Sheila's Speed Secrets

Triathlon Forum
1

Just saw this book review on the ST main page:
http://www.slowtwitch.com/...ed_Secrets_5716.html
(All pretty good, except ST may want to check the spelling of Sheila’s first name … )

I am sure her book is worth a read, but a few things of interest jump out immediately.
"Early on she states the obvious: ‘You can only get faster in swimming in one of two ways: 1.) Reduce the number of strokes you take. 2.) Turnover the strokes more quickly.’"This is generally correct and, although Sheila herself is probably an exception to this, the preponderance of evidence shows that faster distance swimmers typically do not have a higher turnover rate than slower distance swimmers when both are working equally hard. But, yes, what is really different about faster distance swimmers is that they do take fewer strokes (i.e., they have a greater distance per stroke than slower swimmers).

  • “She coaches the readers to focus on her secret areas for the best speed improvements like “developing a great pull” instead of every aspect of swimming. Shelia instructs how and why to change stroke technique to catch the water during the pull phase.”*This is also a good point, and evidence supports this. Faster distance swimmers have a better pull than slower swimmers and the difference is greatest in the first half of the pull, i.e., the part of the pull that is ahead of the swimmer’s body instead of the under the swimmer’s body. But to be able to set up a functional and powerful pull, lots of other aspects of stroke technique must also be correct. You can’t just ignore huge problems in other aspects of your stroke and focus just on the pull. Because even a great pull can’t overcome the enormous drag that comes with bad body position. And you can’t even get a powerful pull in the first place if, for example, you start with a bad arm entry.

  • "Around 95 percent of the swimmers and triathletes I know are showing up to practice and working on diminishing returns.”*Wow, I can’t agree more. There are triathletes that I have seen over the years that are in awesome shape, they bike fast and run fast, they train hard and put in lots of yards in the water and yet they don’t get much faster in the swim. Why? Well, one look at them in the water, and it is clear. They have huge stroke flaws that add enormous drag to every single stroke they take. Usually they have technique flaws that are quite easy to fix with some decent instruction. And no amount of blind yardage can just ‘overcome’ stroke problems. You gotta fix the big stroke flaws if you want to get faster in the water, there is simply no other way.

2

Just saw this book review on the ST main page:
http://www.slowtwitch.com/...ed_Secrets_5716.html
(All pretty good, except ST may want to check the spelling of Sheila’s first name … )

I am sure her book is worth a read, but a few things of interest jump out immediately.
"Early on she states the obvious: ‘You can only get faster in swimming in one of two ways: 1.) Reduce the number of strokes you take. 2.) Turnover the strokes more quickly.’"This is generally correct and, although Sheila herself is probably an exception to this, the preponderance of evidence shows that faster distance swimmers typically do not have a higher turnover rate than slower distance swimmers when both are working equally hard. But, yes, what is really different about faster distance swimmers is that they do take fewer strokes (i.e., they have a greater distance per stroke than slower swimmers).

  • “She coaches the readers to focus on her secret areas for the best speed improvements like “developing a great pull” instead of every aspect of swimming. Shelia instructs how and why to change stroke technique to catch the water during the pull phase.”*This is also a good point, and evidence supports this. Faster distance swimmers have a better pull than slower swimmers and the difference is greatest in the first half of the pull, i.e., the part of the pull that is ahead of the swimmer’s body instead of the under the swimmer’s body. But to be able to set up a functional and powerful pull, lots of other aspects of stroke technique must also be correct. You can’t just ignore huge problems in other aspects of your stroke and focus just on the pull. Because even a great pull can’t overcome the enormous drag that comes with bad body position. And you can’t even get a powerful pull in the first place if, for example, you start with a bad arm entry.

  • "Around 95 percent of the swimmers and triathletes I know are showing up to practice and working on diminishing returns.”*Wow, I can’t agree more. There are triathletes that I have seen over the years that are in awesome shape, they bike fast and run fast, they train hard and put in lots of yards in the water and yet they don’t get much faster in the swim. Why? Well, one look at them in the water, and it is clear. They have huge stroke flaws that add enormous drag to every single stroke they take. Usually they have technique flaws that are quite easy to fix with some decent instruction. And no amount of blind yardage can just ‘overcome’ stroke problems. You gotta fix the big stroke flaws if you want to get faster in the water, there is simply no other way.

I just read this book review yesterday and the things that you quoted caught my attention too. I haven’t read the book but I’m not sure that I want to unless I can understand where she’s coming from with her comments. Does she advocate reducing the number of strokes or increasing the turnover? How does she advocate developing a great pull? She says 95% of swimmers and triathletes are working on diminishing returns. Swimmers too? Really? Can anybody shed some light on what she means here so I can decide whether I should get the book and read it?

3

Just saw this book review on the ST main page:
http://www.slowtwitch.com/...ed_Secrets_5716.html
(All pretty good, except ST may want to check the spelling of Sheila’s first name … )

I am sure her book is worth a read, but a few things of interest jump out immediately.
"Early on she states the obvious: ‘You can only get faster in swimming in one of two ways: 1.) Reduce the number of strokes you take. 2.) Turnover the strokes more quickly.’"This is generally correct and, although Sheila herself is probably an exception to this, the preponderance of evidence shows that faster distance swimmers typically do not have a higher turnover rate than slower distance swimmers when both are working equally hard. But, yes, what is really different about faster distance swimmers is that they do take fewer strokes (i.e., they have a greater distance per stroke than slower swimmers).

  • “She coaches the readers to focus on her secret areas for the best speed improvements like “developing a great pull” instead of every aspect of swimming. Shelia instructs how and why to change stroke technique to catch the water during the pull phase.”*This is also a good point, and evidence supports this. Faster distance swimmers have a better pull than slower swimmers and the difference is greatest in the first half of the pull, i.e., the part of the pull that is ahead of the swimmer’s body instead of the under the swimmer’s body. But to be able to set up a functional and powerful pull, lots of other aspects of stroke technique must also be correct. You can’t just ignore huge problems in other aspects of your stroke and focus just on the pull. Because even a great pull can’t overcome the enormous drag that comes with bad body position. And you can’t even get a powerful pull in the first place if, for example, you start with a bad arm entry.

  • "Around 95 percent of the swimmers and triathletes I know are showing up to practice and working on diminishing returns.”*Wow, I can’t agree more. There are triathletes that I have seen over the years that are in awesome shape, they bike fast and run fast, they train hard and put in lots of yards in the water and yet they don’t get much faster in the swim. Why? Well, one look at them in the water, and it is clear. They have huge stroke flaws that add enormous drag to every single stroke they take. Usually they have technique flaws that are quite easy to fix with some decent instruction. And no amount of blind yardage can just ‘overcome’ stroke problems. You gotta fix the big stroke flaws if you want to get faster in the water, there is simply no other way.

I just read this book review yesterday and the things that you quoted caught my attention too. I haven’t read the book but I’m not sure that I want to unless I can understand where she’s coming from with her comments. Does she advocate reducing the number of strokes or increasing the turnover? How does she advocate developing a great pull? She says 95% of swimmers and triathletes are working on diminishing returns. Swimmers too? Really? Can anybody shed some light on what she means here so I can decide whether I should get the book and read it?

I’ve read this book twice but do not have it here with me right now to refer to, but think i can answer your Qs. First of all, on the reducing strokes per length (spl) vs increasing turnover, I don’t remember her advocating for either approach as it really depends on the individual swimmer’s height, reach, flexibility, etc, i.e. a 6’5" swimmer will likely take fewer spl than a 5’2" swimmer. All she trying to do is to establish the relationship that Velocity = distance/stroke (dps) x strokes/min (spm) = distance/min. While she does not say it directly in the book,her whole purpose in writing the book was to counter the Total Immersion (TI) approach which mostly focuses on reducing drag rather than increasing propulsive power. With this equation stated up front, she’s kind of taking drag out of it although obv drag affects your dist/stroke but she’s trying to put a laser focus on pulling hard to go fast. Second, as to how she advocates developing a great pull, she advocates to SWIM LOTS (just like Eddie Merckx said “ride lots.”) rather than the endless drills that TI advocates. Third, when she says “focusing on diminishing returns”, she’s again talking about TI’s focus on doing lots of drills to try to reduce drag rather than increasing power. Also, regarding body position, she just does not think it is that hard as she says she’ll give a novice swimmer 2 lessons to figure that out. I think she thinks people will intuitively figure out how streamline efficiently just from swimming a lot, which is debatable given the relatively poor strokes of the majority of “fitness swimmers”. She does gloss over the body position issue a bit as only those with some degree of swim talent can figure these things out intuitively, and i think that would only be maybe 10-15% of the overall population.

