How Far Can You GLIDE?
Here's the Rules for Streamline Gliding:
1) Go Underwater,
2) push off the wall as hard as you can,
(should we have a FROM A DIVE category too?)
3) streamline as skinny as you can like Michael Phelps
4) glide as FAR as you can,
you measure your distance from the wall you started at to the furthest point your body reaches, probably your finger tips
5) but you can't kick or pull, you can only glide, if you kick or pull you are DQed
6) you're done when you stop, breathe, or break your streamline,
and
7) you are only allowed to wear one training suit or a 2011 FINA Approved tech suits, but no wetsuits or full body rubber suits,
you may wear a cap and goggles. pretty much follow the USMS suit rules
Give it a try, See how far you get.
Let us know or better yet make a video and post the link to your streamline glide here in this thread.
RIDE THE GLIDE
Here's a video I made on Friday April 22nd, 2011 of my furthest streamline glide so far.
YouTube - Swimmer Glides FAR from just One Push
My best thus far is 13.5 M
I keep getting weekly improvements
My method is a dive from edge of pool (depth varies from 4.5' to 5' depending on if the pool was filled back up lol).
I do have a few descrepancies however. First, in order to maintain stability I have to flick my foot/toe slightly here or there, not for propulsion though. Second thing, no matter how I position myself my tail end sinks too early
y'all are doing awesome!
keep practicing
the other day I glided 25 yards from the not as deep end of the diving well
I think it's 12 feet. I pushed off around 3 meters
YES! it's great a way to perfect your pushoffs and streamlines
Ask someone to video you from above from a 3 board or platform or 5 meter platform
Wear a new TECH SUIT
rest a while and breathe like you're preparing to hold our breath for over a minute
Breathe in as much as you possibly can on your final breath then jump in & go as deep as your pool allows
push off hard
streamline skinny & glide far
as you lose momentum slightly angle your arms head & upper torso up and let your fat & extra air in your lungs surge you to the surface,
even when you're moving super slow maintain your streamline & body position, keep holding your breath, don't leak any air,
deal with doubt & discomfort as you're nearing the end
For self taught swimmers who started from scratch later in life where swimming wasn't reinforced in childhood, this gliding skill seems to be something valuable. I swear I've improved considerably since I started this simple maneuver. I think it corrected something that was off.
I haven't been doing these lately (I should since I can push off in 12' of water now) but the ones I did about a month ago have made a huge difference in my *** stroke pull-outs. Thanks for the challenge Ande!
For self taught swimmers who started from scratch later in life where swimming wasn't reinforced in childhood, this gliding skill seems to be something valuable. I swear I've improved considerably since I started this simple maneuver. I think it corrected something that was off.
I haven't been doing these lately (I should since I can push off in 12' of water now) but the ones I did about a month ago have made a huge difference in my *** stroke pull-outs. Thanks for the challenge Ande!
You're welcome, how far can you get now?
This test, does not only evaluate your potential for streamlining, but also your natural buoyancy.
On the clip where you manage 25y worth of gliding, you start at the bottom of the pool. You're exceptional buoyancy allows you to maintain a streamline position without kicking at all. You're body is surfacing gradually, without loosing the balance.
Several males swimmers would see their legs dropping as soon as the forward momentum stops providing enough support. As soon as the legs start dropping, drag resistance grows and they fall in a vicious circle (ie, legs drop so does the speed, since the speed drops then legs drop even more).
They're not necessarily less streamline than you are, they just float less.
Buoyancy is affected by a bunch of factor, some of which we have control over (ie, how to use the core muscles to try and spread the buoyancy potential from the upper body region down to the lower body region), and obviously also affected by other factors over which we have less control, ie the distribution of the body fat over the entire body, etc...
Time in glide to wall would be good, but done in one of the outside lanes. Or even while swimming is going on in other lanes just to see if there is a turbulent effect that will be noticeable.
The "wave" & turbulence test idea is beautiful. I like the idea of comparing the distance and time traveled. How about a "team-plunge" event where one swimmer can draft off the first and then the leader peals away. The clock starts and stops with the second swimmer. Has anyone ever experimented with this? (Other than just drafting too close to the person in front of you in practice.)
