I personally never do drills that focus on a part of a full stroke, such as kicking alone, or one-hand stroke, etc. etc. If I want to correct/improve a certain aspect of the stroke, I do so in full stroke. How many out there share my opinion that separate drills are unnecessary, or even not helpful?
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Former Member
Thanks for taking the poll. Maybe I should clarify: what I meant was I don't think it's necessary to do the drills that are not full strokes. I fully agree that full-stroke swimming that focuses on certain aspect (e.g. breathing, pull, recovery, kick, core use...) is very important and necessary. What I am rather indifferent is the "partial" stroke drills, such as kicking without arm movement, or using only left hand and leg, etc., to correct/improve some mistake/weakness. I am not saying those drills can't be helpful. What I think is that the problems can be more directly and effectively corrected/improved through full-stroke practice. It makes more sense because after all, there are problems that will reveal only when you put everything together and swim full stroke. Take the kick board. You may be able to train the strenght of your kicks using the kick board, but the way you kick with a kick board is different from the way you do kicks when swimming full stroke; after using the board, and back to full stroke, you may find new problems with your kicking, especially with regard to coordination with arms. So why not just do the full stroke and pay attention to the kicks?
Thanks for taking the poll. Maybe I should clarify: what I meant was I don't think it's necessary to do the drills that are not full strokes. I fully agree that full-stroke swimming that focuses on certain aspect (e.g. breathing, pull, recovery, kick, core use...) is very important and necessary. What I am rather indifferent is the "partial" stroke drills, such as kicking without arm movement, or using only left hand and leg, etc., to correct/improve some mistake/weakness. I am not saying those drills can't be helpful. What I think is that the problems can be more directly and effectively corrected/improved through full-stroke practice. It makes more sense because after all, there are problems that will reveal only when you put everything together and swim full stroke. Take the kick board. You may be able to train the strenght of your kicks using the kick board, but the way you kick with a kick board is different from the way you do kicks when swimming full stroke; after using the board, and back to full stroke, you may find new problems with your kicking, especially with regard to coordination with arms. So why not just do the full stroke and pay attention to the kicks?
