Myth #8: All swimming drills are good for you.
I am a great believer in doing drills. In fact, if most swimmers would spend a little more time doing drills and not worry so much about getting their hour or so of aerobic fitness in, they might come out ahead. The biggest problem with drills is that too often, they are being done without any real understanding of what they are supposedly teaching you. Unless you are planning to enter a drill race, there is not much point in doing a drill unless you understand what it is for. Coaches often go to great lengths to explain how to do a drill properly, but then forget to mention what the drill is for.
And sometimes the drills that are being recommended actually teach you the wrong thing. For example, if you have no kick and you are trying to get faster by learning how to increase your stroke rate, then a catch-up drill may be doing you a big disservice. Or if I ever see anyone who has been told to flick water with their hand/wrist out the back end of their stroke, I kindly ask them to hit the delete button. Or what does sliding your finger tips across the surface of the water (finger tip drill) teach you that helps you swim faster?
So all I ask is that you do drills nearly every time you jump in the water, even if for warmup. But that you understand what the drill is trying to teach you AND that the drill is designed for the technique you are trying to learn.
Gary Sr.
The Race Club
Parents
Former Member
I have quite recently found hypoxic drills useful - they make me mindful of unnecessary energy expenditure - whether because I need to relax everything that doesn't need to be engaged (relaxed arm recovery, for example), or find a better streamline body position (trying to find path of least resistance). I feel things like head position making a big difference in hypoxic.
(and yes, if my stroke starts to degrade, then I consider it a failure/I'm not ready, and go to a lower stoke number).
Exactly right. Hypoxic work should be done relaxed.
I read a paper (can't recall where) that studied the effect of hypoxic work on masters swimmers. Essentially, you can improve your ability to hold your breath, but as we get older we will lose this capacity and no matter how hard we try we will not reverse the process. Don't force it.
I have quite recently found hypoxic drills useful - they make me mindful of unnecessary energy expenditure - whether because I need to relax everything that doesn't need to be engaged (relaxed arm recovery, for example), or find a better streamline body position (trying to find path of least resistance). I feel things like head position making a big difference in hypoxic.
(and yes, if my stroke starts to degrade, then I consider it a failure/I'm not ready, and go to a lower stoke number).
Exactly right. Hypoxic work should be done relaxed.
I read a paper (can't recall where) that studied the effect of hypoxic work on masters swimmers. Essentially, you can improve your ability to hold your breath, but as we get older we will lose this capacity and no matter how hard we try we will not reverse the process. Don't force it.
