Swimming Myths

Things that I think are myths (or mabe just a rant on my part) through my own personal experience: 1. Shaving makes you faster: I’ve shaved my head a few times and believe that can make a difference. As for body hair, unless you’re Chewbacca, it’s all mental. Also, I lost sleep when I used to shave b/c it felt so different. Wouldn’t lack of sleep be detrimental to my performance? 2. Swimming is a great way to exercise and not cause injury: Ridiculous to me. If you’re going to jazzercise in the water, then sure, probably no injuries. If you’re really working out, it’s probably only a matter of time before something breaks. Most competitive swimmers I know have broken something or paid the price later in life. 3. Swimmers are not divers: A lot of gorfs like to ask me about some of the dives I do, that’s when I have to explain that diving and swimming are separate sports. 4. The speedo swimsuit: No, not all male swimmers wear the bikini style suit in practice (I wear one under my training suit), also it is very rare at meets now. It is a myth that we all wear these things to the beach, except Ande, he wears his everywhere, even the Grammys :). 5. Swimmers have long mucles: Don’t know what this means, but it has been said a few times to me from older generations. Swimmers have the same muscles as everyone else, not sure if that means they’re long or short. Old timers can chime in on this one.

Re: Swimming Myths The harder you kick, the faster you'll go. You should always wait a half-hour after eating before hitting the pool. Drafting can help you lower your time. Only nerdy non-swimmers wear nose clips. Morning is the best time to swim. If you want to be a speedier swimmer, build a lot of muscle.

Very good Quicksilver, except drafting can make you swim a faster time in a marathon swim.

Myth: You can burn body fat by swimming. Ha, ha, Rich. If you're overweight, any exercise will cause you to lose weight. But if you're not, swimming is not a great fat burning exercise. Swimming makes me fat. It's the worst part about the sport for me. :rant3:

Here are the answers... 1. False. Kicking accounts for only about one-third of forward propulsion, and in the process, it uses your largest and most oxygen-thirsty muscles. Thus, super-hard leg work doesn't have much payoff and will probably tire you out quickly, slowing you down in the long run. Sprinters may want to kick harder than distance swimmers, but if you're swimming a short distance, build to a hard kick instead of working your legs the whole way, advises Jane Katz, author of The All-American Aquatic Handbook: Your Passport to Lifetime Fitness (Allyn & Bacon, 1996). 2. False. Sorry, Mom. Unless you've eaten a big meal, you should not have a problem if you dive in before the half-hour mark. And that's particularly true if you eat mainly carbohydrates. "Carbs are the first to be digested out of the stomach, followed by protein, then fat," says dietitian Jackie Berning. 3. True. Scott Rabalais estimates that drafting can lower a swimmer's time by one to two seconds per hundred. "That's pretty significant," he says. Drafting is acceptable, but don't take advantage of it. Let each person in the lane lead off a set so that everybody gets to draft and one person doesn't do all the work. 4. False. Unless you're prepared to call 1992 Pan American Games gold medalist Jane Skillman a nerd. Skillman wears a nose clip to avoid allergic reactions to pool chemicals, and other elite-level swimmers wear them to avoid getting water up their noses when learning underwater dolphin kick on the back. 5. False. At least for many people. Some research shows that morning exercisers are more likely to stick with a fitness regimen, but if you are not a morning person or can't squeeze in a workout before work, it probably isn't your best bet. Choose the time of day when you feel most energetic and when professional and personal responsibilities are least likely to interfere. 6. False. "l'd like to see 400-individual-medley world record holder Tom Dolan race against Arnold Schwarzenegger," says Oregon coach Volckening. "Dolan is so skinny he almost disappears sideways, but he has one clear advantage: he has developed and refined his swimming technique." Unlike many other sports, swimming is highly technical. Muscle can certainly contribute to improving performance, but technique comes first. check it out...www.alexandriamasters.com/.../test.htm

Re: Swimming Myths Only nerdy non-swimmers wear nose clips. Yeah that's a myth. Only nerdy non-swimmers and synchro swimmers wear nose clips...the rest of us learn to expel through the nostrils...

Things that I think are myths (or mabe just a rant on my part) through my own personal experience: 1. Shaving makes you faster: I’ve shaved my head a few times and believe that can make a difference. As for body hair, unless you’re Chewbacca, it’s all mental. Also, I lost sleep when I used to shave b/c it felt so different. Wouldn’t lack of sleep be detrimental to my performance? 2. Swimming is a great way to exercise and not cause injury: Ridiculous to me. If you’re going to jazzercise in the water, then sure, probably no injuries. If you’re really working out, it’s probably only a matter of time before something breaks. Most competitive swimmers I know have broken something or paid the price later in life. 3. Swimmers are not divers: A lot of gorfs like to ask me about some of the dives I do, that’s when I have to explain that diving and swimming are separate sports. 4. The speedo swimsuit: No, not all male swimmers wear the bikini style suit in practice (I wear one under my training suit), also it is very rare at meets now. It is a myth that we all wear these things to the beach, except Ande, he wears his everywhere, even the Grammys :). 5. Swimmers have long mucles: Don’t know what this means, but it has been said a few times to me from older generations. Swimmers have the same muscles as everyone else, not sure if that means they’re long or short. Old timers can chime in on this one. I can't comment on the other four, but the first one seems to be fact: see this article. www.usmsswimmer.com/.../splashback.pdf

Only nerdy non-swimmers wear nose clips. At the Missouri Grand Prix last weekend, Aaron Piersol wore a nose clip during his 200 Backstroke swim. Anna Lea

Nerdy swimmers wear nose clips too. :wine: (trust me, SStud, no one wants to swim through what I'm currently expeling through my nostrils)

I always eat before I swim. No problem. Screw mornings. Every morning? Lucky you! :lmao::bolt: At the Missouri Grand Prix last weekend, Aaron Piersol wore a nose clip during his 200 Backstroke swim. Anna Lea That's too funny. Seriously though, you think he'd have overcome the use of a clip in the years of practice.