Since there is
Help my Flutter Kick is Horrible
and
Help my SDK is Horrible
I decided to begin
Help My Speed is Horrible!
a thread for swimmers who want to dramatically improve their 25 speed and times
Help My Speed is Horrible! is a Sprint improvement program
If you do it consistently you should dramatically improve your 25 swimming time.
When you improve your 25 speed
you'll improve your times in all swimming distances
especially 50's, 100's, & 200's
even 400, 500, 800, 1,000, 1,500 & 1,650 times will benefit.
Here's the Program for "Help My Speed is Horrible"
Begin with testing figure out your starting point. Where are you now?
Then train
Then retest
Test
Get your times on the following swims
1) 15 meters
2) 25
3) 50
4) 75 &
5) 100
Test the 15, 25, & 50 on one day then the 75 & 100 on a different day
put plenty of rest between each timed effort
like a very easy 75 or 125 or 175 then 3 to 7 more minutes of rest
put more rest between the longer sprints
also note
The suit you wore
Your start: how did you start each swim
(roll, push, or coaches go, )
dive from a block or side
push from in the water
Use a STOPWATCH tell the timer how you want them to time you
Report your Results in this thread
Training
1) do this set 2 or 3 times a week, 12 x 25 swim
3 EASY recovery concentrating on perfect form
1 as fast as possible for time
YOU MUST GO SUPER FAST ON THESE
IF YOU HOLD BACK AT ALL YOU'RE WASTING YOUR TIME
preferably no breath, unless your 25 time is over 20 or 25 seconds
It's OK to do more working out, just fit this set in some where in your workouts,
be consistent, one round is better than none
2) Test every Friday or Saturday
1) 3 weeks of 15, 25, & 50
2) 1 week of 25, 75 & 100
3) work on improving your flutter kick and SDK
www.usms.org/.../showpost.phpwww.usms.org/.../showpost.php
if you're working on your swimming speed, SDK and Flutter kick
do 2 x (4 x 25) swim
2 x (4 x 25) flutter kick
2 x (4 x 25) SDK
4) stretch your feet / ankles to improve your toe point
5) Lift weights to improve your strength power and speed
2 or 3 times a week
6) get a tech suit
www.usms.org/.../showpost.phpwww.usms.org/.../showpost.php
7) perfect your swimming technique
pushoff
streamline
SDK
head position
body position
arm motions
leg motions
touching the wall (the clock doesn't stop until you touch the wall)
8) Train and test for 5 weeks then
Rest one week, reduce your yardage
Mon 2 x 4 x 25
Tue easy
Wed 4 x 25
Thu easy
Friday or Saturday TEST wearing a tech suit
Report your results
9) begin another 6 week cycle
Report your test results in this fashion
(put most recent times on top)
8/10/08: 23.48
7/26: 25.92
7/6: 24.94
7/2: 25.45
5/10: 25.55
4/4: 27.18
3/29: 26.27
3/22: 27.62
3/15: 27.12
3/8: 28.0
3/1: 30.2
You should begin to see dramatic improvements in your 25 speed.
I look forward to reading your results.
Let me know if you accept this challenge
Give it a try and see what happens
Don't be fooled by how simple it is.
Are you in?
congrats on your improvements
I don't agree that the *** catch is the same as fly
fly
you catch then press down and through
***
you out sweep, in sweep then thrust.
there's plenty of info on
www.breaststroke.info
plus watch underwater youtube videos of the best
in fly
hands and forearms are beneath your elbows
perpendicular to the surface
in ***
hands and forearms tend to stay even with your elbows
parallell to the surface
if your *** pull is like a half fly pull
you bury your forearms and hands then have to "dig" them out
which creates lot of drag
watch what the best breastrokers do
basically the pull helps set up the kick
when elite breastrokers kick their upper bodies are streamlined to maximize distance
I think it's just the catch and partial pull. I don't feel like my hands are getting buried b/c I'm not going that far back with it.
This is on the breaststroke.info site (breaststroke.info/Whatwentwrongwiththewavestylebreaststroke.htm):
One of the reasons I believe in the “new” wave style is arm power is conserved more, with more emphasis on getting the most out of the kick, and the glide underwater. The forearms and biceps are not good for long term power production like the latissimus dorsi and trapezius muscles. This is why I stress the second hunch method of swimming breaststroke. By outward medial rotation of the arms through the shoulders and placing the shoulders in the exact position as the beginnings of the butterfly pull, breaststrokers can utilize more of the latissimus dorsi and trapezius muscles and less of the forearm and biceps. The thumbs and pointed down and palms outwards, elbows are high pointing to the waters surface. From this position of strength, either an outward scull or a butterfly pull can be made. My preference is the straight back butterfly pull.
