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
I did 10-14 off the start (depending on stroke) at my last meet.
Paul:
This is a little reductionist, but are you saying that if you can't SDK like Coughlin or Lochte, you shouldn't do it? Or just that it's overused? Or that only a few can do it properly and most of us should put the energy into working on our kick instead?
What I'm saying is everyone is different and what works for those types of swimmers on't necessarily work for everyone. Rich A ND george said it best, time this kind of stuff and find out for yourself if its truly working or only perceived.
My main point is that there are a lot of people who see swimmers like Coughlin and read blogs here and on USS and watch meet clips on YouTube who become convinced they need to be doing SDK's....even if they don't know how to do so properly/or can't and are actually slower.
Swimmers like Jazz Hands who are self coached are a perfect example...he is reading lifting magazines and reading swimming blogs and training himself...and at a very young age is already getting overuse injuries and using questionable techniques that down the road may really hurt him...pony up and get some good coaching (i.e. one on one not via the internet) through some outstanding clinics/trainers/etc. and do things right and you'll have longer term success.
I did 10-14 off the start (depending on stroke) at my last meet.
Paul:
This is a little reductionist, but are you saying that if you can't SDK like Coughlin or Lochte, you shouldn't do it? Or just that it's overused? Or that only a few can do it properly and most of us should put the energy into working on our kick instead?
What I'm saying is everyone is different and what works for those types of swimmers on't necessarily work for everyone. Rich A ND george said it best, time this kind of stuff and find out for yourself if its truly working or only perceived.
My main point is that there are a lot of people who see swimmers like Coughlin and read blogs here and on USS and watch meet clips on YouTube who become convinced they need to be doing SDK's....even if they don't know how to do so properly/or can't and are actually slower.
Swimmers like Jazz Hands who are self coached are a perfect example...he is reading lifting magazines and reading swimming blogs and training himself...and at a very young age is already getting overuse injuries and using questionable techniques that down the road may really hurt him...pony up and get some good coaching (i.e. one on one not via the internet) through some outstanding clinics/trainers/etc. and do things right and you'll have longer term success.
