I’m in an area with no possibilities for coaching or masters swim teams so the only way for me to get faster is tips on this forum and reading books and articles.
I often have cramping in my feet when I try to point my toes using a kickboard. It’s an enormous difference when I focus on pointing my toes, but after a length of the pool, it’s an overall negative effect because a foot cramp keeps me from keeping it pointed.
I’m also wondering about my hands. It’s a very, very minor point I think, but are you supposed to keep the fingers touching throughout the stroke, along with the thumb, or are they supposed to be slightly apart?
I get foot cramps if I don’t stretch my calves out properly during warm-up. I always stretch my calves after every 50 or 100 meters of my warm-up. I also do easy kick sets as part of warm-up with a good calf stretch after each one. Good stretching always eliminates my foot cramping.
The foot cramping could be dehydration or some other nutritional deficiency. Increasing hydration helped me get over that. As for hand position, I think you should keep fingers tight at all times. When I get tired, they spread apart and slow me down. Rather than let your fingers spread, slow your arm speed and keep fingers tight.
Thanks for the advice! It’s tough to try to teach yourself how to swim. There are so many questions, and there are so many simple things that seem to translate into increased speed and efficiency.
I find that keeping your feet rigid during kicking induces cramps, try to keep them relaxed as much as you can during the recovery phase (the up stroke). Also when pushing off the wall, try to use your quads more than your feet and ankles for the push off. Lastly the hands should be somwhat relaxed, do not press your fingers together too firmly.
Cramps: the guys I swim with whine about their calves and feet cramping all the time. Mine do on occassion, and it’s usually toward the end of a hard workout - I chalk it up to fatigue, more than anything else. Like others have replied, stretch your calf muscles after a warmup and see if it helps.
Hands: when you swim next, try this. Swim a length with your fingers spread totally apart like cat claws, then another length with them together. Which works better?! Don’t ‘squeeze’ your fingers together they shouldn’t be apart from each other.
The most important thing with hands is that they should be relaxed. Tension in the hand results in unnecessary tension all the way up the rest of the arm. If you watch the fish, some will have fingers entirely together, and others will have some slight gaps between fingers.
The foot cramp problem could be because you’re trying to force your feet into a movement you don’t really have the ankle flexibility to do. When you get five or ten minutes during the day when you can take your shoes off, work on stretching with a toe point-hold-relax sort of cycle.
I don’t believe calf/foot cramping is EVER from dehydration. Too many experience it way too early in their swims. It’s a spasm from having your calf in a shortened position.
