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Swimming Question of the Week - September 23, 2009

Posted by Barbara Hummel on Sep 23, 2009 05:33AM (2,983 views)

 Can you work on your stroke and still swim fast?




Responses

Responded Sep 23, 2009 03:10PM

All depends on the meaning of "work". Usually I emphasize technique a lot and swimming speed usualy goes down...but when training or doing speed work the swis are all out swims at high speeds. Balancing speed with technique has been my main problem.

Responded Sep 23, 2009 03:21PM

I just refer to the Jason Lezak DVD when thinking of this question. :)

Responded Sep 23, 2009 05:35PM

yep.....there are good things that help,....the TT, also the forearm Fullcrum by the same company,....and of course...THIS WEBSIITE!!!!!...

Responded Sep 23, 2009 06:17PM

Go, Juliette! We use both the TT and the fulcrum a lot in our sessions. I think most swimers have to start swimming slowly to build the technique but as that technique becomes second nature they swim faster naturally anyway. We stop sets if swimmers technique starts to deteriorate to try to avoid bad habits creeping in

Responded Sep 23, 2009 08:03PM

What is TT?

Responded Sep 23, 2009 10:01PM

TT = Tempo Trainer, go to the videos bit of this site (menu above) and scroll through the Finis sales pitches (sorry Glenn:)) at the bottom. There's one on the TT.

Responded Sep 24, 2009 01:59AM

Sometimes, I have to find a balance between them. If I think too much I swim slow >.<

Responded Sep 24, 2009 09:05PM

Well today we did a sprint set, my coach told me a couple of things to work on/think about when swimming, and I did my last 25M in my fastest (ever) time. So yes you can think and swim. Now I need to ingrain these new thoughts/ideas so I can swim even faster when without thinking...

Responded Sep 25, 2009 12:15AM

Pity I can't use TT cos I am deaf

Responded Sep 25, 2009 01:52PM

James, you don't need a TT to work on technique, and you can work on technique and still work on speed. Just make sure that you work on stroke efficiency at both low and high speed or low and high stroke rates to ensure that you develop what you want in a race. During practice you might force this to work via sets like min max sets. So work on 25's where you go as fast as you can with the minimum amount of strokes. Your technique on these sets should be based off work you did at slow speed... so PERFECT technique.

When you race however, you have to trust what you've been working on, and just let the race happen. Trying to force something to occur in a race will result in the race being compromised because you're trying too hard to swim technically well.

So really focus on stuff in practice, and then let it happen when you race. Get someone to video the race, study what you did, see where you have improved and then continue to work on those areas that still need work. If you are working on something specific and you don't see improvement, then you might need to change your approach as to how to solve that area. Don't take too long trying to getting a square peg into a round hole.

Responded Sep 26, 2009 05:36PM

James......I did not know that....waht a challenge you have!!!!!.......maybe to find a device that vibrates????.....as a musician I would sugest to get used to a structural count in your thoughts(...hope I speel it right!!!!!!!).....sense must be your advantage, and concentration......Juliette;s Dad.

Responded Sep 26, 2009 09:14PM

A drill that we do at the Race Club for all strokes has to be fast swimming. It one of the fundamentals of fast swimming ... we call it swimming on the freeway. For freestyle it would be straight arm free with fly kick (you could even use fins to make it faster).

Responded Sep 26, 2009 09:55PM

Mmm interesting remarks, Juliette's dad

Responded Sep 29, 2009 01:18PM

I think you should be cognizant of every part of your body's individual body movements at every moment while swimming, so yes.


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