Technical Tips

Benefits of Endurance Training

If you wonder why you have been asked to work at a specific pace here is the answer. The diagram below only shows the endurance training zones (i.e. not speed work zones), however what is easily seen is that there are different physiological benefits derived from each of the 3 main endurance zones.

There is some crossover but each of the zones have benefits that are exclusive to that zone. For example, if you don't do cruise pace (basic endurance level) work then the benefits your body is missing out on include: increased rate of oxygen delivery to the muscles, increased rate of oxygen utilization by slow twitch fibres and increase in tidal and minute volume.

Long Dog (or Long Dog Paddle)

Purpose:

Like many drills, this popular drill can be used to address several aspects of technique.

1.       Improve body position – it's hard to lift up at the front (or it's easier if you don't).

2.       Improve body rotation – because it's harder to lift up for air you need to rotate.

3.       Improve hold on the water to achieve a steadier propulsion.

How to do it:

Simplistically, swim freestyle except recover your hand and forearm under the water.

Some key points are:

1.       'Feather' your recovering hand so it slips through the water with as little resistance as possible, i.e. turn your hand parallel to your body until it's about level with your goggles, then turn it so the palm faces down as you reach ready for the catch.

2.       Timing: Leave your extended arm extended until your recovering hand is about level with your goggles. Then make the catch at the same time as you reach forwards with the recovering hand.

3.       Rotation: Rotate your body (hips) as you reach forward, like leaning on your armpit. Many of you will need to exaggerate your rotation and turn your head further for air.

Fine points:

1.       Where you reach forward to affects your balance, a bit like a trim tab on a boat. If you struggle to keep your feet up, try reaching to a deeper position. Try just straightening your reaching arm. Experiment to find a reach target that gives you a relaxed head-toe balance and an easy forward momentum. Avoid downwards pressure in front of you; it will usually lift your front, which encourages your legs to sink.

2.       Many adults swim with too little body rotation, which encourages them to lift up at the front to get air. Practice purely rotating your head and body for air. At low speeds you will need to be facing almost upwards when you breathe. At higher speeds your bow wave enables less rotation, but still more than most use.

3.       Think of holding the water and reaching forward rather than pulling the water. This mental image often helps with feel for the water. Imagine you are holding a large ball of jelly in the water. If you pull it to aggressively, it will just 'tear'. However, if you think of gently holding it and reaching forward as far as you can, sub-consciously your mind/body works out the right thing. It also improves your body shape as your sub-conscious works out how to make it easier.

How to practice:

1.       Choose just one focus point and concentrate on it; for a whole session, for a week, for a month, until you feel comfort with it. If you move from one focus to another too quickly none will stick.

2.       Use the same focus when you swim freestyle. This will help the skill from the drill get into your full stroke.

Popov Drill (Freestyle arms with dolphin kick)

Balance, coordination, and understanding the potential relationship between the body and the catch in freestyle are all reasons to do drill.

Here's how you do it:
1)  Push off normally, adding your usual dolphin kicks.
2)  Keep the dolphin kick going as you start swimming freestyle.
3)  Take one dolphin kick for each stroke of freestyle you take.

Timing is key on this drill.  Making sure that the feet are in the down kick as the lead hand enters and extends for the catch.  When the kick powers down, focus on the lead hand driving forward.  Search and feel for the connection between the added weight on the lead hand that comes from the kick, and how that emphasis can aid in driving the hand and arm into the catch.

28/9/12 - Strengthen Up Your Breaststroke Kick

Anything you do in swimming with your head up out of the water makes it harder work and can usually be considered a 'power' drill. A version of this you can use to put power into your breaststroke kick is the Head Up Breaststroke Kick drill. Here is how you do it:

Place your hands on the small of your back, hold your head high out of the water. Your chin should be on the surface of the water so you can easily breathe. Now kick. Can you feel the burn in your legs? If the answer is no then you have probably let your head drop so try lifting it higher.

19/1/12 - Shoulder Pain

Many of you will be familiar with the excellent SwimSmooth web site. The good people at Swim Smooth have kindly given us permission to reproduce this article on the common causes of shoulder pain in swimmers.

How To Overcome And Avoid 
Swimming Shoulder Injury

A Swim Coaching Article By Swim Smooth

reproduced with permission (see here)

Shoulder injury is extremely common in swimming, in fact so common amongst
elite swimmers that it used to be considered a fact of swimming life, just
something you have to live with.

Fortunately these days we understand that shoulder pain and injury is caused by
poor swimming technique and that by correcting your technique we can quickly
reduce symptoms and go on to cure the condition. If you suffer from any
discomfort in your shoulders during or after swimming then you need to make
some changes to your stroke.

The four leading causes of shoulder injury in freestyle are:

- A thumb first hand entry

- An S-shaped pull

- Pulling deep with a straight arm

- Crossing the centre line of the body (a 'crossover')

When we're working with swimmers with shoulder injury, nine times out of ten
removing these stroke flaws is enough to cure the injury. Let's look at each flaw
in turn and why it causes injury:

Thumb First Hand Entry

Together with an S-Shaped pull, a thumb-first entry into the water with the palm
turned outwards used to be widely taught as good swimming technique. The
problem with this technique is that it internally rotates the shoulder and causes
impingement:

This impingement, repeated thousands of times in training is the leader cause of
shoulder injury. If you use a thumb first entry and also have a crossover (see
below) then you'll be very lucky to escape shoulder injury.

