Hello
So i just started swimming about 4 months ago and I feel i have improved a large amount since the beginning of my swimming career. I started off never swimming competitively before to shaving my 50 freestyle time from 41 seconds to 30 seconds and 100 freestyle from 1:30 to about 1:17 so I feel I have improved a large amount. I really would like to participate in relays and other events besides freestyle but would also like to get better at all of them. This year when regionals came around i didn't even get consideration time for any of my events. This was frustrating to me as i have to desire to get better I never missed a swim practice and even swam on my own time away from actual practice. Since the season has ended for me i have taken up lifting and am still swimming as many days of the week as my schedule allows. So my question to everyone on here is how would i go about making myself a state level swimmer in about a years time no matter how difficult it is i want to do it because next year is my senior year and I think I have discovered a new passion for it. I would like to get to the level of a state level swimmer in any event I would prefer to have no best stroke i want to be good at all of so I am more versatile. i am ready to do whatever it takes to get there so if anyone can help me here please do.
I would focus on stroke development in practicing IM's.....HOWEVER... stroke work aside.... I feel starts, turns, and push-offs/streamlines are often overlooked.
1: Your starts can make or break your lead lap... I would practice diving in and see how far just your dive takes you underwater, feel the water as it moves over you, pay attention to the arc of your neck and drag on your head, pay attention to how your arms and hands are positioned....remember... just dive and glide. This will help you determine the distance your start gives you without exerting any additional force. (Since you are lifting...I would focus on squats, light weight, and explode through the lift, this will help with your starts and pushoffs)
2: Turns can wear you down faster than the swim can. The turn is a critical moment where all your inertia is brought to a screeching halt. you need to learn to control your body here.
- Starting at the flags swim "slowly" towards the wall and focus on how you approach and turn or flip, recognize the way the water moves around you as you come in to the wall, this is the force you will need to overcome to push ahead. For this exercise, flip, notice where and how your feet land, notice how your body moves and "auto corrects" itself (when I flip in free, I automatically twist so that by the time my feet hit the wall, I am already facing the bottom of the pool). Same at the diving.... push off without kicking, to see how far your push off gets you....pay attention to depth, how the water from swimming towards the water feels, how it reacts to you pushing through it (a swimmers wake is unique to that swimmer, its how you respond to your own wake and how you use it that makes the difference).
- After practicing form the flags, you can move into starting from the middle of the pool and swimming towards then sprinting from the flags.... again paying attention to all the elements....
- PRACTICE your turns on ever lap... of every practice...always! AND practice your turns at each warm up at a meet... every pool can react differently to YOUR turn style.
3:Pushoffs and streamlines....obviously, without knowing how your body moves through the water and without using how it moves through the water... you would be more like a shrimp boat with a full net, than the torpedo you wish to be. FOCUS on how you move, focus on how you kick, focus on how the water responds to you and you to it. ALWAYS practice in practice.
In short.... pay attention how you respond to the water and how the water responds to you, use the water the push you, squats are still one of the best exercises which will help you inside and outside the water....
As for stroke technique... practice.... practice kick timing with your stroke, practice only pulling, practice only kicking... get in a rhythm!
There is no magic science to becoming a state or gold medal swimmer, it takes practice...obviously...
Hope I helped somewhat!