By using a stretch to a butterfly catch and pull at shoulders width, the time consumed going to the out-scull catch and starting the in-sweep is eliminated. A butterfly type pull in breaststroke is faster and provides more forwards propulsion. Domenico Fioravanti, Kosuke Kitakimaand Agnes Kovacs all use variations of a butterfly pull. This quicker pull allows more time in streamline and underwater. This allows for a true glide, and energy is conserved to be used for the rest of the stroke.
So Wayne claims the same thing in this article that my buddy related to me. This model really struck a chord with me lately. I used to do the old windshield wiper-type (like what you describe above) pull but the more fly-like style sure feels a lot better to me.
That was only one piece advice that I was given, and the one that I've identified as really working well for me at this point. There was a whole slew of other tips and drills, and my buddy told me that he was giving me a bunch of different things to try because breaststroke is a pretty stylistically diverse stroke, with different things working for different people.
I'm going to start doing this as well. I think I'm more suited to distance in the free, but for some reason I can move pretty fast in ***--at least I can now. My 50y *** was ~45 (don't remember the actual time, because like an idiot, I didn't write it down) from a push; however, today, I did a 25y in 15 seconds from a push, and this was after about 1,000 yards of practice. Something just clicked in my technique, and I noticed I was moving a lot faster through the water than I was previously. I think I'm going to do a 50 off the block on Saturday so I can have a real baseline to work from.
Also, I just wanted to add that I've been swimming for about 3-4 weeks, so go easy on me with my times!
hey Gold,
was that 15 for a 25 ***
just test it again
look forward to seeing your times and progress
Ande
I'm going to start doing this as well. I think I'm more suited to distance in the free, but for some reason I can move pretty fast in ***--at least I can now. My 50y *** was ~45 (don't remember the actual time, because like an idiot, I didn't write it down) from a push; however, today, I did a 25y in 15 seconds from a push, and this was after about 1,000 yards of practice. Something just clicked in my technique, and I noticed I was moving a lot faster through the water than I was previously. I think I'm going to do a 50 off the block on Saturday so I can have a real baseline to work from.
Also, I just wanted to add that I've been swimming for about 3-4 weeks, so go easy on me with my times!
I changed my breaststroke this week. An old friend of mine, who happens to be an excellent breaststroker and a coach, was in town this last weekend. He looked at my stroke and gave me a crapload of pointers and drills to try.
The tip he gave me that really seems to be helping is that the catch should be the same as it is in butterfly. I was thinking about that yesterday and started doing some drills where I'd do 2-3 fly strokes and then a couple of *** strokes, trying to maintain the same feel on the catch. Then I'd swim 100 ***. I swam my first ever sub-1:20 practice 100 breaststroke yesterday (1:17).
My training set times have gone down 1-2s per 50 since I started trying to be more fly-like with my breaststroke. My stroke feels a lot more fluid now, and I can really feel the difference in that it feels like I'm continuously moving instead of the more herky-jerky motion I was using before. I feel like I've had a breaststroke epiphany. Hopefully it's not just an anomalous couple of days
I went to my gym yesterday to do some times, but I only got one in before my watch filled with water and broke. :mad: Anyway, the pool has no gutters, is only about 3 feet deep, has all sorts of jets, and is generally just a crappy pool. I don't know if that had any effect on my time, but I swam 50m in 38 seconds. I know that's horrible, and I swim faster in the pool at practice, but I'm not sure if that's mental or if the pool actually helps.
On Tuesday, I'm going to have my coach time me for real rather than just me hitting start on my watch and going.
Been doing a "fast " set once a week which includes ALL OUT swims with alot of rest. Today I felt I really got turning over and went 17.5 from a push. That works out to a 52.5 pace. Hoping for that sub 60 at a meet at the end of month.
8/27
33.3 20sec
66.6 44sec
9/4
33.3 19sec
66.6 43sec
10/14
33.3 17.5sec
I'm going to start doing this as well. I think I'm more suited to distance in the free, but for some reason I can move pretty fast in ***--at least I can now. My 50y *** was ~45 (don't remember the actual time, because like an idiot, I didn't write it down) from a push; however, today, I did a 25y in 15 seconds from a push, and this was after about 1,000 yards of practice. Something just clicked in my technique, and I noticed I was moving a lot faster through the water than I was previously. I think I'm going to do a 50 off the block on Saturday so I can have a real baseline to work from.
Also, I just wanted to add that I've been swimming for about 3-4 weeks, so go easy on me with my times!
I started swimming 5 weeks ago and my time is similar to yours. I do 50m in 32sec. I was off for 15years. I am 30 now. don't worry it takes time to get back patience pays off.
:)
I normally time myself on the pace clock, but this past time I was timed by someone off the paceclock. When I looked at the clock I saw 18, so the times are close. The real time will come at the end of the month at my meet.
