Does anyone have any hints, tips, tricks, or drills to help swimmers engage their core while swimming freestyle (or any stroke for that matter)? :afraid:
Thanks!!
Lindsay, I've had Bill Boomer tell me the third tip, and I think it works pretty well. I think you're spot on. The way I think about it is that the idea is to move your hip bones towards your ribs, getting your spine completely straight (stand against a wall or lie on the floor to get "the position" about right).
I've also found this position hard to hold onto for an entire practice. You're flexing your large core muscles, and this takes energy. I really think it is a faster way to swim, certainly an easier way to swim faster, but it is not an easier way to swim, at least for me. My heart rate is higher at the end of fairly easy sets if I do this, though I take one to two fewer strokes per lap.
It almost feels like you are making your body into a Frisbee, curling down the leading and trailing edges of your torso. Of course you are not actually doing that, it just seems like it.
Lindsay, I've had Bill Boomer tell me the third tip, and I think it works pretty well. I think you're spot on. The way I think about it is that the idea is to move your hip bones towards your ribs, getting your spine completely straight (stand against a wall or lie on the floor to get "the position" about right).
I've also found this position hard to hold onto for an entire practice. You're flexing your large core muscles, and this takes energy. I really think it is a faster way to swim, certainly an easier way to swim faster, but it is not an easier way to swim, at least for me. My heart rate is higher at the end of fairly easy sets if I do this, though I take one to two fewer strokes per lap.
It almost feels like you are making your body into a Frisbee, curling down the leading and trailing edges of your torso. Of course you are not actually doing that, it just seems like it.