Somewhere in the ST main page archives (2012-13-ish), there is an article by Terry Laughlin, founder of TI, in response to Sheila’s book. I can’t remember that much of what he said but it was lame compared to Sheila’s very straightforward approach:)

4

I read her book, I’m not sure if it was this one or not but strokes (S) and distance per stroke (D) determine the speed of the swimmer. And many swimmers will focus on D at the expense of S and not get any faster. Speed is a factor of both and not one at the expense of the other. For me, her point was clear as day. What’s the point of getting across the pool with 20 vs 22 if you cross with the same time. You didn’t get any faster.

5

I went to a clinic with her a few months back, AWESOME experience. Really learned a lot from it and highly recommend it.

6

I read it about a month back. In regards to the power vs. reducing drag debate, one thing really stood out to me. There was some Olympic swimmer around the turn of the century who is considered the founder of the front crawl. But when he swam his head was actually above the water. Despite this, he had developed such a great catch and pull that he was still able to swim sub 1:00 for a 100 free. Think about that.

7

That’s impressive, but what was his time for the 1500m?

There are lots of things that can be fast with the application of huge amounts of power in a sprint, but how many of them are actually sustainable at 1 mile, or 2.4 miles?

8

Clearly his technique was not optimal, but thinking about generating that much power with so much drag made me realize that the lowest hanging fruit for a triathlete swimmer was to learn how to efficiently derive the most power from the catch and pull. You can’t streamline your way to a sub 1:00.

9

I read it about a month back. In regards to the power vs. reducing drag debate, one thing really stood out to me. There was some Olympic swimmer around the turn of the century who is considered the founder of the front crawl. But when he swam his head was actually above the water. Despite this, he had developed such a great catch and pull that he was still able to swim sub 1:00 for a 100 free. Think about that.

Johnny Weissmuller, aka Tarzan in the movies. That’s where the “Tarzan” drill comes from (one of Sheila’s favorite drills, btw).

10

Clearly his technique was not optimal, but thinking about generating that much power with so much drag made me realize that the lowest hanging fruit for a triathlete swimmer was to learn how to efficiently derive the most power from the catch and pull.Agreed.

But, a good cycling analogy to this is like riding on the track against someone with lots of power and also lots of drag. Sure, this rider will kick your butt on his bike over you riding at 100% on your aerobars on the best superbike on earth on any 60 sec. event.

But try the same comparison over a 60 min. event, and efficiency and low drag (with good power of course) will win every time. You’ll leave him in the dust.

http://orig09.deviantart.net/e295/f/2011/224/2/4/track_cyclist_6_by_stonepiler-d46bo16.jpg

11

Clearly his technique was not optimal, but thinking about generating that much power with so much drag made me realize that the lowest hanging fruit for a triathlete swimmer was to learn how to efficiently derive the most power from the catch and pull. You can’t streamline your way to a sub 1:00.

This is a pretty good way to explain it. I’ve read the book, although it’s now been a little while, and while she doesn’t by any means say “form isn’t important” I do think it’s a shift in thinking from where you get your biggest bang from. Basically the idea that, especially with the time constraints of most people, they have more room for improvement in the catch, pull, power department. I thought is was a refreshing way to look at swimming for me as someone who had been beating technique to death for very little improvement. It is a quick, easy read.

12

Ok. All of this helps me to understand. So I’ll go along with the concept of establishing a great pull. But that IS tied to technique. Maybe at one point there is low hanging fruit in either power or technique, but it seems to me that once you have established a reasonable proficiency with speed and technique, BOTH strength/power and technique have to be improved to get faster. I may buy the book based on what I’ve heard here. I don’t think the ST book review was very helpful, though.

