As quoted in the AP article:
"You'll all have to see. I'm not saying anything until we unveil it," Phelps said with a grin when asked how he's tweaked the stroke. "It's a significant change. You'll be able to tell exactly what I did as soon as I take my first stroke."
He's on tap to swim the 100- and 200-meter free and the 100 butterfly at the Charlotte UltraSwim in NC. Should be interesting to see.
I wish I could find the article - but I read that in general it can between 7,000-14,000 repetitions of a technique change before it becomes the new "normal." The article cited the experience of tennis players who change some element of their strokes.
If you take 15 strokes per 25 - that means 467 lengths of the same thing or almost 12,000 yards if 7,000 repetitions are required.
That's why it is so hard sometimes to fix a bad stroke habit!
What ever Phelps technique change is, you can be sure Bob Bowman is the architect of it. My guess is Bob studied Eamon & Alain's technique (the only 2 swimmers who swam faster in the 100 free than Phelps.) Bowman asked "What can Michael do to swim faster?"
He came up with some ideas, they've tested it in workouts, decided it's a good thing, worked to make it a habit and now Phelps is going to test it in a race.
Probably straight arm recovery
Maybe dolphin kick instead of flutter while swimming freestyle.
On a different note, since Phelps is no longer swimming the 400 IM. Bowman's probably determined Phelps needs to be stronger to swim faster 100's.
Especially since Rafael Munoz Perez proved at the French Long Course National Championships that his 50 Mariposa speed wasn't a fluke.
Maybe dolphin kick instead of flutter while swimming freestyle.
My first thought was a dolphin/free hybrid. Whatever it is, I'm sure you're right about Bowman being the architect.
One question-how long does it take to make an obvious change in the stroke that it is effective and doesn't slow the swimmer down? I guess it would be longer for us mere mortals compared to Phelps. Just curious to know how long it takes.
I think Phelps also has the benefit of access to moving underwater cameras and pretty sophisticated stroke power/velocity monitoring software to let him know that he's on the right track to a faster stroke. I don't believe that Phelps could necessarily make such a change faster than a lot of swimmers who seriously and consistently work on stroke correction. I do believe he has more ways to measure that correction than are available to the non-professional to ensure him that he's on the right track.
he'll do the change just by concentrating on it during the race
not sure how long it takes to get technique mods to stick
some swimmers are more coachable than others.
Some get a coaches feedback and do the suggestion.
Other swimmers hear the feedback but can't picture it or make mods.
One swimmer left our team because the coach suggested he change his stroke.
Swimmers:
What actual technique modifications have you made?
Did they STICK?
What did it take to get them to stick?
I've written about this somewhere before
to change your technique:
you have to concentrate on what to do during every second of training.
The instant your concentration lapses, you're likely to fall back into your old habit.
My rule of thumb for changing technique is
Will it make me faster?
I think some swimmers attempt to make technique mods that won't make them faster.
I've made a few technique mods
1) reg start to track start
2) SDKing further on backstroke & fly
3) faster recovery on *** pull / riding the glide, &
4) adding a single dolphin to my breastroke pull out
What changes are you thinking of making to your stroke?
Also as you're changing your technique it helps to have a coach or a knowledgable swimmer watch you and give you feedback. You have to learn how the new technique feels.
Usually it feels strange because it is different.
I think it helps to test the new technique to see if it is faster.
I don't believe that Phelps could necessarily make such a change faster than a lot of swimmers who seriously and consistently work on stroke correction. I do believe he has more ways to measure that correction than are available to the non-professional to ensure him that he's on the right track.
Windmill lope with dolphin kick would be pretty obvious from the first stroke.
Either way...it'll be interesting to see what happens. Both stroke wise and time wise.
There's a video of Stefan Nystrand training. He gets his own lane. That's probably a good idea.
"Okay kids, Put your paddles on. Let's all try to swim like Mikey does" :afraid:
