Hey gang, we leave Tuesday for 18 days to "work" on a couple of back-to-back Alaskan cruises (I teach adult arts & crafts classes aboard ship.). When I was training for Nationals, I was SURE that by the time I finished Nationals, I would want to take those 18 days off from swimming to rest my shoulders and just do dryland work. But, after many bad nights of sleep in a row (heat intolerance issues at Nationals), I did a crash and burn last night (thanks to 2 Tylenol PM), and had an awesome workout at the pool. I had forgotten, after 31 years, how GOOD it felt to do a hard post-taper swim! :bliss:I feel great and started mourning the loss of pool access during my travels, until I remembered the ship's tiny indoor pool! :D I obviously won't be able to "swim", but I CAN do drills... I'm thinking the feet first scull, kicking with my hands up against the wall, egg beater kick, and, ??? For various reasons, I won't be purchasing and bringing a tether or any other eqt. besides my suit and goggles. So, if you can recommend drills based on the size of the pool, I would greatly appreciate it. Below is a photo I shot of the pool last year, while working aboard ship.
Thanks! And, happy travels to any of you who have summer travel plans, as well. :)
P.S. I don't have a laptop (or fancy phone), so I'll be off the forums during my travels- unless I pop into an internet cafe. I'll miss you guys!
Parents
Former Member
For a good free drill, do closed fist swimming. Simply do free but ball up your hands into fists. You won't move as fast and it works on getting the feel of your pull out of the forearms alone rather than the whole hand.
Skulling is good but don't limit it to feet first. Work on each part of the stroke as a skull. it's nice and slow so a short pool seems longer when doing this.
Do wall kicking with hands on the side of the pool like 45seconds kick and 15 sec rest, etc.
Vertical kicking if the pool is deep enough. 15 seconds elbows out of the water, 30 seconds armpits out of the water. 15 seconds rest. Edit intervals to your ability.
In the shallow end do jumps. Lock your hands above or behind your head, crouch down under the water, then blast up out of the water, and immediately get back in the crouched position. Do this repeatedly for an interval time (45 sec and 15 rest?). REALLY works the pushoffs for the wall/start and is useful for a breaststroker too. You should be in chest to stomach-deep water and blast off so you get your knees out of the water or close. This one is surprisingly tiresome.
Another one, Stand in the pool facing a wall. Do a pushup on the side of the pool such that you end up with your legs in the water, and hands on the deck outstretched straight holding you half out of the water. With your hands only, walk hand over hand around the outside of the pool with your feet dangling beneath. Not quite sure what muscle group works on but I always found it hard to do. A canadian olympic coach came to one of our practices back in like 1997 and claims that all members of their olympic team do this twice around the pool every day. I had a hard time making it 25 yards without dropping back into the pool to rest. I still have my doubts whether or not the guy was really an olympic coach since he just showed up one day, but it sure is hard and works the hell out of the arms.
For a good free drill, do closed fist swimming. Simply do free but ball up your hands into fists. You won't move as fast and it works on getting the feel of your pull out of the forearms alone rather than the whole hand.
Skulling is good but don't limit it to feet first. Work on each part of the stroke as a skull. it's nice and slow so a short pool seems longer when doing this.
Do wall kicking with hands on the side of the pool like 45seconds kick and 15 sec rest, etc.
Vertical kicking if the pool is deep enough. 15 seconds elbows out of the water, 30 seconds armpits out of the water. 15 seconds rest. Edit intervals to your ability.
In the shallow end do jumps. Lock your hands above or behind your head, crouch down under the water, then blast up out of the water, and immediately get back in the crouched position. Do this repeatedly for an interval time (45 sec and 15 rest?). REALLY works the pushoffs for the wall/start and is useful for a breaststroker too. You should be in chest to stomach-deep water and blast off so you get your knees out of the water or close. This one is surprisingly tiresome.
Another one, Stand in the pool facing a wall. Do a pushup on the side of the pool such that you end up with your legs in the water, and hands on the deck outstretched straight holding you half out of the water. With your hands only, walk hand over hand around the outside of the pool with your feet dangling beneath. Not quite sure what muscle group works on but I always found it hard to do. A canadian olympic coach came to one of our practices back in like 1997 and claims that all members of their olympic team do this twice around the pool every day. I had a hard time making it 25 yards without dropping back into the pool to rest. I still have my doubts whether or not the guy was really an olympic coach since he just showed up one day, but it sure is hard and works the hell out of the arms.
