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
Great discussion going on here
I agree with what Paul, Rich and Chris wrote:
Key points:
1) Train to kick faster, flutter, SDK & ***,
2) Test: find out how fast you can kick,
flutter & SDK
with a board & without
from a dive
from turns
on your belly, side, and back
3) Test: find out how fast you can swim,
15's & 25's
4) Test: figure out how many SDKs you should take off the start and turns
for the
50, 100, & 200 Free, Back and Fly,
figure out your sweet spots
what gets you to 15 meters the fastest?
5) Integrate, use your kick when you swim,
it's stupid to be a fast board kicker who can't use his kick when swimming,
6) it hurts to SDK off turns in 100's and 200's
you have to train to get used to the pain
If you don't do it in practice
It's difficult to do it in meets,
7) if your flutter kick is faster than your SDK,
you probably shouldn't SDK
8) Develop kicking gears
swimmers kick at different intensities in 50's, 100's & 200's
9) Bad splitting is often the result of
kicking too hard too soon
Jonathan, I have to ask. What's with the hero worship? No disrespect to Mr. Stevenson or Mr. Abrahams, but the way you converse with certain swimmers is absurd. Perhaps I'm reading too much into this, but I notice a pattern in some of your posts of a champion/loser dichotomy. The Interviews thread is the biggest example. You often imply that there's something mystical or godlike about people who happen to swim a lot faster than other people at the same age.
We all admire the accomplishments of fast swimmers, but why not have your admiration grounded in a little bit of reality? Rich is a fast guy because he's naturally talented and he has diligently applied himself to swimming. He's an exceptional example of what everyone here strives for, most of us with a considerable amount of time and effort. We all know this, so why gush about it?
This takes the all-time cake for the dumbest argument on the forum ever.
We weren't even up to 10 posts yet. lol How can that be an "argument?"
M: I came here for a good argument.
A: No you didn't; no, you came here for an argument.
M: An argument isn't just contradiction.
A: It can be.
M: No it can't. An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition.
A: No it isn't.
M: Yes it is! It's not just contradiction.
A: Look, if I argue with you, I must take up a contrary position.
M: Yes, but that's not just saying 'No it isn't.'
A: Yes it is!
M: No it isn't!
A: Yes it is!
M: Argument is an intellectual process. Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of any statement the other person makes.
(short pause)
A: No it isn't.
M: It is.
Jonathan, I have to ask. What's with the hero worship? No disrespect to Mr. Stevenson or Mr. Abrahams, but the way you converse with certain swimmers is absurd. Perhaps I'm reading too much into this, but I notice a pattern in some of your posts of a champion/loser dichotomy. The Interviews thread is the biggest example. You often imply that there's something mystical or godlike about people who happen to swim a lot faster than other people at the same age.
We all admire the accomplishments of fast swimmers, but why not have your admiration grounded in a little bit of reality? Rich is a fast guy because he's naturally talented and he has diligently applied himself to swimming. He's an exceptional example of what everyone here strives for, most of us with a considerable amount of time and effort. We all know this, so why gush about it?
I agree. Respect good, hero worship blech.
I am sore from all the kicking I've done the last two days. Makes me realize I hadn't been doing any flutter kicking before with my obsession over SDKs.
M: I came here for a good argument.
A: No you didn't; no, you came here for an argument.
M: An argument isn't just contradiction.
A: It can be.
M: No it can't. An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition.
A: No it isn't.
M: Yes it is! It's not just contradiction.
A: Look, if I argue with you, I must take up a contrary position.
M: Yes, but that's not just saying 'No it isn't.'
A: Yes it is!
M: No it isn't!
A: Yes it is!
M: Argument is an intellectual process. Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of any statement the other person makes.
(short pause)
A: No it isn't.
M: It is.
Word for word from famous Monty Python skit:
www.youtube.com/watch
Still funny.
How did “it is an honor to meet you!!” become “there's something mystical or godlike about people who happen to swim a lot faster” and “hero worship”?
For me there is a huge difference between respecting the accomplishments of individuals (athletic and otherwise) and mystical or godlike hero worship. I guess I missed where Jonathan started sacrificing cows and goats (or maybe fish) for these mystical athletes.
Through swimming I have been blessed to meet a number of great swimmers. And I try to let them know how much I respect their accomplishments and what they accomplishments have meant to me and swimming. And that it is an honor to make their acquaintance. And if it seems appropriate I’ll ask them about their swimming. If this is hero worship, then mea maxima culpa.
