I just watched a great video entitled Swim Slow to Be Fast. I found it to be very interesting and sound advice. It is primarily meant for Tri Atheletes and distance swimmers..
Former Member
George,
I didn't read the article but slow motion, drill work, is the best way to promote effective stroke changes. It's also necessary to perform isometrics and other exercises to help strengthen the necessary recruitment muscles. Even slight changes in a pulling pattern may take thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of correct repititions before muscle memory is acquired. It's the old adage, practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect and slower, not faster, helps.
Even without opening this thread, seeing the title was enough to get a(n almost totally random) song stuck in my head. All morning I have been hummingYou gotta be cruel to be kind...
... in the right measure...
I'm pretty sure the last time I heard that song was at my neighborhood pool as a 12-and-under, the summer that it was all over the radio....cruel to be kind...
...is a very, very, very good sign
Since I'm now obligated to say something on-topic, I'll point out that many triathletes have the mantra that long, slow distance training is only good for training you to race slow.
...cruel to be kind...
...means that I love you...
Many are tempted to carry their run & bike training plans over to the pool, without realizing that drag trumps aerobic fitness in the water. I agree that some "slow" work on technique can often pay bigger dividends than thrashing through another sprint set....baaayyy beee...
...you gotta be cruel...
...you gotta be cruel to be kind
There isn't one single world class triathlete, elite master swimmer or world record holder who has poor technique. Few coaches will deny that the key to fast swimming is training fast but unless you have an effective swimming technique the only thing you'll reach by training faster is mediocrity. The beginner or poor swimmer should use a majority of their training time on improving their technique and when they get more proficient add more yardage and more sprinting. I know most of us get it so I'll leave it at that.
Here is the link www.triswimsecrets.com/.../ I enjoyed his thoughts and understand his idea. It is essential to have technique first to have speed. Sprinting is not his game. He is a drill guy and you may know my thoughts about drills. But I give him credit and will support many of his views.
To be fast,
you must swim fast
i just watched a great video entitled swim slow to be fast. I found it to be very interesting and sound advice. It is primarily meant for tri atheletes and distance swimmers..
In racewalking, the Russians have always taken their elite young walkers and never let them take a step unless it is "perfect." They will stop someone in the middle of a workout and have them refocus on technique if it is deteriorating. They contend that speed can always be added once technique is there but the easiest way to get good technique is to do so at the very beginning when there is less to unlearn. The consistency of their results over the last 50+ years is a strong testimony to that approach.
-LBJ
Did not read or see the article, but I think you can swim with a slow stroke rate to be fast. Dave Cromwell illustrates this well in this race. He holds a 51.4 sec 100 yd pace with 9 strokes per length. This is a good example showing how slowing down your stroke rate does not necesarally means swimming slow.
www.floswimming.org/.../7422-
I just watched a great video entitled Swim Slow to Be Fast. I found it to be very interesting and sound advice. It is primarily meant for Tri Atheletes and distance swimmers.. This coach's target audience is mainly made of triathletes coming to the sport from a non swimming background. There's a lot of doe to be made with this clientele. So it's a smart choice.
Very often, these guys think that swim training is same as run or cycling training. The purpose of this clip is to insist on the importance of developing a good technique, which in turn improves newbies' swim efficiency.
That said though, most of the best sprinters I've known (100/200 specialists, not the 50 ones which are often different animals) shared one thing in common. Even when they perform their base mileage, they remain pretty race pace **stroke** specific.
It's possible to achieve this since swimming is a glide based cyclic activity. (like speed skating or cross country skiing if you will). The idea is to try to generate a lot of torque on each stroke, so that muscular adaptation be significant, even when swimming at slower pace (well, for these guys swimming their stuff on a 1:20/100M pace is slowish).
