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
Wow. Every great coach I ever had broke down our strokes and did drills with us on a regular basis (for each stroke, each turn, starts, finishes). I find drills invaluable when teaching non-swimmers how to do the stroke correctly. The best drill EVER, IMHO, as far as teaching non-swimmers to lengthen their freestyle and rotate is kicking on the side. As I understand it, just about every elite swimmer does drill work. I can't see how one can argue that drills aren't valuable and have solid evidence to back that up.
I think you are presenting two separate ideas here. I agree: elite swimmers do a lot of side kicking. But the point of doing that drill is not to "lengthen their freestyle and rotate," it is to overstress the legs. Overstressing a movement can lead to strength gains that lead to faster swimming.
You are calling that a drill, which is fine, though that kind of drill is significantly different than, say finger-tip drag freestyle. With Finger-tip drag you exaggerate a movement - often times at a slower pace - in an effort to perfect form. I would dispute that there is a consensus that those drills work. I think you would find that when those drills are employed they serve a recovery purpose, not a training purpose and that they have minimal value beyond a certain point.
Wow. Every great coach I ever had broke down our strokes and did drills with us on a regular basis (for each stroke, each turn, starts, finishes). I find drills invaluable when teaching non-swimmers how to do the stroke correctly. The best drill EVER, IMHO, as far as teaching non-swimmers to lengthen their freestyle and rotate is kicking on the side. As I understand it, just about every elite swimmer does drill work. I can't see how one can argue that drills aren't valuable and have solid evidence to back that up.
I think you are presenting two separate ideas here. I agree: elite swimmers do a lot of side kicking. But the point of doing that drill is not to "lengthen their freestyle and rotate," it is to overstress the legs. Overstressing a movement can lead to strength gains that lead to faster swimming.
You are calling that a drill, which is fine, though that kind of drill is significantly different than, say finger-tip drag freestyle. With Finger-tip drag you exaggerate a movement - often times at a slower pace - in an effort to perfect form. I would dispute that there is a consensus that those drills work. I think you would find that when those drills are employed they serve a recovery purpose, not a training purpose and that they have minimal value beyond a certain point.