Instead of entering thumb first, it is good technique to enter with a horizontal hand,
fingertips first:

Elite swimmers have been taught this since the 1990s and it has the advantage
of setting you up for more propulsive catch and pull phases of the stroke:

The S Shape Pull

Pulling through with an S shape was taught in the 1970s in combination with a
thumb first entry. This involved pulling out wide, then in and then out wide again
by the hip:

The idea was that an S shape created a longer pull-pathway and therefore more
propulsion. However, this has since been scientifically disproved and we now
know that a near straight pull pathway gives the best and most efficient propulsion.

The problem with the S-Pull shape is that it involves internally rotating your
shoulder to push outwards and this outwards force at full arm extension severely
loads the shoulder. If you modify your stroke to pull straight backwards the load
on the shoulder is much lower. Visualising a straight pull will result in a very
slight curve to your pull pathway as your body rotates but the point here is that
it's not something you're actively trying to do.

Pulling Through With A Straight Arm

If you are not entering thumb first and are definitely not pulling with an S shape
then consider the depth of your pull, many swimmers try and pull deep with a
straight arm under the body:

Whenever you swim with a straight arm it involves pressing down on the water
at the front of the stroke during the catch phase – biomechanically it's impossible
not to this. Pressing down on the water like this is bad technique all by itself but
it also takes a lot of force to do so. Water is very heavy and by pressing down
you are changing its direction requiring a high force which applies a large load
to the shoulders.

By changing to a bent elbow catching technique we start to press the water back
behind us which requires much less force as we are simply helping the water on
its way:

Find out more about developing a good catch technique here

Stroke Crossover

There are two classic ways to crossover the centre line within the freestyle stroke.
The first is in front of the head, this might happen on every stroke, just one side
or on breathing strokes only:

The second way is later during the pull phase of the stroke where the hand
crosses the centre line under the body:

Both of these actions are bad for your shoulders because they pinch the joint
internally and they involve a long reaching arm action which requires a lot of force.
By removing crossover from your stroke you will dramatically reduce the load on
the shoulder.

Conclusion

In the vast majority of cases shoulder injury is cause by poor stroke technique.
Even if you are only experiencing a small niggle or dull ache in your shoulder it
is well worth addressing your stroke technique now before you develop chronic
symptoms. To reach your potential in swimming, as in any other sport, you need
to train consistently and injury free. As we get older we become more susceptible
to injury and modifying our stroke technique becomes harder – there's no time like
the present to fix that shoulder niggle!

About Swim Smooth

Swim Smooth is a swimming coaching company famed for its straightforward
approach to improving your swimming. On our website you'll find a wealth of
easy to read articles to improve your swimming. We offer swimming DVDs,
swimming training plans and training tools to improve your stroke technique.
Also don't miss our amazing animated swimmer "Mr Smooth" showing you an
ideal freestyle stroke in action:

Article © Swim Smooth 2011

1/9/11 - Body Positioning and Balance Skills

This is a series of 3 drills to improve your body position and balance. Body positioning is where it all begins for swimming. Even if you are a seasoned competitive swimmer, body positioning should be practiced – it will help you swim more smoothly, with less effort and you WILL swim more quickly.

The first drill is body position kick. Kick gently in this drill, don’t kick hard or for speed, kick just enough to give yourself some forward momentum. Keep a nice straight line and don’t tuck your chin to your chest or you will start to somersault. If you find it awkward to lift your head to breathe – it is OK to stop. Just stop, stand up, take a breath or 2 and then carry on. When you have mastered this drill with hands by sides, switch to performing this drill with arms extended. When performing this drill an observer should be able to see: the swimmer’s eyes to the bottom of the pool, a straight spine, a dry back and high hips.

Now it's time to improve your balance while on your side. This drill will further enhance the balance you have acquired doing the body position kick and will imprint rotation in your stroke. If you find your hips and feet starting to sink, shrug your shoulder that is out of the water. This helps to shift weight forward and lift your hips.

The 3rd stage of these body positioning skills is the 6-kick switch.

25/7/11 - Putting On Your Wetsuit

Are you putting your wetsuit on the right way?  Swimsmooth recently published some excellent tips on how to put your wetsuit on correctly to get the best fit from your wetsuit and to free up your shoulders. This will help you swim faster in the open water. To read this article from their blog follow this link:

http://www.feelforthewater.com/2011/07/are-you-sure-youre-putting-on-your.html

There is an interesting extra comment by an anonymous user at the bottom who suggests that using the plastic bag is a waste of time and says to simply roll up the legs and arms of the wetsuit first. You might wish to try both methods to see which works best for you.


Tumble (Flip) Turns - Step By Step

If you are still doing open, or touch turns in your freestyle and want to learn to do tumble turns then Barry D has come across a very good series of You Tube clips that takes you through the process step by step using a noodle to get you going. So don't be a noodle, grab one and hop to it.

Step One

Step Two

Step Three

Step Four

Step Five

Polo Drill

Polo drill is good for learning body rotation, good catch early in the stroke and also corrects over-reaching. Ensure you keep your head very still (no swinging from side to side) and you should be able to hold your head above the waterline.

January 7, 2011

Here's the page to post items of a more technical nature. This could be links to 'video on how to do such and such drill' to 'I read that Michael Phelps does his warm up like this'. If we use up all our memory with too many videos then we may need to just post the links to them, but until that happens the vids are being embedded