Cr@p Swimmers R Us

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  • Dan dan. Right you've let yourself in for it now admitting your a coach!I expect this to be the first of many questions.

    I've been trying the catch up drill mentioned earlier, thou having a number of probs. Mainly in that I kinda sink before I have managed to catch up.

    Can you help?

    Ta
  • dan dandan dan ✭✭✭
    Metal Sid: is this your alter ego at weekends?
  • Swimshop seems a bit broken - can't get up an image even when I go to the right page - maybe they're trying to tell me I need a mermaid on my kickboard ;-) Never mind, a swimshop catalogue conveniently arrived in the post this morning...

    "It's all in the hips"?! Nope - I went swimming this morning and I can assure you it's definitely currently all in my arms - will experiment with hips tomorrow somehow...

    Off to explore TI swimming on google now...
  • Please can we have a swim social in October then hopefully I'll be allowed to join in.


    I think I'm still recovering from IMUK - I was rubbish at cycling on Sunday and my run to work this morning felt tough, although that might be cause I had a rucksack to carry.

    I'm missing swimming :-(

  • dan dandan dan ✭✭✭
    Sink, CAK?

    You mean your feet start coming in to your chest and you start going vertical? Or that you are drifting to the side your arm is outstretched upon?

    Without knowing more, I'd say you are maybe holding your head/neck too high in the water, in which case you are always likely to be prone towards the vertical drift. TI calls it pressing the buoy: you need to lean forwards more and actually press down on your breast bone as you swim to counteract this.

    If your body is a see saw, try and see how level yourbody position is. Once you are used to doing your drill, try and close your eyes and really 'feel' or 'see' your body position: is it flat or angled? Are your shoulders out the water yet feet well under? If your feet are more than 12 inches or so under the water you are probably a slopey see-saw!


    Alternatively:

    Another thing is, many people are concentrating so much on one action, they forget the rest of the movements they need to do ie are you forgetting to do a gentle kick? Gentle is all you need for this.

    Or, another thing to try, is to slap a pullbuoy between your legs.This will keep the legs artificially high in the water and mean you dont have to concentrate on what they are doing.

    Lastly:

    It could be that you are completing each arm cycle too slowly.This is hard to do, but with some drills you really do overexaggerate the movement , vastly reducing the water speed and the learner gets all out shape very easily.

    Any of these sound familiar?
  • dan dandan dan ✭✭✭
    Swimshop have only recently gone on line. Its crap at the moment. Their gear is excellent though.

    Any beter swimmers on here still wanting to improve but dont have a partner or club: go buy a finis pacer.Twenty something quid- gone up in the last couple of years- but soooo worthwhile..

    Clip it to your goggles strap, and programme it to beep every 'x' or 'x.y' seconds. You have to keep your stroke in line with that! Bloomin' excellent way of getting a really tough workout.Dont set it too hard though- it remains constant so as you fatigue it gets to be a real b1tch!

    Best buy you'll make(not suitable for beginners though)
  • iv recently started going to a Masters Session ... they have all been members of clubs all their lives it seems and i never swam with a club or was taught propperly to swim - find the sessions a killer (4-5k normally)


    but im currently holding my own in the 2:00 lane

    :o)
  • dan dandan dan ✭✭✭
    I have seen some of your posts recently Will: your swimming is bliddy good now.Well done!
  • Kind of feels as thou I am slowing down but more the opposite of what you said about vertical. In that I feel my head going more under.


    Next time I'm in the pool I'll try and analyse a little better. I am usually concentrating on the not drowning when it happens.

    Cheers
  • dan dandan dan ✭✭✭
    The purple circle thing Bear.

    Might well suit you for training on your own now. You're at a stage that will be well suited to big improvements using it.

    I always imagined it would be a nuisance, but if you get into the groove, and treat it as a virtual swim partner, its great.

    And boy, do you look the part!

    You cannot fail to have everybody ask you about it!! They think you are a pro or something, seriously!

    If you are not sure, remind me and I'll bring mine down with me and maybe you can have a play with it see if it would suit your way of doing things.
  • dan dandan dan ✭✭✭
    CAK: can you see your hand enter the water? By the sounds of it, you are lowering your head far too far and almost tucking your chin into your chest, in which case you wont be.

    Try looking slightly down and slightly ahead: focus on the pool floor about 2 or 3 metres ahead of you.You should see your hand just after it enters the water this way.

    If you are tucking your chin in, you are almost doing a tuck turn, so no wonder its slowing you down!
  • sounds good Dan - when are you next down?

  • dan dandan dan ✭✭✭
    Oooh yes. I just looked at Finis and they have TWO- not one but TWO- hip rotation things.

    How excellent!

    These have only recently come into 'mass' production and are still bliddy hard to get hold of.(I have mentioned them on here ages ago, I think)

    They would be superb if two or three of you lived nearby and wanted to share them, or if any of you has loads of money to spend and doesnt mind doing so.Not expensive mind, 15 quid each I think.

    Basically they make sure you twist your trunk and hips sufficiently.

    Once I start my own swimming again I might have to get these to play with- but I have so many gadgets already I'll need to quit work to have time to use them all!!

  • dan dandan dan ✭✭✭
    Well, am looking at next sosh, but may not be able to do it, depends.

    Certainly, come october half term, I could come down during the day if peeps are free for a pre-drink swim somewhere?
  • dan dandan dan ✭✭✭
    Two types.

