Anybody raced in swimming?
- Thread starter jsmoke
- Start date
Man of Honour
Not raced personally but worked as a lifeguard for a few years and knew plenty of people in the local club.
The number one thing is make sure your technique is nailed, my technique isn't bad but I've always used brute strength to make up for where it lacked which wouldn't fly in a proper comp. Even just little tweaks can make a huge difference.
The number one thing is make sure your technique is nailed, my technique isn't bad but I've always used brute strength to make up for where it lacked which wouldn't fly in a proper comp. Even just little tweaks can make a huge difference.
Soldato
Swimming was my main sport in primary school South Africa - had galas each weekend in summer and had to go up on stage to get my medals in Monday morning assembly.
High school I lost interest as I then played waterpolo/rugby and well...girls
Front crawl and backstoke being my specialist strokes, breaststroke had the technique but not as fast as the others and butterfly never got the hang of it.
What stroke you racing?
Tips? trying to think:
1: Don't get a boner!
2: Technique is paramount to be energy efficient - then fitness as no matter what the last 5 metres are tough
3: Top backstroke tip that I see an awful lot of people not aware of when I swim at the gym...
Imagine the backstroke arm whirlwind, now think of your hand position as you are doing this...
hand comes out the water pinkie first (palm facing away)
arm goes around brushing your ear
then hand goes in the water pinkie first
this is the important bit and what generates most of your thrust...
as your arm then goes through the water, turn your hand/palm around about your hip area so that your pinkie comes out the water first again
this turning of the hand, flicking over palm movement is where you push the water with your palms/forearm for thrust
hard to imagine in text but it will make a substantial benefit
High school I lost interest as I then played waterpolo/rugby and well...girls
Front crawl and backstoke being my specialist strokes, breaststroke had the technique but not as fast as the others and butterfly never got the hang of it.
What stroke you racing?
Tips? trying to think:
1: Don't get a boner!
2: Technique is paramount to be energy efficient - then fitness as no matter what the last 5 metres are tough
3: Top backstroke tip that I see an awful lot of people not aware of when I swim at the gym...
Imagine the backstroke arm whirlwind, now think of your hand position as you are doing this...
hand comes out the water pinkie first (palm facing away)
arm goes around brushing your ear
then hand goes in the water pinkie first
this is the important bit and what generates most of your thrust...
as your arm then goes through the water, turn your hand/palm around about your hip area so that your pinkie comes out the water first again
this turning of the hand, flicking over palm movement is where you push the water with your palms/forearm for thrust
hard to imagine in text but it will make a substantial benefit
Used to complete as a club swimmer, then swam for the county then competed in lots of competitions until I was about 16, 100M fly was my main event. The main coach actually trained two swimmers from our club who went on to win olympic medals later on, although many of the things I was taught have changed now.
I don't swim that often now, but when I do I often work off the clock, usually in blocks of 50M or 100M sprints (I was always a sprinter I was never a distance swimmer) I usually do a 400m warmup
One thing that I always enjoyed doing, was doing blocks of 50M freestyle as interval training, hell for ******* leather as hard as I can for each interval, followed by 60 seconds break between each one, I also mixed it up with butterfly or drills with a kick board, keep doing it until there's nothing left.
Also focus on your leg kick - most freestyle swimmers have a very weak kick, compared to their arms - I used to drill the hell out of my kick with a kick board to the point where I could do 50M kick with a board (flutter kick) in about 35 seconds, vs 26 seconds for 50M freestyle (which was my fastest) either way - learn to really beast your kick, it adds up to a lot of extra speed.
I see some people using flippers and small hand-paddles sometimes, I was always told to avoid them - they make you go very fast but I don't think it really adds anything to your technique or real speed,
I don't swim that often now, but when I do I often work off the clock, usually in blocks of 50M or 100M sprints (I was always a sprinter I was never a distance swimmer) I usually do a 400m warmup
One thing that I always enjoyed doing, was doing blocks of 50M freestyle as interval training, hell for ******* leather as hard as I can for each interval, followed by 60 seconds break between each one, I also mixed it up with butterfly or drills with a kick board, keep doing it until there's nothing left.
Also focus on your leg kick - most freestyle swimmers have a very weak kick, compared to their arms - I used to drill the hell out of my kick with a kick board to the point where I could do 50M kick with a board (flutter kick) in about 35 seconds, vs 26 seconds for 50M freestyle (which was my fastest) either way - learn to really beast your kick, it adds up to a lot of extra speed.
I see some people using flippers and small hand-paddles sometimes, I was always told to avoid them - they make you go very fast but I don't think it really adds anything to your technique or real speed,