Swim Myth #9....Busted!

These Swim Myth discussions are awesome! This one is nearest and dearest to me! It is what I currently work the most on, and here is another way of saying essentially the same thing: First, I see nothing "wrong" with putting on those big 'ol paddles (and your pull buoy! and add fins, too!). Virtually everyone in our fast lanes 1 and 2 do this. Mostly for speed, only a few for health reasons. Who am I to judge why they do it? Most will say it is indeed a crutch, and for most they don't compete, don't intend to, and so their goal is to swim every set as fast as they can, with whatever equipment is socially acceptable (at DAMM, anything is allowed), and to hold their positions in lane 1 and lane 2. If you asked them what intervals they currently hold, held last year, 5 and 10 years ago, it would be the same answer. The only difference is they are now wearing equipment. Again, this is perfectly fine and they get a great workout in, see friends, and that's all they want. But if you want to get faster in a race...... Pay attention to Myth #9 in particular! Here are a couple of ways I think about how to allocate my workouts. They may help you, too: If the premise is you have about 1 hour per day, do you think you get faster by working on things you are already good at, or would you get more bang for the buck by working your weakest skills? If you are a good puller, or pull faster than you swim, then why keep working that instead of the other end???? Let's assume you already do some weight bearing/gym exercises, so it's not that your upper body muscles are too puny. And while you can always get stronger, always strive for a higher translation of dryland training to effective swimming, I now feel I am limited by my joints, but not by the muscles themselves. So the DIFFERENTIAL is much greater if I work on body alignment through the back half/legs, instead of spending precious time on (isolated) upper body work during my 1 hour. If you can get yourself more level in the water, that is, using a constant kick, a stronger kick, and also holding your body position "tight" but not rigid, then you won't be using your shoulders to bear the brunt of the pull. Think: the ideal is you don't pull - you are catching-anchoring-pushing-releasing (almost a slingshot sensation upon recovery, instead of lifting an anvil). You can only do that if you are high enough in the water having the proper balance to get up and over the proverbial barrel. The other benefit of getting up on the water with a steady kick is that you can't have proper arm stroke (and thus, low efficiency) if you aren't in alignment. You will fishtail, stall, etc and there is absolutely no way you can begin to think about whether your elbow is high, because you are compensating for your back half fishtail/swinging hips, x-ing around. And thus the vicous cycle of dropped elbow, underbody arm pull, too far out armpull, weak recovery, etc... If you want to work on your technique, always start with the legs. Everything else follows. The hard part is the application - how do you actually do it?!!! I fully agree to devote 1 day a week to kicking - and other things you would need in a race but don't get to practice in organized workouts - starts, turns, breakouts, etc. It's hard, really hard, and at first will feel uncomfortable, unnatural, and in general like you may be wasting your time. That is all natural. Just keep in mind that it's easy to grind those shoulders and do yet another pull set. It's in your comfort zone because you're good at it! It's really hard to make yourself do an extra kick set and/or working on your body alignment - it won't seem like you are going any faster, you might go slower, and it just takes your breath away! It also isn't done in isolation. If it were a gaurantee that if you did x amount of kicking or ankle stretches and you would get faster, then we'd all be doing it. It may also require you to adjust your timing, arms, breathing, head position - everything, and from slight to pronounced differences. But give it a try? What have you got to lose?!!! PS - to Fort, you can try variations of med ball - weight, speed, unstable surface, and find a load bearing wall to throw against if you don't have a partner.

These Swim Myth discussions are awesome! This one is nearest and dearest to me! It is what I currently work the most on, and here is another way of saying essentially the same thing: First, I see nothing "wrong" with putting on those big 'ol paddles (and your pull buoy! and add fins, too!). Virtually everyone in our fast lanes 1 and 2 do this. Mostly for speed, only a few for health reasons. Who am I to judge why they do it? Most will say it is indeed a crutch, and for most they don't compete, don't intend to, and so their goal is to swim every set as fast as they can, with whatever equipment is socially acceptable (at DAMM, anything is allowed), and to hold their positions in lane 1 and lane 2. If you asked them what intervals they currently hold, held last year, 5 and 10 years ago, it would be the same answer. The only difference is they are now wearing equipment. Again, this is perfectly fine and they get a great workout in, see friends, and that's all they want. But if you want to get faster in a race...... Pay attention to Myth #9 in particular! Here are a couple of ways I think about how to allocate my workouts. They may help you, too: If the premise is you have about 1 hour per day, do you think you get faster by working on things you are already good at, or would you get more bang for the buck by working your weakest skills? If you are a good puller, or pull faster than you swim, then why keep working that instead of the other end???? Let's assume you already do some weight bearing/gym exercises, so it's not that your upper body muscles are too puny. And while you can always get stronger, always strive for a higher translation of dryland training to effective swimming, I now feel I am limited by my joints, but not by the muscles themselves. So the DIFFERENTIAL is much greater if I work on body alignment through the back half/legs, instead of spending precious time on (isolated) upper body work during my 1 hour. If you can get yourself more level in the water, that is, using a constant kick, a stronger kick, and also holding your body position "tight" but not rigid, then you won't be using your shoulders to bear the brunt of the pull. Think: the ideal is you don't pull - you are catching-anchoring-pushing-releasing (almost a slingshot sensation upon recovery, instead of lifting an anvil). You can only do that if you are high enough in the water having the proper balance to get up and over the proverbial barrel. The other benefit of getting up on the water with a steady kick is that you can't have proper arm stroke (and thus, low efficiency) if you aren't in alignment. You will fishtail, stall, etc and there is absolutely no way you can begin to think about whether your elbow is high, because you are compensating for your back half fishtail/swinging hips, x-ing around. And thus the vicous cycle of dropped elbow, underbody arm pull, too far out armpull, weak recovery, etc... If you want to work on your technique, always start with the legs. Everything else follows. The hard part is the application - how do you actually do it?!!! I fully agree to devote 1 day a week to kicking - and other things you would need in a race but don't get to practice in organized workouts - starts, turns, breakouts, etc. It's hard, really hard, and at first will feel uncomfortable, unnatural, and in general like you may be wasting your time. That is all natural. Just keep in mind that it's easy to grind those shoulders and do yet another pull set. It's in your comfort zone because you're good at it! It's really hard to make yourself do an extra kick set and/or working on your body alignment - it won't seem like you are going any faster, you might go slower, and it just takes your breath away! It also isn't done in isolation. If it were a gaurantee that if you did x amount of kicking or ankle stretches and you would get faster, then we'd all be doing it. It may also require you to adjust your timing, arms, breathing, head position - everything, and from slight to pronounced differences. But give it a try? What have you got to lose?!!! PS - to Fort, you can try variations of med ball - weight, speed, unstable surface, and find a load bearing wall to throw against if you don't have a partner.