Today one of my teammates, probably the fastest swimmer on our team, was telling me that I should think of aiming my hands toward the bottom of the opposite end of the pool rather than of reaching forward before catching. When I watched him swim, it still looked like he was extending forward, so I'm not sure if the move is just subtle or "a feeling" or if it is really a change of arm angle. When I tried to reach down, I felt like I wasn't getting full extension, but he said it looked better. I don't want to go through what feels like a fundamental stroke change unless I'm sure I understand what I'm supposed to be doing. Can someone enlighten me? Thanks!
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Former Member
... Swimming is a feeling, not a thought....
Wow! Very cool post!
I was chatting up a coach one day and he mentioned how the kids from his team would come up to him wanting to know how to swim like Michael Phelps. His response to them is that he can't do that, because they were not him, and he would then basically tell them, "But I can teach you to swim like you". Made a lot of sense to me.
I agree with a number of folks here on this MB... you can analyze this stuff to death, but for most folks I believe that approach is lost. I think it is somewhat a cultural phenomenon. In our fast paced, hi-tech "information" society, where always striving for perfection is considered "normal", we are now pretty thoroughly programmed to believe that more information is better.
If you want to set records (especially national and world), get into the USMS top ten, etc., then you probably need all that information... but probably only so that your brain is totally wired to swimming... especially for a particular event.
(As for specialization, take the recent accomplishments of Dara Torres for example. She drops out of the 100 free at the 2008 Olympics to stay competitive, yet in the 4x100 free relay she claimed the 2nd fastest split. Huh? Out of the 24 fastest women in the world, she is #2, yet she can't compete in the individual event? Don't get me wrong, I fully understand WHY she did what she did, but my point with this nugget is that the endless minutia on details of technique are probably only going to benefit people who possess the sort of mindset that Dara had in her approach to her performance in the 2008 Olympics.)
I believe that highly detailed advice is only going to be beneficial to perhaps 5% or less of folks who swim. That is because for most folks the emphasis of their swimming is fitness, along with an occasional jaunt to a swim meet or OW event.
"This is a simple game... you throw the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball!" - the Coach in the shower scene (from the movie Bull Durham) where he follows Crash's advice to "scare 'em".
:)
... Swimming is a feeling, not a thought....
Wow! Very cool post!
I was chatting up a coach one day and he mentioned how the kids from his team would come up to him wanting to know how to swim like Michael Phelps. His response to them is that he can't do that, because they were not him, and he would then basically tell them, "But I can teach you to swim like you". Made a lot of sense to me.
I agree with a number of folks here on this MB... you can analyze this stuff to death, but for most folks I believe that approach is lost. I think it is somewhat a cultural phenomenon. In our fast paced, hi-tech "information" society, where always striving for perfection is considered "normal", we are now pretty thoroughly programmed to believe that more information is better.
If you want to set records (especially national and world), get into the USMS top ten, etc., then you probably need all that information... but probably only so that your brain is totally wired to swimming... especially for a particular event.
(As for specialization, take the recent accomplishments of Dara Torres for example. She drops out of the 100 free at the 2008 Olympics to stay competitive, yet in the 4x100 free relay she claimed the 2nd fastest split. Huh? Out of the 24 fastest women in the world, she is #2, yet she can't compete in the individual event? Don't get me wrong, I fully understand WHY she did what she did, but my point with this nugget is that the endless minutia on details of technique are probably only going to benefit people who possess the sort of mindset that Dara had in her approach to her performance in the 2008 Olympics.)
I believe that highly detailed advice is only going to be beneficial to perhaps 5% or less of folks who swim. That is because for most folks the emphasis of their swimming is fitness, along with an occasional jaunt to a swim meet or OW event.
"This is a simple game... you throw the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball!" - the Coach in the shower scene (from the movie Bull Durham) where he follows Crash's advice to "scare 'em".
:)
