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

Hey, thanks for the advice. I'm 20 years old. I've been reading through the swim faster faster tips and they're all very thoughtful and inspiring. I have yet to put any of them to work, but I'm going to start with my swim today. hey shadow, to go 46.99 in the 100 you should at least split it 22.49 24.49 to be able to get out in 22.49 you need to be able to go at least 21.49 in the 50 20.99 is better To be able to go 20.99 in the 50 you need to be able to go 9.99 to your feet from a go though it's better to have a 0.60 difference or less in your 25's which would be 10.19 10.79 anyway you look at it the key to sprint swimming is speed The key to speed is technique, strength, and correct splitting how old are you? 1) lift weights to get stronger 2, 3 or 4 times a week you need to gain 5, 10 or 15 pounds of muscle 2) do speed sets with lots of rest focus on 15, 25, 50, 75, & 100 speed swim one practice a week that is like a meet 3) improve your kick flutter and SDK you should be able to kick a 50 scy fr under 30 SDK a 50 under 25 or 24 4) don't do aerobic work, don't get broken down from aerobic training 5) get a full body tech suit wear it on fast swims at least once a week in practice www.usms.org/.../showpost.php 6) read Swim Faster faster 7) swim a few meets 8) find a coach train with a team the bottom line is: Improve your 25 speed and you'll be faster

hey shadow, to go 46.99 in the 100 you should at least split it 22.49 24.49 to be able to get out in 22.49 you need to be able to go at least 21.49 in the 50 20.99 is better To be able to go 20.99 in the 50 you need to be able to go 9.99 to your feet from a go though it's better to have a 0.60 difference or less in your 25's which would be 10.19 10.79 anyway you look at it the key to sprint swimming is speed The key to speed is technique, strength, and correct splitting how old are you? 1) lift weights to get stronger 2, 3 or 4 times a week you need to gain 5, 10 or 15 pounds of muscle 2) do speed sets with lots of rest focus on 15, 25, 50, 75, & 100 speed swim one practice a week that is like a meet 3) improve your kick flutter and SDK you should be able to kick a 50 scy fr under 30 SDK a 50 under 25 or 24 4) don't do aerobic work, don't get broken down from aerobic training 5) get a full body tech suit wear it on fast swims at least once a week in practice www.usms.org/.../showpost.php 6) read Swim Faster faster 7) swim a few meets 8) find a coach train with a team the bottom line is: Improve your 25 speed and you'll be faster I'm looking to make my college team either this year or next (probably next). My goal times are 20.99 (50 FR SCY) and 46.99 (100 FR SCY). Right now I'm hovering right around 23.1 and I'm not sure about my 100 because I haven't had a chance to race it since February. My main question is what kind of weightlifting should I do to best compliment my swimming? I'm 5'10 and weigh only 125 lbs. I know 2 seconds in a 50 sounds like a lot, but I can tell from my swims that I'm capable of going that fast. Any other advice on how I should train, or specific aspects of training I should pay attention to is welcome.

hey chris, you'll find parachutes are a drag good luck look forward to reading your reports ande I've decided I need better top-end speed and "easy speed" so I can get out faster on 100s. (I'm not really that interested in 50s for their own sake.) Posters like Ande and Jazz have had great success with this, but I'm not going to follow their philosophy exactly mostly because I want to keep my endurance for 200s and the 500 free. So my plan is going to center around resistance training in the water. I bought one of those adjustable swimming parachutes and will use it at the end of practice on days that I don't lift. I plan on doing 25s mostly, perhaps some broken 50s, with the chute to work on power/explosiveness and SDK speed. At least, that's the initial plan -- I haven't even used the device yet. I'd be curious about others' experience with this equipment. I'll share my own thoughts as I use it.

