The DQ thread got me thinking about swimming rules I'd like to see repealed. Here's my list:
15M rule on freestyle -- You're allowed to do virtually anything you want in a freestyle race provided you touch the walls, don't push off the bottom and don't pull on the lane lines. Why is going beyond 15 meters doing SDK not "freestyle?"
15M rule on backstroke -- Again, the rule seems arbitrary as I could go 15M underwater SDK, pop up and then kick the rest of the way still doing SDK on my back and be perfectly legal. What's so magical about 15M?
Dolphin kick off the wall on a breaststroke pullout -- just have the guts to DQ Kitajima back when he should've been DQd and this whole :worms:wouldn't have been opened.
Rollover backstroke turns -- go back to the bucket turn (touch on your back, turn, push off on your back) and you save a whole bunch of DQ hassles for swimmers & judges. Yeah, times will be way slower, but we banned tech suits, so clearly the swimming purists should be lined up behind this one.
Standup backstroke starts -- what's so magical about starting with your toes / feet in the water when we get to start with our feet out of the water on all other races? Let's stop the discrimination against backstrokers!
For the record, with the exception of #5, I would derive no speed benefit from any of the above rule changes as a competitor (I can't hold my breath in a race for 15M and my doplhin kick on the *** pullout is weak at best). As an S&T judge, though, all of these would make my life easier and, I believe (#5 possibly excepted), be more consistent with the overall rules for the strokes.
A single execution of a spread-legged kick (whip or scissors) is more propulsive than a single execution of a close-legged kick (flutter or dolphin), because a spread-legged kick catches much more water. Whether a given swimmer can achieve more yardage from a whip or scissors kick depends on his or her technique, strength, flexibility, etc.
The reason a single execution of sidestroke will tend to achieve more yardage than a single execution of breaststroke, is due to the simultaneity of the arm pull and scissors kick in the sidestroke.
In breaststroke, we have yet to devise a way for the double-arm pull to be more than a preparation--a setup--for the whip kick. The breaststroke arm and whip kick are done in succession, one after the other.
In sidestroke, properly executed, the lower arm prepares and sets up the scissors kick. The kick is then done simultaneous with the higher arm pull, which has extended fully forward during the setup, then pulls the length of the body simultaneous with the scissors kick. The higher arm pull, combined with the scissors kick, provides maximum propulsion.
Competitive swimmers, especially breaststrokers, stand to benefit from the technical and muscular improvement resulting from sidestroke development.
If you want maximum propulsion from a single swimming action I'd have to vote for BR pulldown with simultaneous dolphin kick.
A single execution of a spread-legged kick (whip or scissors) is more propulsive than a single execution of a close-legged kick (flutter or dolphin), because a spread-legged kick catches much more water. Whether a given swimmer can achieve more yardage from a whip or scissors kick depends on his or her technique, strength, flexibility, etc.
The reason a single execution of sidestroke will tend to achieve more yardage than a single execution of breaststroke, is due to the simultaneity of the arm pull and scissors kick in the sidestroke.
In breaststroke, we have yet to devise a way for the double-arm pull to be more than a preparation--a setup--for the whip kick. The breaststroke arm and whip kick are done in succession, one after the other.
In sidestroke, properly executed, the lower arm prepares and sets up the scissors kick. The kick is then done simultaneous with the higher arm pull, which has extended fully forward during the setup, then pulls the length of the body simultaneous with the scissors kick. The higher arm pull, combined with the scissors kick, provides maximum propulsion.
Competitive swimmers, especially breaststrokers, stand to benefit from the technical and muscular improvement resulting from sidestroke development.
If you want maximum propulsion from a single swimming action I'd have to vote for BR pulldown with simultaneous dolphin kick.
