Greetings!
This is my first post so bear with me as I give a little history...
I am 43 and a professional musician. I swam USMS in the 80s. I was competitive all through high school (graduated in '78), I was an ocean guard for 6 years on beautiful Nantucket Island, I coached HS swimming and taught advanced lifesaving and water safety for several years.
I am recovering from a 4 year illness and began swimming again in November. A year ago I could barely walk let alone swim. Now I swim 4x/wk in a 25 yd indoor pool. My top yardage to date is 4000.
My current workout goes something like this...
(all free)
1000 warmup (average 20 minutes)
2x500 (1 without and 1 with paddles)
5x200 "Lungbusters" (3-5-7-5) - tough cause I have asthma!
5x100 on 2 minutes
6x50 on 1 minute
200 warm down
I have always tried to go from distance to sprints in all my workouts.
Now the catch - I had back problems and got used to pulling my entire workouts. I am trying to break the habit. I just bought Vertex II short blade training fins as a start. I am fairly tight in my build so I have to be careful not to do any damage as I try and get my kicks back.
I would appreciate feedback on my workouts as well as advice on my kick training. I am very self motivated but have as a goal to rejoin USMS in the near future.
It is great to have access to this wonderful forum and I hope to see you all at meets in the future!
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Former Member
Ted,
Thanks on the reply post. I would have to say that Cynthia is also right about mixing up your workout with some (non-free) stroke sets. I happen to be a backstroker as well. Some days I'll swim half the workout backstroke in an effort to looosen up the freestyle muscles. The arm pull on backstroke swimming is in opposition to the freestyle arm pull. It can literally massage the tightness out of the triceps and shoulders. This is probably why most people find themselves recovering from a nasty freestyle set with double arm backstroke without even knowing why. But more importantly, too much freestyle can lead to shoulder trouble if it's overdone, especially with excessive paddle use.
About the head position and buoy use, Matt brings up a terrific article by Coach Hines. And I vouch for everything that Emmett says. Rather than looking straight ahead, try staring somewhat down. It feels very wierd at first. Sure on sprints I may pick the head up just slightly to get a focus on the wall, but just a slight tilt downward is all it takes to eliminate that drag. Now the legs are kicking for propulsion instead of trying to keep your butt from sinking.
Click on this link for another insightful article by Coach Hines on why kicking the buoy habit might actual help your swimming:
www.svl.ch/PullBuoy/
The same site has a good overview on how to find the right horizontal line in the water:
www.svl.ch/svlimmat_balance.html
Who'ld ever thought that swimming could be made easy! Stay smooth and long on each stroke, and the speed will follow. I find that the less I fight the water, the faster I can "slip" through it. The beauty about this sport is that with better technique you can continue to improve even as you age. Best luck to you on your comeback.
Ted,
Thanks on the reply post. I would have to say that Cynthia is also right about mixing up your workout with some (non-free) stroke sets. I happen to be a backstroker as well. Some days I'll swim half the workout backstroke in an effort to looosen up the freestyle muscles. The arm pull on backstroke swimming is in opposition to the freestyle arm pull. It can literally massage the tightness out of the triceps and shoulders. This is probably why most people find themselves recovering from a nasty freestyle set with double arm backstroke without even knowing why. But more importantly, too much freestyle can lead to shoulder trouble if it's overdone, especially with excessive paddle use.
About the head position and buoy use, Matt brings up a terrific article by Coach Hines. And I vouch for everything that Emmett says. Rather than looking straight ahead, try staring somewhat down. It feels very wierd at first. Sure on sprints I may pick the head up just slightly to get a focus on the wall, but just a slight tilt downward is all it takes to eliminate that drag. Now the legs are kicking for propulsion instead of trying to keep your butt from sinking.
Click on this link for another insightful article by Coach Hines on why kicking the buoy habit might actual help your swimming:
www.svl.ch/PullBuoy/
The same site has a good overview on how to find the right horizontal line in the water:
www.svl.ch/svlimmat_balance.html
Who'ld ever thought that swimming could be made easy! Stay smooth and long on each stroke, and the speed will follow. I find that the less I fight the water, the faster I can "slip" through it. The beauty about this sport is that with better technique you can continue to improve even as you age. Best luck to you on your comeback.
