I think you are like, super genius.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

I still mess around, and splash, and bounce and talk mid-set on my masters team... its totally the best part of swimming.
Its supposed to be fun... its not a job... Thank you for vocalizing it !! Well done!

Waterpolo, sharks and minnows, bodysurfing, and just general farting around taught me a lot about feel fur the water.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

And don't forget about forward rolls and back flips in the water to teach the preliminaries of a flip turn. Barrel rolls help understand the general idea of torso rotation; just general twisting and turning in addition to moving forward! That way, when Coach says you have a wicked case of cross-over arms, you'll have a leg up on fixing it, or even avoiding it in the first place.

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DFL > DNF > DNS

I did all that under the general parameter of "farting around", which included a lot of stuff that doesn't have a name.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

This is what some of us look like:

can't get within 7 inches of the floor when sitting down and trying to put those toes on the floor. Kick, kick and kick some more? I don't think so. Taking just short of two minutes to travel "25" yards with a kick board is a waste of time, effort and brings on frustration. Johnny O had the best advise for those of us with this defect, "tuck them in behind the body the best you can". Now we might be helped if those with the PhD degrees in health care would actually share some expertise to help us gain three inches of ankle plantar flexion. Been thru the stretching program, failed end result.

Ok- but tell me how are you going to hide them behind you? If you're swimming with any sort of tempo/cadence they'll move. If you don't practice and practice the correct movement pattern, how can you be sure they're not hurting you as much as having no effect?

I swim with and have coached some folks who have similar boat anchors, but you know what? We still kick. Reinforce the movement pattern, and make it as good as you can. Use short stiff fins if you can't abide by going slow, but remember that the fins are a tool to strengthen and improve, not a crutch so you don't have to.

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I wrote this, you should read it:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...n_Swimming_6700.html

Well done! Thanks for your contribution.

Scott

“Here's a trend: Really good swimmers share secrets of good swimming with not-very-good swimmers; many in that latter group explain why that advice should be ignored. Here's more advice from a really good swimmer. Do with it what you will.”

Well, it didn’t take long to prove this point!

Scott

Good stuff, but holding my breath for 3 seconds before exhaling aint happening any more these days. I suppose if all I was doing was some super easy swim that was like a walk, but I need air, and I need it fast for what I do in the water. In fact I'm a big proponent of the double breath pattern, 1/3 more breaths per lap in the heat of battle.

And I'm not sure I buy into the floating thing by holding, it is for such a small amount of time and it is all in the front half of your body, maybe lowering your hips and legs. Anyway keep up the contributions to the fishes and wanna be guppies, we need as much stuff as we can get, especially those of us that swim alone and vicariously in the ST masters lane...

To your point on Sat and Sun after lane swim, there is a kids public swim. I have been staying around and just messing around doing under water kicking, playing around with fins on, doing things like transitioning between strokes trying to connect the strokes...mainly splashing around in a non structured way. When there is no clock, no lanes, no structure, you learn a lot....like soccer players just playing with a ball solo, till the ball and field position and location of the goal and sidelines are extensions of the body....same stuff we did on skis.

3 seconds is a long time! I breathe mostly every 2 strokes with some 3's thrown in to switch, but above about 85-90% effort it's all 2 to the right all the way.

The holding and blowing helps me, and others I have seen, be sure to finish the breath before turning their heads, so you're only turned for the inhale.

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I wrote this, you should read it:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...n_Swimming_6700.html

I'm a swimmer since childhood through college and was decently competitive. However, as with many of the articles on here that get into details of body position when swimming, I don't get it. Why the emphasis on pelvic tilt? Why focus on knees and ankles? Why the intense description of hamstring and hip flexor action? I venture to guess that most adult onset swimmers are so uncomfortable in the pool that trying to perform the actions that are so specifically described is near impossible. There seems to be way too much conscious thought involved with body position. As you stated in the beginning of the article... why not just play around and get comfortable? Won't the stroke form mostly arrive as comfortability improves? Forcing a pelvic tilt and concentrating on hamstring action just seems to be too much work for someone who is challenged with rhythmic breathing. How about more of the KISS principle with some skilled guidance?

Yup. I pretty much concentrate on a high elbow and that’s it. Everything else is more than I comprehend or can even begin to think of to try to fix while in the water. “Move arms, keep elbow high, fuck...higher, fuck...stop windmilling...Shit...gotta breath...annnnnd time: 2:06/10m”....I suck

ETA: I do really appreciate all the tid bits and advice though...just lots of it is lost on me.

Ya, i think you're genius!!! My only comment is you should specify that your times are long course meters. Further, i think you should mention you finished 4th in 200 IM at the '08 Trials, behind Phelps, Lochte, and Eric Shanteau, the top American 200 breaststroker.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

I do get where you guys are coming from. Maybe I should have been more clear. Body position should be a "set it and forget it" type thing. Learn where you are in the water, use it as a touchstone, but focus specific energy on propulsion.

You can only eat the elepant one spoonful at a time, but it helps to hold the spoon the right way.

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I wrote this, you should read it:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...n_Swimming_6700.html

I didn't right my own blurb- take it up with management. ;)

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I wrote this, you should read it:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...n_Swimming_6700.html

Well, if you were only 2:00 2im for scm, then I'm not sure anyone should listen.
;-)

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

a video on what a kick is supposed to look like would help. I can barely imagine what's being described, let alone replicate it.

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...e_P6497044/#p6497044

Nothing isolating kicking there, but some of the side tracking shots should give some idea. I'll try and comb YouTube for some more if you want.

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I wrote this, you should read it:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...n_Swimming_6700.html

OK, i posted a comment at the bottom of your article which puts your times in a bit more context.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

-but tell me how are you going to hide them behind you?---make them feel as if the pull buoy is still there. or better yet, wear lava type pants so we don't swim uphill..
-If you're swimming with any sort of tempo/cadence they'll move. ---they move a little with the body rotation-no attempt at kicking-I guess you call it 2 beat
-If you don't practice and practice the correct movement pattern---which is? we don't get feedback at all due to the inability to move without fins.
-how can you be sure they're not hurting you as much as having no effect? -the clock on the wall shows it is much faster using the pull buoy, swimming without an attempt to kick than trying to kick 6 beats or what ever the others use.

If you coached folks with boat anchors then post some videos/photos that some of us can relate to. Better yet, get some expert swimmers, tie up their ankles in ankle foot orthosis-can be found at Walmart/Walgreens that prevent plantar flexion and see what happens.

Culley 22 wrote: "Yup. I pretty much concentrate on a high elbow and that’s it. Everything else is more than I comprehend or can even begin to think of to try to fix while in the water. “Move arms, keep elbow high, fuck...higher, fuck...stop windmilling...Shit...gotta breath...annnnnd time: 2:06/10m”....I suck

ETA: I do really appreciate all the tid bits and advice though...just lots of it is lost on me. "


I'm with ya Culley: I've been doing masters since 1998. Six swim coaches over those years. I still go, mainly as a social event (think bowling/curling crowd but with more drinking).


I do my 100s on a 2:15 leave time. 90% of stroke improvement advice is lost on me. Thank goodness for fins and a good wetsuit, else I never would have got through those 9 IMs.


Caron said to me in 2014, "swim more" that sorta helped.

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http://www.fitspeek.com the Fraser Valley's fitness, wellness, and endurance sports podcast

its awesome to have such a great resource on here. I dont think the AOS swimmers will listen though. Swimming is just something they are forced to do before they can ride their bikes.

You should see the weird looks i get when i do an IM set.