josh davis might have done a program like that in years past his training before 2008 SCY masters nats was sporatic He said he did clinics several times a month where he'd do 25 races against the kids, he'd give them a head start then try to catch them. plus he'd do a little training at home when he could. He was very surprised with his times at masters nationals. He wore a LZR in his races. the parachute increases drag, which allows the swimmer to apply more pressure on his pull and kick. it doesn't do much for reducing resistance at fast speeds, what would help this is: 1) swimming fast in a tech suit, 2) assisted swimming, swimming with a stretched stretch cord vs swimming against and 3) concentrating on ideal body position at top speed the issue all of us face is create more power and less resistance some body types slice the water better than others some swimmers are better than others at positioning their bodies to cut through the water in optimal ways Isn't Josh Davis doing a pretty good program based on that type of training? This is something I've been thinking about. You know it makes sense, as your body is pulled through the water that increases the flow resistance and trains you to adapt to the fluctuating pressure. Learning how to reduce resistance during top speed swimming is very important.

Right, parachute? Never tried it, but I completely agree with the changing gears analogy. Full length pool tubing has a similar effect, you can swim with the cord or against it. Changing the water pressure on your body is a great way to have appropriate adaptation without thinking too much. It's like being a rock in the ocean. No, it is the other way: the chute slows you down quite a bit. It isn't like working with the stretch cords or fins to speed up. I think Josh Davis talked about his work with swimming against weights using a pulley system, or some such. We don't have anything like that at our pool, though, and the parachute is portable. I tried it yesterday briefly after practice with the hole all the way closed. It reminds me a little of one coach I had who used to make me swim with jean cut-offs, complete with pockets. One advantage of the parachute over the cut-offs is that it doesn't feel like it affects my body position as much for some reason. My reasoning with the parachute is to try to build more swimming-specific strength/power, sort of like overgearing or hill sprints in cycling. Weights are nice but sometimes I wonder if the strength gains transfer completely to swimming power. Paddles are another option but I have a problem getting a good turnover with them and they can cause joint stress if I overuse them.

Hey Shadow you're welcome good luck with your training ande Hey, thanks for the advice. I'm 20 years old. I've been reading through the swim faster faster tips and they're all very thoughtful and inspiring. I have yet to put any of them to work, but I'm going to start with my swim today.

this is still a great question what do I need to do to make a major breakthrough?

A major breakthrough... I am presently working with Julio a Mexican handicaped swimmer. He attended tryouts for the Pan American 2011 games team rooster and was told there was no room for him. One of the team coaches asked him to swim a 100, he got up on the blocks and did a 100 m swim in 1 min 26 seconds. They changed their minds and put him on to workout with the team. I think this is a major breakthrough for him. Knelson they liked his dive we worked so hard on to perfect. this is still a great question what do I need to do to make a major breakthrough?

Hi Anthony, The perfecting the single downward dolphin kick might reduce your time by 1 or 2 10ths per 25. (not much) Perfecting turns is critical, why give up time to bad turn technique if you want to drop way more time Pefect your Breastroke technique Get stronger Get Faster doing Breastroke speed training and get your equipment right you asked how fast should I stroke during a SCY 50? Jeff commings or David Guthrie could give you a better answer since they are world class masters breastrokers I believe you want to do complete strokes as fast as possible (don't shorten your stroke) How much of a difference does breathing make? not much, it's a 50 you don't need to breathe Ande, I'm hoping to achieve some significant drops in my 50 SCY because I'm considering calling it my secondary event next to the Breaststroke, what should I focus on during practice and during my regular pool visits outside of practice? I'm going to try a lot of work on my turns and dolphin kick off of the wall but the problem I face there is that my dolphin kick comes mostly from the knees. I know it is supposed to be a full body wave but I just can't achieve it! I also have a question, how fast should I stroke during a SCY 50, and how much of a difference does breathing make? Looking forward to a response, thanks. :)

Ande, I'm hoping to achieve some significant drops in my 50 SCY because I'm considering calling it my secondary event next to the Breaststroke, what should I focus on during practice and during my regular pool visits outside of practice? I'm going to try a lot of work on my turns and dolphin kick off of the wall but the problem I face there is that my dolphin kick comes mostly from the knees. I know it is supposed to be a full body wave but I just can't achieve it! I also have a question, how fast should I stroke during a SCY 50, and how much of a difference does breathing make? Looking forward to a response, thanks. :)