By freestyle I mean front crawl. At the pool I see many people swim only freestyle. Some regulars swim it continuously for more than an hour, nothing else, day after day. Unless they are preparing for some coming race, I wonder why they don't get bored? It's also easy to get injury if you swim only one style for long term. Does anyone here belong to this category? If so, I'm interested to know what's your mindset. :D
If you think about it, swimming is somewhat unique in having different strokes. Think about runners. They don't decide to run a mile backwards every so often just so they don't get bored! So, in that sense, I don't think it's strange at all that lots of people swim freestyle exclusively.
Oh man...thinking about running makes my head hurt. I'm not sure why they ever invented running... :afraid:...except to make good episodes of "COPS" on tv. :bolt:
If you think about it, swimming is somewhat unique in having different strokes. Think about runners. They don't decide to run a mile backwards every so often just so they don't get bored! So, in that sense, I don't think it's strange at all that lots of people swim freestyle exclusively.
Hurdles. Steeplechase. Racewalking.
Hurdles. Steeplechase. Racewalking.
OK, in the history of Olympic athletics competition how many people have won gold medals in more than one of the following: running, hurdles, steeplechase, racewalking?
OK, in the history of Olympic athletics competition how many people have one gold medals in more than one of the following: running, hurdles, steeplechase, racewalking?
That question makes my brain hurt.
Running workouts include
running backwards
starts
plyometrics
box jumps
overspeed
hills
drills (high knees, skips, bounding, kareoke)
bleachers
sled
racewalking?....no.
from my perspective, there are alot of things that go into running and a fair amount of a workout is things other than straight running.
When I started swimming, I figured freestyle was all I was interested in. I found out the other strokes would make me a better freestyler. I thought of the other strokes as drills that taught skulling and feeling the water which help in freestyle. Just like running, there is alot that goes into training freestyle.
Freestyle, mostly because it's efficient. I'm not strong on the other strokes, which I should work on ... but to make the workout count I stick to freestyle. This is something I would fix if I joined a team, without coaching I'm just struggling and not getting in the yrds.
Some regulars swim it continuously for more than an hour, nothing else, day after day. Unless they are preparing for some coming race, I wonder why they don't get bored?
If you think about it, swimming is somewhat unique in having different strokes. Think about runners. They don't decide to run a mile backwards every so often just so they don't get bored! So, in that sense, I don't think it's strange at all that lots of people swim freestyle exclusively.
I can go one step further. Not only do I swim front crawl during a 5,000m session every day, but I use a pullbuoy all the time. The reason is, I enjoy it.
It's also easy to get injury if you swim only one style for long term.
This I don't agree with.
I swim crawl in all my workouts because it's all I compete in. During my warmup though, I do about 2-3 lengths of slow backstroke to warm up the shoulders a little.
