What do YOU need to do to have a major swimming breakthrough?"

when one if floating higher, more of their body is above the water line. No need to pull that through the water anymore. Maybe that offsets the weight gain.

fat floats however fat creates volume for the swimmer to pull through the pool It is true that the fastest swimmers are lean. But the question remains, is that because you have to be lean to be a fast swimmer, or is it simply a consequence of the amount of training needed. Perhaps, a higher percent body fat would allow these swimmers to go faster, but it is not possible with all of the long hours of training. I am no suggesting that a morbidly obese person has the ideal body composition for an elite swimmer, but I do believe that there is a happy medium between 3-4% body fat and, lets say 30% body fat (error on the high side). Watching the Olympic Trials, I noticed that the top swimmers are really not that lean. I don’t see 3-4% body fat. Many of the top swimmers do not have a visible six pack. There is definitely a layer of fat. Fat that could be lost, but I don’t see any of these talking about how if they could just lose a few extra pounds. I think the question for this thread should be “what is the ideal percent body fat” If body fat does not alter the shape of your body dramatically, I believe it would be advantageous for a swimmer to have body composition in the ~15% range. More buoyancy allows for less energy to be used to keep the body on top of the water. I would put my money on a swimmer with 10% body fat as opposed to a swimmer with 5% body fat if all other variables were equal. Fat floats, and if you can stay on top of the water with fat as opposed to using part of your arm stroke energy, then more energy can be used for forward propulsion as opposed to keeping your body on top of the water.

Ande, My kick is weak. I can tell because I can stay with the fastest swimmers when I pull regardless of distance. Any suggestions? Also, I see the ex-college swimmers have insane kicking ability and that they never use kick boards. They are always on their backs in a streamline or face down streamline flutter kick. Should I focus on fast kicking (on intervals) or hard kicking or more fin work? Thanks for any help!

I see the ex-college swimmers have insane kicking ability and that they never use kick boards. They are always on their backs in a streamline or face down streamline flutter kick. Should I focus on fast kicking (on intervals) or hard kicking or more fin work? I still use a kickboard about 35-40% of the time, mostly when I want to work the legs hard and not worry about breath control. (Snorkels might be good for this also but I still have a love-hate relationship with mine...actually, mostly it's hate.) Some people use fins a lot and are happy with the results. I only use them occasionally myself, though I've been trying to do more. (I really only like to use them in a LCM pool so I don't have to worry about walls. Also my lane-mates sometimes complain when I put on fins so I try to do it when I swim on my own.) I think the key to making a kick useful is to attack kick sets with the same intensity and work ethic as "regular" swim sets. Also do them varying distances, not just 25s or 50s. Also: make some swim sets "kick intensive." For example, you can make it a point to do more kicks from the wall than usual (our coach calls these "double-do" sets, where you go twice as far as usual off the walls) and really push the kicks from the wall while backing off slightly the swim portion (to recover a little before the next wall). Or you can "double-do" the back half of hard repeats to try to work on your ability to use your legs even when you are tired.

ande, ever read this article?? www.usms.org/.../articledisplay.php There are a range of body compositions that are advantagous for swimming. Many swimmers are in that range. For many, losing weight may be detrimental for a variety of reasons, one being that body fat helps people float. I just think that making a blanket statement that losing weight will help you swim faster is not acurate. If you are 100 lbs over weight, sure. But maybe not if you are at 12% body fat and you drop down to 8%

Great suggestions. Thank you. I especially like encorporating hard kicking into regular swims. I have to do this anyway, even in a 100 free. I try to build my kick to finish strong rather than bury myself and die at the end. I see elite swimmers can kick so fast that their arm stroke rate never "spins" water...that is a hard kick!

I am having the same problem off walls, I am not sure when to start kicking. I usually glide for about a second, then do two dolphin kicks before I start swimming. But I feel when I start to kick off the wall, I slow down. Watching Phelps this last week, it seems like he starts his kick as soon as he pushes off the wall.

My next area of improvement will be underwater kicks. Even though I don't believe that I will ever be faster doing 4-5 kicks off the wall compared to one and then swimming, I do believe it will help me off the start and for that 1-2 kicks off the wall. I need even stronger abs for that I need to be able to use fins on a more regular basis I need to start building to the Eddie Reese set (8x100 Fly kicks on your back) - but not go overboard - looking for 1-5 explosive kicks not 100s This one will be the toughest -- 2-3 dolphin kicks off every single wall. My main problem is momentum - I am not sure when to start the kick and how to transition into swimming quickly.

hey MAC ABSOLUTELY YES follow my suggestions in this thread www.usms.org/.../showthread.php Ande, My kick is weak. I can tell because I can stay with the fastest swimmers when I pull regardless of distance. Any suggestions? Also, I see the ex-college swimmers have insane kicking ability and that they never use kick boards. They are always on their backs in a streamline or face down streamline flutter kick. Should I focus on fast kicking (on intervals) or hard kicking or more fin work? Thanks for any help!

let it go already long distance cold water swimming is the only type of swimming where having extra fat is a good thing, it provides insulation (ie crossing the english channel, swimming from catalina) please do this: test yourself in a 50 free right now then gain 20 pounds of blubber then retest yourself then report your results or this www.usms.org/.../showpost.php even though a heavier you floats more you still have to drag your body through the water skinnier people slice through the water better look at Dara Torres she's lean and strong, she swam lifetime best times at age 41 when one if floating higher, more of their body is above the water line. No need to pull that through the water anymore. Maybe that offsets the weight gain.