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
chris, explain what you mean by the "modest goal"
give a few examples
ande
In a nutshell: increase by one the number of SDKs you would otherwise take (unless you are already at the 15m mark). Do it for everything.
I think one should have goals for the number of SDKs off each wall of a race. For example, in my 50 back I take 10 off the start, then 11 off the wall; these are pretty much the most I can do without risking a DQ, so my goal would be to increase my speed, not the number of kicks.
100 back: I do 10-10-9-8. Ultimate goal: 10-11-11-11. Goal for next year: add 1 off the 3rd and 4th wall.
200 back: 10-7-6-6-5-5-5-5. Goal: change the 5s to 6s.
(There is, of course, no reason to limit yourself to backstroke.)
Two things I think are true: (1) you shouldn't attempt to do in a meet what you don't practice and (2) it is difficult to make drastic changes in one year. Hence my "modest" suggestion.
Everyone has a "baseline" number of SDKs. Imagine a set of 100s or 200s without much rest, where you are pretty much operating at your lactate threshold. The number of SDKs you are taking is your baseline, and it is usually pretty close to the number of SDKs you will take at the end of a 200.
So for me to increase my baseline by one, I need NEVER to take fewer than 6 kicks in practice. For sets with much rest (eg, test sets), I should make sure I never take fewer than 9 kicks (ie, my goal on the last wall in the 100).
Maybe this was more than you wanted...but that's what happens when you ask a professor a question. (I can see the glazed look in your eyes from here.)
Good luck in your training; it must be exciting to have nationals in your backyard.
chris, explain what you mean by the "modest goal"
give a few examples
ande
In a nutshell: increase by one the number of SDKs you would otherwise take (unless you are already at the 15m mark). Do it for everything.
I think one should have goals for the number of SDKs off each wall of a race. For example, in my 50 back I take 10 off the start, then 11 off the wall; these are pretty much the most I can do without risking a DQ, so my goal would be to increase my speed, not the number of kicks.
100 back: I do 10-10-9-8. Ultimate goal: 10-11-11-11. Goal for next year: add 1 off the 3rd and 4th wall.
200 back: 10-7-6-6-5-5-5-5. Goal: change the 5s to 6s.
(There is, of course, no reason to limit yourself to backstroke.)
Two things I think are true: (1) you shouldn't attempt to do in a meet what you don't practice and (2) it is difficult to make drastic changes in one year. Hence my "modest" suggestion.
Everyone has a "baseline" number of SDKs. Imagine a set of 100s or 200s without much rest, where you are pretty much operating at your lactate threshold. The number of SDKs you are taking is your baseline, and it is usually pretty close to the number of SDKs you will take at the end of a 200.
So for me to increase my baseline by one, I need NEVER to take fewer than 6 kicks in practice. For sets with much rest (eg, test sets), I should make sure I never take fewer than 9 kicks (ie, my goal on the last wall in the 100).
Maybe this was more than you wanted...but that's what happens when you ask a professor a question. (I can see the glazed look in your eyes from here.)
Good luck in your training; it must be exciting to have nationals in your backyard.