13

I read it about a month back. In regards to the power vs. reducing drag debate, one thing really stood out to me. There was some Olympic swimmer around the turn of the century who is considered the founder of the front crawl. But when he swam his head was actually above the water. Despite this, he had developed such a great catch and pull that he was still able to swim sub 1:00 for a 100 free. Think about that.

To be more specific, the Oly swimmer was Johnny Weissmuller and he went 57.4 for 100 LONG COURSE METERS, not just “sub-1:00” for 100 scy. Huge diff since 100 LCM in 57.4 equals around 50.3 for 100 yd. You weren’t giving the guy nearly enough credit:)

14

I wish I knew how to embed Facebook videos on here, because a friend of mine just shared a video of Cameron McEvoy’s 21 mid 50 free at Aussie trials, taken directly underneath him for the entire 50. 37 strokes, no breaths, but what really stands out is how perfectly streamlined he gets on each stroke whole still maintaining a high stroke rate and power on each pull.

Streamlining matters just as much as power.

15

I wish I knew how to embed Facebook videos on here, because a friend of mine just shared a video of Cameron McEvoy’s 21 mid 50 free at Aussie trials,** taken directly underneath him for the entire 50.** 37 strokes, no breaths, but what really stands out is how perfectly streamlined he gets on each stroke whole still maintaining a high stroke rate and power on each pull.

Streamlining matters just as much as power.

How do they manage to do that??? Seems like a camera moving under him on bottom of the pool would be distracting.

16

Camera on a sled on the bottom. You can see it on coverage of major comps.

I doubt it’s all that distracting. I know when I’m in racing, or in a max effort set in practice, I barely notice the bottom of the pool. Unless I’m in the shallow end and I push off too deep, then I notice.

17

Camera on a sled on the bottom. You can see it on coverage of major comps.

I doubt it’s all that distracting. I know when I’m in racing, or in a max effort set in practice, I barely notice the bottom of the pool. Unless I’m in the shallow end and I push off too deep, then I notice.

Ah, I see. Actually, now that i think about it, i barely notice the pool bottom either. The pool used for those Aussie trials is prob deep enough that you’d have to be trying hard to get close to the bottom:)

18

I wish I knew how to embed Facebook videos on here, because a friend of mine just shared a video of Cameron McEvoy’s 21 mid 50 free at Aussie trials, taken directly underneath him for the entire 50. 37 strokes, no breaths, but what really stands out is how perfectly streamlined he gets on each stroke whole still maintaining a high stroke rate and power on each pull.

Streamlining matters just as much as power.

https://www.facebook.com/653011364/videos/10153614691496365/

19

Just to add a few comments based on my experience having Sheila coach my master team over the past year:

Sheila believes in the catch & pull and being able to “hold water” are the keys to fast swimming. She does tend to gloss over drag reduction sometimes, but she makes the point that you can be perfectly streamlined, but aren’t going anywhere without applying propulsive force. The premise is that as your stroke technique improves, you naturally develop a more streamlined body position.

She believes that the catch & pull are perishable skills that needs to be constantly reinforced. Lots of sculling, one-arm drills, Tarzans, etc., in our daily warm-ups.

Developing an efficient and powerful stroke pattern trumps turnover rate. You only increase turnover to the point where you start to have breakdowns in technique. Then you go back and work on technique some more.

In the same vein, she believes that your stroke shouldn’t change based on your speed; your stroke mechanics remain constant while you vary turnover rate to control speed. In other words, you don’t add glide when swimming slower. She would occasionally include sets with changes in speed mid-length to practice “changing gears”.

Sheila emphasizes developing a strong six-beat kick. While recognizing that a triathlete would likely utilize a two-beat kick most of the time, she thinks it is important to have a six-beat for tactical reasons, i.e., being able to separate yourself from the pack at the start and for a finishing kick. She believes in “racing” triathlon swims, not just “swimming” them.

Sheila’s approach will make you faster, but it takes work.

Mark

20

As with a lot of arguments / discussions there really is no argument / discussion.
If you read the book it repeatedly states that streamlining is important, but that for a lot (not all, but many) of triathletes working on the stroke mechanic will give bigger gains faster than working on other important aspects which to some extent will come into play naturally with improved stroke.