratio wise, compared to the arms, what would it be? 80% arms : 20% legs?
What about the swimmers who are great kickers in workouts but can't translate it into faster swimming?
How do we actually integrate the kick into our swimming so that it becomes a new and powerful element to our stroke as Paul suggests?
Would it be fair to say that a big part of the improvement these (post op/ focus on kicking )swimmers achieve can be attributed to the strengthened core which is a result of the additional kicking. In other words more credit given to the strengthened core than increased forward propulsion.
I don't know. I just throw out these ideas for discussion.
Syd
Then let me say it; for some kicking appears to be faster than arms/core body. Check out Natalie Coughlin’s 50 free at SCN swimnetwork.com/index.php around 1:18:20. She is one of the last swimmers into the water and the last to surface after underwater kicking (no arms). She surfaces a head of the field and then does not pull away on the surface. Which would lead me to believe she is faster kicking than swimming; she can pull away from the field kicking only but not swimming (arms and legs). This is even more evident off the turn where she turns about 0.1 ahead of the field but surfaces a full body length ahead.
It shows that her underwater is faster than THEIR underwater and that she keeps her push-off (or dive) speed for a longer time than they do. It does not prove that -- once she starts swimming -- she gets more propulsion from legs than arms.
I believe Ande has it right about "crossover" points. The fastest parts of any race are off the block and the walls. The goal is to extend this part as long as possible and break out when you have slowed to your regular swim speed.
I do NOT believe this really "saves" the arms because everything is connected: if you go too far underwater you will accumulate too much oxygen debt (you're using large leg muscles and...oh, yeah...you CAN'T BREATHE under there). Taken too far, it doesn't matter how fresh your arms are, you'll still die (been there).
One can train to go ever further underwater. Kicking speed determines how effective your SDK is at the beginning of the race; that plus training determines how effective it is at the end of the race (where you can REALLY make some gains on your competition).
A modest goal, if you are interested: every season add one additional kick off the walls. Practice it on EVERY SINGLE SET that you do. Do that for several seasons until you are happy (or hit 15m every time). Work on hypoxic sets -- today, for example, our last set was 10 x 50 on the 0:50 where the 2nd lap had to be no breath SDK (use zoomers if you absolutely must, but wean yourself as soon as you can). And do one HARD (ie, not "social") kick set a day, if possible. You'll see a difference.
Then let me say it; for some kicking appears to be faster than arms/core body. Check out Natalie Coughlin’s 50 free at SCN swimnetwork.com/index.php around 1:18:20. She is one of the last swimmers into the water and the last to surface after underwater kicking (no arms). She surfaces a head of the field and then does not pull away on the surface. Which would lead me to believe she is faster kicking than swimming; she can pull away from the field kicking only but not swimming (arms and legs). This is even more evident off the turn where she turns about 0.1 ahead of the field but surfaces a full body length ahead.
It shows that her underwater is faster than THEIR underwater and that she keeps her push-off (or dive) speed for a longer time than they do. It does not prove that -- once she starts swimming -- she gets more propulsion from legs than arms.
I believe Ande has it right about "crossover" points. The fastest parts of any race are off the block and the walls. The goal is to extend this part as long as possible and break out when you have slowed to your regular swim speed.
I do NOT believe this really "saves" the arms because everything is connected: if you go too far underwater you will accumulate too much oxygen debt (you're using large leg muscles and...oh, yeah...you CAN'T BREATHE under there). Taken too far, it doesn't matter how fresh your arms are, you'll still die (been there).
One can train to go ever further underwater. Kicking speed determines how effective your SDK is at the beginning of the race; that plus training determines how effective it is at the end of the race (where you can REALLY make some gains on your competition).
A modest goal, if you are interested: every season add one additional kick off the walls. Practice it on EVERY SINGLE SET that you do. Do that for several seasons until you are happy (or hit 15m every time). Work on hypoxic sets -- today, for example, our last set was 10 x 50 on the 0:50 where the 2nd lap had to be no breath SDK (use zoomers if you absolutely must, but wean yourself as soon as you can). And do one HARD (ie, not "social") kick set a day, if possible. You'll see a difference.
