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
So how fast should I be doing my SDK for it to be an effective race strategy? Not more than 2 seconds slower than I could swim it? Currently I SDK 25m about 4-5 seconds slower than I can actually fly it. I am guessing this is too large of a difference and the reason for my first 50 being slower than my second.
How close are your SDK times to your actual swim times?
Syd
Over a 25? For me, in backstroke there is almost no difference in time, in fly maybe a small difference (0.5 sec). The difference gets bigger in a hurry because legs tire more quickly. In a 50 there is maybe 1 sec diff in back that increases to about 4 seconds for the 100.
Paul gave you good advice. I've always been a good kicker with big lungs: at 6, I could do a 25 no-breather underwater (75s by high school) and by 10 I was a faster kicker than most high school swimmers on my team. I'm not saying this to brag, quite the opposite: it is not something I had to work for, and at this poitn training my SDK is just a strategy that plays to my strengths.
And even so, I hesitate to use it in fly. I'm going to try it this year, at least in the shorter races -- I'm pathetic enough to grasp at any straws to have even an outside chance at getting Paul's 100 fly record before I age up! -- but I'm not convinced it will be worthwhile because I worry that any gains I do make in the first 50 will be offset by rather painful dying in the second. Probably the biggest fallacy about SDK is that it "saves" your arms. It doesn't -- it is all connected, and if your legs die they take your whole stroke with them, believe me.
You are smarter than most in attempting to actually compare (in practice) the two strategies. "Kick-intensive" sets -- which do not have to be with a board -- are a good idea whether or not you use a lot of SDK in a race. Who knows, you might surprise yourself down the line, but until then it is still good training and conditioning that will help your entire race, not just your walls.
In any event, it is good to train in different ways, it keeps things more interesting. The key is to apply the same intensity, and to care about your progress as much, as you do in your "regular" swim sets.
That's just my :2cents:,
Chris
So how fast should I be doing my SDK for it to be an effective race strategy? Not more than 2 seconds slower than I could swim it? Currently I SDK 25m about 4-5 seconds slower than I can actually fly it. I am guessing this is too large of a difference and the reason for my first 50 being slower than my second.
How close are your SDK times to your actual swim times?
Syd
Over a 25? For me, in backstroke there is almost no difference in time, in fly maybe a small difference (0.5 sec). The difference gets bigger in a hurry because legs tire more quickly. In a 50 there is maybe 1 sec diff in back that increases to about 4 seconds for the 100.
Paul gave you good advice. I've always been a good kicker with big lungs: at 6, I could do a 25 no-breather underwater (75s by high school) and by 10 I was a faster kicker than most high school swimmers on my team. I'm not saying this to brag, quite the opposite: it is not something I had to work for, and at this poitn training my SDK is just a strategy that plays to my strengths.
And even so, I hesitate to use it in fly. I'm going to try it this year, at least in the shorter races -- I'm pathetic enough to grasp at any straws to have even an outside chance at getting Paul's 100 fly record before I age up! -- but I'm not convinced it will be worthwhile because I worry that any gains I do make in the first 50 will be offset by rather painful dying in the second. Probably the biggest fallacy about SDK is that it "saves" your arms. It doesn't -- it is all connected, and if your legs die they take your whole stroke with them, believe me.
You are smarter than most in attempting to actually compare (in practice) the two strategies. "Kick-intensive" sets -- which do not have to be with a board -- are a good idea whether or not you use a lot of SDK in a race. Who knows, you might surprise yourself down the line, but until then it is still good training and conditioning that will help your entire race, not just your walls.
In any event, it is good to train in different ways, it keeps things more interesting. The key is to apply the same intensity, and to care about your progress as much, as you do in your "regular" swim sets.
That's just my :2cents:,
Chris
