Liesel used to swim too flat with her head NEVER going underwater. Her hips always were several inches below the waters surface. But shortly after one of the Dual in the Pools about 2005/2006 she started to put her head underwater each stroke. Not as good as Amanda Beard, but still a huge improvement. She immediately became the best in the world.
But even now, serious breaststroke coaches look at Liesel and wonder why she hasn't gotten better coaching. She remind me of me. Very stiff, with a huge tendance to bob the head up and down, rather than keeping it in line with the spine. I guarantee you if Liesel had Amanda's last coach, she would be at 2:18. She is the only one in the world with enough speed to go that fast, but she needs to stop bobbing her head. By pressing the chest down, her hips will rise perhaps 1 inch, and her head needs to be underwater another 2ths per stroke, like Amanda's was in 2004. Breaststroke is one of the only strokes where just one half to one inch difference in head position can make as much as half a second difference per 50!!!!!!
That being said, Soni can improve too. I would love to see her head underwater one inch more, and for another tenth a second per stroke.
I invite breaststrokers such as Jeff and Allen Stark to comment on their strokes.
These 2 swimmers are at the extreme of breaststroke on their pulls.Leisel seems to me to pull too far back,which I think leads to her "bob".She has such a great kick,and such great DPS,she could go even faster which is scary.
Soni has a very strange pull,she does little more than scull back and then shoots her arms forward almost shoulder wide.I think this is a serious stroke flaw leading to her very high stroke counts for a WR 200 BR.(But then her holding the WR may mean my idea is just wrong!)Then again,she has a great kick and with her unbelievable endurance and guts,maybe she just needs to get her pull out of the way so she can kick as much as possible.I suspect though that if she had a little more insweep she could increase her DPS without slowing down and then her last 50 could be even faster.
Liesel used to swim too flat with her head NEVER going underwater. Her hips always were several inches below the waters surface. But shortly after one of the Dual in the Pools about 2005/2006 she started to put her head underwater each stroke. Not as good as Amanda Beard, but still a huge improvement. She immediately became the best in the world.
But even now, serious breaststroke coaches look at Liesel and wonder why she hasn't gotten better coaching. She remind me of me. Very stiff, with a huge tendance to bob the head up and down, rather than keeping it in line with the spine. I guarantee you if Liesel had Amanda's last coach, she would be at 2:18. She is the only one in the world with enough speed to go that fast, but she needs to stop bobbing her head. By pressing the chest down, her hips will rise perhaps 1 inch, and her head needs to be underwater another 2ths per stroke, like Amanda's was in 2004. Breaststroke is one of the only strokes where just one half to one inch difference in head position can make as much as half a second difference per 50!!!!!!
That being said, Soni can improve too. I would love to see her head underwater one inch more, and for another tenth a second per stroke.
I invite breaststrokers such as Jeff and Allen Stark to comment on their strokes.
These 2 swimmers are at the extreme of breaststroke on their pulls.Leisel seems to me to pull too far back,which I think leads to her "bob".She has such a great kick,and such great DPS,she could go even faster which is scary.
Soni has a very strange pull,she does little more than scull back and then shoots her arms forward almost shoulder wide.I think this is a serious stroke flaw leading to her very high stroke counts for a WR 200 BR.(But then her holding the WR may mean my idea is just wrong!)Then again,she has a great kick and with her unbelievable endurance and guts,maybe she just needs to get her pull out of the way so she can kick as much as possible.I suspect though that if she had a little more insweep she could increase her DPS without slowing down and then her last 50 could be even faster.
