You’ll find this weeks sessions here. You probably knew we were going to get around to the question of flip turns eventually. When you download this week’s workouts you’ll find that discussion therein. There are two fairly advanced swim skills that go nicely together: flip turns and 2:3 breathing. One is hypoxic, the other is the antidote to hypoxia. That’s one reason why I thought it better to broach the subject of breathing during consecutive strokes before we talked about flip turns.
I don’t expect you to latch onto either of these techniques and make them your own for a period of several months. If, 4 months from now, you say, “I can’t do a flip turn to save my life,” or, “I can’t take breaths on consecutive strokes, period,” then we’ll have to go back and take a look at what you’re doing. But I do think these are two skills that will pay you dividends.
For those of you who missed the beginning of this challenge, you can start now. Here are the workouts to date:
http://www.slowtwitch.com/...es/Guppies_week1.pdf
http://www.slowtwitch.com/...es/Guppies_week2.pdf
http://www.slowtwitch.com/...es/Guppies_week3.pdf
http://www.slowtwitch.com/...es/Guppies_week4.pdf
http://www.slowtwitch.com/...es/Guppies_week5.pdf
watch this video.
the benefit is more oxygen. the second benefit is the ability to breathe whenever, at any time, so that if you get into trouble in the open water (wave splashes you as you’re breathing, some guy swims over you), you’re always fully oxygenated, and/or you can take a breath at any time, on either side.
i have migrated out from strictly 2:3, and now i just breathe whenever. i might breathe left, right, left, then left, left, then left, right, left. i’ll do consecutive breaths in and out of the wall. you don’t really think about this unless you flip turn but if you do, esp in a short course pool, flip turns take you mildly hypoxic. it’s a break for your arms, but extra work for your abdominals, and your ventilation. i don’t do more than 3 consecutive breaths but i sometimes will do 3 in a row - left, right, left - and i don’t miss any speed when doing so.
Dan, I don’t know what it is about kicking on my back but it has transformed my swimming. I noticed it the first time I you had us kick 25yds on our back. My next freestyle set, I was pulling and kicking like never before. Maybe it’s my position after kicking on back. And this is from someone who can barely get across the pool with a kickboard without fins. I’m now doing all my kicking on my back. The best was the 75’s with 25 kick on back. For the first time ever, I felt like a swimmer!!!
Thank you
(for all of you Guppies who aren’t getting the workouts in, you just have to get to the pool. You’ve still got a month and can make a lot of progress)