Due to hitting a plateau this year, I scheduled a lesson with a local swim instructor last weekend. I’m a regular masters swimmer, but that coach is relatively hands off when it comes to technique, and I thought a “fresh look” might be beneficial.
Pretty much right of the bat, the coach spotted me as someone overdoing the TI glide thing. He said that my normal stroke looked like a catch up drill and, as a result, everything was stop-start-stop-start rather than continuous motion.
I agree with his conclusion and I’m resolved to correct this, but it is really feeling awkward. Any tips, drills, stroke thoughts, etc. for me?
take a broom and cut of the bottom part. now hold that stick horizontally with both hands kind of far apart. you can use this dryland exercise at home, in between 100s, before, or after your swims. the idea behind this kayak motion is that while you move one arm, you automatically move the other. kind of like the pedalling stroke, while one goes up the other goes down. do this for a while and hopefully this will help to break the “catch-up drill-stopping-phase” in your swimming stroke.
(1) Ever tried the catch-up/touch-and-pull drill at the opposite end of the stoke? Take a stroke and leave it down by your hip, pull with the other arm and don’t move the other until the arm in motion reaches your hip. Awful for proper body rotation, but makes you unlearn the front catch-up.
(2) Heads-up free. Hard to swim this way with the glide. Think high elbows and a strong leg kick. Try to transfer the feel of arm motion to your regular swim style.
(3) Put a band around your ankles. Taking away the legs forces you to turn over to compensate for the legs’ contribution to body position. Plus, toys are cool.
Where do you find/buy/make the bands for holding your ankles together? How tight should they be? I envision myself walking around like a penguin with the things on, but I have heard they build a great stroke and endurance.
As tripoet suggests, find an inner tube and cut a 2-inch wide band across the tube. There will be some amount of play in it when you put it on. Most folks take the easy route and hike it up around their calves. Be true and keep it around your ankles. You should be able to get quite a few of these bands out of one tube to wrap as X-mas gifts for your “friends.” If you can’t find a used tube, you can go to your local auto parts store and buy one for about $10-12. When coaching with Gregg Troy down at Bolles in the early/mid 90s, he stated it was the best tool for swimming. Hard to argue with him considering the calibre of swimmers that came out of his and Larry Schofe’s program. A school can only enter 4 swimmers in an event at the FL state champs, so if a girl didn’t go under 4:55 500 free, they didn’t get to swim the event at the state meet. Once you have mastered the band, matriculate to pickle buckets tied to your waist!
do you simply swim with the band around your ankles (i’m assuming it should be tight enough to hold your feet together), or use it in conjunction with a pull buoy?
Either. With the pull bouy, it serves to keep your feet together as some folks still kick with the pull bouy. If you are using it to get rid of the catch-up, don’t use a pull bouy.