    The wingy one decreases your water resistance as you twist: the ideal position providing least drag and being almost vertical, like a knife cuting through the water as opposed to a flat body being dragged through the wtaer as most people swimming tend to be.

    Havent played iwth t'other one, but it should basically be a hollow tube you strap to your back with a ball in it.Bit like a spirit level in reverse, the idea being that if you remain flat, the ball stays like the air bubble, flat in the middle of your back.

    When you achieve the required twist in the hips, the ball rolls down the tube to the end, producing either an audible thud or you feel the movemnt.

    Soon, it becomes second nature, the twist, and you dont need either device.



    Personal footnote: I am pleased with the ball device, coz before it had been produced I had basically come up with the same design for such a thing and am delighted to see my theory working!
  • Thanks!

    Hope you got the patent on it?
  • Calf - on the catchup thing I've got a similar problem:
    - when I first start doing it (first couple of lengths) I'm OK
    - but after I've done a few lengths and am feeling a bit more tired then I find that by the time my catchup arm comes through then the arm that's out in front is a good 30cm below the water level. I've also noticed that breathing becomes much much more difficult (more of a bob up and gasp for it). No idea what the top of my body looks like at that point - I guess it could be pointed sloping downwards...

    Not found a cure for this yet but I'll concentrate on it more next time and let you know...
  • dan dandan dan ✭✭✭
    When you start getting fatigued to the point your form is suffering, change drill.

    One armed swimming with the other grasping a kickboard out in front might help.Hold the board out with your right arm, stroke with your left, really focusing on twisting your upper body out the water to get your head out to allow you to breathe. This is another over-exaggerated pose but will help.

    Do two lengths stoking left handed and breathing on the left, then two on the right.

    You can adapt this later by holding the float right handed, stroking left handed, and when your left hand comes down instead of it reaching down into the water, t takes hold of the float, and you roll and stroke with the right arm, and repeat with alternate arms.

    Its not easy that one, and not one for the purists, but I like it and it can help with balance.
  • Just starting my own little drill list:

    1. Catchup - while your left hand is doing the stroke, leave your right hand out in front - then when your left hand "catches up" when your right, you can start the right stroke, leaving the left out in front.

    2. One armed swimming - Hold a kickboard out with your right arm, stroke with your left, really focusing on twisting your upper body out the water to get your head out to allow you to breathe. Do two lengths stoking left handed and breathing on the left, then two on the right.

    3. Swim golf - more of a test than a drill - add the number of strokes to the number of seconds for a 50 meter swim - that's your handicap. Aim is to get your handicap lower...

    4. My kind of drill - something to do with lying on the lounge floor on a couple of cushions :-)
  • did 32 lemngths arms only using hand padles the other nite as 16 x 50m : RI 15secs

    My shoulders ended up pumped big style folowed thes with 10 lengths kickboard (used a kickboard this time as i sometimes dont)
  • dan dandan dan ✭✭✭
    Shhh. Don't metion paddles.They'll all want them, Will , and end up knackering their shoulders.

    Which ones you got?

    Mine are the catalysts: worth it for how they look, regardless of anything else!
  • Good idea - and a "swimming toys to buy" list:

    - kickboard
    - purple pacer beeping thing to attach to your goggle strap
    - hip wing thing
    - hip bar thing
    - hand paddles
    - something to help me count lengths
  • dan dandan dan ✭✭✭
    My personal fave I think, is when you have the recovering arm coming out the water, and you drag the finger tips along the body from the hips up to almost the shoulder and then place it down in the water in front of you as you body starts to roll the other.

    95% of swimmers cant swim in a straight line and of course, meander up and down the pool drifting innefficiently.

    To do this drill you need to have a high bent elbow, which in itself is a drill you can practise.

    Get your elbow like a sharks fins as it comes out the water, straight arm down through the wrists to pointy fingers which pierce the water, not slap the water, which then becomes another drill in its own right.

    Learning swimming technique is lovely really coz its a sequence of little movements all put together.But this is why its hard too, coz get one wrong and it increases your inefficiency.
  • dan dandan dan ✭✭✭
    Holly: dunno what stage you're at, but seriously if you are at all a beginner, dont do the paddles: they do injure.

    Kickboard is the best thing a beginner can buy.


    The rest are fun toys for later!!!

  • Just starting my own little drill list:

    1. Catchup - while your left hand is doing the stroke, leave your right hand out in front - then when your left hand "catches up" when your right, you can start the right stroke, leaving the left out in front.

    2. One armed swimming - Hold a kickboard out with your right arm, stroke with your left, really focusing on twisting your upper body out the water to get your head out to allow you to breathe. Do two lengths stoking left handed and breathing on the left, then two on the right.

    3. Swim golf - more of a test than a drill - add the number of strokes to the number of seconds for a 50 meter swim - that's your handicap. Aim is to get your handicap lower...

    4. My kind of drill - something to do with lying on the lounge floor on a couple of cushions :-)

    5. Dan Dan's favourite (part 1) - You have the recovering arm coming out the water, and you drag the finger tips along the body from the hips up to almost the shoulder and then place it down in the water in front of you as you body starts to roll the other. To do this drill you need to have a high bent elbow, which in itself is a drill you can practise.

    6. Dan Dan's favourite (part 2) - Get your elbow like a sharks fins as it comes out the water, straight arm down through the wrists to pointy fingers which pierce the water, not slap the water, which then becomes another drill in its own right.
  • dan dandan dan ✭✭✭
    There's millions of drills!

    How many do you want?
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