I have watched lots of videos of swimmers. Lots of these swimmers are swimming with there heads almost underwater and are inserting their hands very close to their heads.
How important is head position?
How important is hand entry?
Many follow the directions listed in a book or on a DVD and drive the hands forward.
They go to the catch then the elbow drops.
The butt drags and the kick does not do anything to help keep the butt near the surface.
How can we solve the butt drag???
Do we think everyone should swim the same or are swimmers needs different???
Do we think everyone should swim the same or are swimmers needs different???
Well, you think everyone should swim the same - just freestyle and backstroke. :rant3: Oh, wait - this isn't the Trash Talk thread?
Sorry - my bad.
... How can we solve the butt drag???....
I believe avoiding this is all a matter of good buoyancy and balance, which will greatly improve streamlining... and speed and efficiency. I've written about it a number of times. If you search the forum using 'buoyancy' along with my ID you can see those posts.
The best swimmers are exceptionally well balanced as they move through the water. Whether they do this consciously or not is what I'd like to know. Is it a natural talent? Or do they make a conscious effort to find their balance point in the water? From what I can see, very few 'average' swimmers ever give much thought to 'balance' as they swim... what a shame.
Once again I will say that Yoga is an exceptional practice for getting yourself tuned-in to how to pay attention to your body's balance.
I also believe everyone needs to find their own stroke. There are a few fundamental rules that need to be followed... so there are going to be a lot of similarities between good swimmers... but in the end you need to find your own style.
I mostly swim for the pure pleasure of it.
Have Fun!
...
The secret of the breakout is to come up and swim while you are travelling faster underwater then when you are swimming. Don't even try to come up if you are travelling at swim speed or slower.
That's one you don't want to misjudge. If you can't come up because you're slower than swim speed, you don't come up at all I guess.
:drown: just add the "blub, blub, blub".
I have watched lots of videos of swimmers. Lots of these swimmers are swimming with there heads almost underwater and are inserting their hands very close to their heads.
How important is head position?
How important is hand entry?
Many follow the directions listed in a book or on a DVD and drive the hands forward.
They go to the catch then the elbow drops.
The butt drags and the kick does not do anything to help keep the butt near the surface.
How can we solve the butt drag???
Do we think everyone should swim the same or are swimmers needs different???
George:
I'd swear you have been watching me swim. These are my biggest issues. I will find that at times I will "pop" up to the surface and be swimming fast and effortlessly on th top of the water. The problem come after a turn when I can't recreate how I did it and I'm now fighting through the water.
The secret of the breakout is to come up and swim while you are travelling faster underwater then when you are swimming. Don't even try to come up if you are travelling at swim speed or slower.
The secret of the breakout is to come up and swim while you are travelling faster underwater then when you are swimming. Don't even try to come up if you are travelling at swim speed or slower.
George:
I know that after my first few walls my streamline stinks (mostly due to the lack of shoulder flexibility, I'm working hard on that) so my speed off the walls drops fast. Should I shorten my SDKs to break out at a higher speed and then lengthen that distance as my streamline improves?
I do find that as a really tire, I start coming up more vertically than horizontally. When rising to breakout do you flow up like a submarine (horizontally) or swim up at a slight angle?
Is there a disadvantage of coming off the wall at the surface and never real spending any time full underwater?
:notworthy:
If you are not a fast SDKer I would suggest an early pop up. A fast SDKer has to be very streamlined. In my old age I only do two or three beats and pop out.
