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
Hey, I was away when you posted this and just saw it now. It's interesting to me because I've made a very similar discovery about my swimming.
In attempt to get more comfortable under water coming off turns, as part my wu, (typically 1000 yds these days) I started taking more strokes off every wall before breathing. (In free of course, not ***, that would be practicing to DQ.) First I incresed from 2 to 3 strokes, and later to 4 strokes. Then something interesting happened: My SPL went up! I was just stroking quicker to get to the breath. I realized that is stupid, so I dropped it back down. Very recently I found out something even more interesting. If I breathe on strokes 3,6,9,12,15,18, I take 19 SPL, but if I breathe on strokes 2,5,8,11,14,17, I take only 18 SPL, and I am just as fast if not faster with no increse in effort. That's the same number of breaths per length, so presumably I have the same oxygen availability, but my stroke count drops.
Based on this data I agree that hypoxic work is only valuable as long as you don't deterioriate your stroke to accomplish it.
:applaud: I breathe every 2 strokes in freestyle. I typically breathe right off the turn, and sometimes I take an extra breath before a turn if my last stroke is to my weak side. I remember all the time that my coaches spent preaching against this back around 1982, but I can't recall any actual reason that this makes a swimmer slower. The only time I'll consciously restrict my breathing is when I'm swimming a 50 and/or taking the last few strokes before a finish.
Hey, I was away when you posted this and just saw it now. It's interesting to me because I've made a very similar discovery about my swimming.
In attempt to get more comfortable under water coming off turns, as part my wu, (typically 1000 yds these days) I started taking more strokes off every wall before breathing. (In free of course, not ***, that would be practicing to DQ.) First I incresed from 2 to 3 strokes, and later to 4 strokes. Then something interesting happened: My SPL went up! I was just stroking quicker to get to the breath. I realized that is stupid, so I dropped it back down. Very recently I found out something even more interesting. If I breathe on strokes 3,6,9,12,15,18, I take 19 SPL, but if I breathe on strokes 2,5,8,11,14,17, I take only 18 SPL, and I am just as fast if not faster with no increse in effort. That's the same number of breaths per length, so presumably I have the same oxygen availability, but my stroke count drops.
Based on this data I agree that hypoxic work is only valuable as long as you don't deterioriate your stroke to accomplish it.
:applaud: I breathe every 2 strokes in freestyle. I typically breathe right off the turn, and sometimes I take an extra breath before a turn if my last stroke is to my weak side. I remember all the time that my coaches spent preaching against this back around 1982, but I can't recall any actual reason that this makes a swimmer slower. The only time I'll consciously restrict my breathing is when I'm swimming a 50 and/or taking the last few strokes before a finish.
