So today’s swim workout included lots of swimming with a pull buoy, and I have two questions:
I can definitely feel my inner thighs after the workout. I don’t think I squeezed the pull buoy that hard, but is that indicative something wrong/right/good/bad I’m doing?
Are you supposed to rotate your hips sideways when swimming with a pull buoy? I find it harder to do with the buoy between my legs, but it’s something I’ve been told to focus on when I swim and I want to make sure I’m doing this right.
Likely yes. Either you don’t kick at all when swimming without a pb, or you “scissor” your legs when you breathe. Either way, it seems that you don’t usually keep your legs streamlined.
Rotate sideways? Not sure I understand. Either way, if you’re talking about hip rotation, that should be connected to how deep is your catch and how fast you accelerate through your stroke.
using a pull bouy is supposed to be solely to focus on stroke technique and how your arms enter, move through, and exit the water. The idea of the bouy is simply to make sure your lower body (read, legs) don’t sink…any soreness/work being done by your thighs/legs is because you’re likely pinching the bouy to tight between 'em…it’s there to make your legs float…that’s all. Use the bouy in workouts and switch up then with some kick drills using a kick board…nice changes in a generally monotonous workout regime, if it doesn’t include other efforts…
So today’s swim workout included lots of swimming with a pull buoy, and I have two questions:
I can definitely feel my inner thighs after the workout. I don’t think I squeezed the pull buoy that hard, but is that indicative something wrong/right/good/bad I’m doing?
Are you supposed to rotate your hips sideways when swimming with a pull buoy? I find it harder to do with the buoy between my legs, but it’s something I’ve been told to focus on when I swim and I want to make sure I’m doing this right.
thank you
2 - yes, your hips should rotate even with a pb. If you find it hard to do with the pb, then likely you are doing something else that prevents a smooth turn such as the scissoring that has been suggested.
To get an idea of what paulo is saying, stand up and go to a wall. Stand with your chest and nose touching the wall, and reach up with one hand as far as you can. Now, still reaching up, rotate your opposite shoulder and hip away from the wall. Your hand should be able to slide further up the wall. This allows you to get a “longer” pull through the water, which should have the effect of increasing your DPS.
Thank you. That example with reaching the hand up the wall and then rotating is the best explanation I’ve ever received regarding hip rotation. I felt a huge difference in the swim this morning… Do you have some similarly good advice for breathing without my form falling apart? I notice I’m smoother with the improved hip rotation, but is there anything else I should focus on?
There are usually two issues related to breathing that cause difficulties. First is you need to make sure you are completely exhaling when your face is in the water, so when you roll to breath, you can get a more complete breath. Likely you are still exhaling when you roll to breath. Key point to remember is to blow bubbles out when your face is down.
The other issue is that most people tend to lift the top of their head or look slightly forward when they are breathing which will drop your hips down and block the rotation of your hips. This also causes the legs to split more when they kick in an attempt to keep their balance. I usually recommend that when you breath to look under your armpit as the hand starts the recovery. If you are looking back under the armpit, the top of the head stays down.
One other way to picture all of this is to imagine you have a skewar or pole going down from the top of your head down the center of the body. Raise one end up, the other end drops. Your goal is to keep everything horizontal in the water. That same pole also needs to be where you roll from. Your hips and shoulders should roll together.
Likely yes. Either you don’t kick at all when swimming without a pb, or you “scissor” your legs when you breathe. Either way, it seems that you don’t usually keep your legs streamlined.
Rotate sideways? Not sure I understand. Either way, if you’re talking about hip rotation, that should be connected to how deep is your catch and how fast you accelerate through your stroke.
Likely yes. Either you don’t kick at all when swimming without a pb, or you “scissor” your legs when you breathe. Either way, it seems that you don’t usually keep your legs streamlined.
Rotate sideways? Not sure I understand. Either way, if you’re talking about hip rotation, that should be connected to how deep is your catch and how fast you accelerate through your stroke.
so how can I fix number 1?
Ironic that the new, helpful, Paulo is the currently banned Paulo.
Make sure the pull buoy is up high between your legs and not down near your knees. Your hips will rotate a bit with it in, but most of the rotation comes from your upper body.
Make sure the pull buoy is up high between your legs and not down near your knees. Your hips will rotate a bit with it in, but most of the rotation comes from your upper body.
So does this mean holding the buoy down around the ankles is worthless or is there a role to do pull sets with the buoy on the ankles as well?
One of the ways my team worked on it - we have some that scissored/splayed badly when they rotated to breathe and/or at random times - is to swim (kick included) with the pull buoy. You do have to engage the adductor musles to keep the body streamlined (i.e. not splay or scissor) so that your kick is effective and can be done even with your body rotating. Swimming with the pull buoy helps a bit to engage those muscles, “streamline” the kick a bit and make sure you’re using your ankles/feet in your kick as well. It helps a bit with the whole timing and rotation feel of things. Just a note, the buoy has to be up high on your legs to do this, otherwise you wind up with a bit too much knee bend. We also use kickboards as “pull buoys” from time-to-time for the same effect.
Someone esle had asked about breathing - getting to the point where you don’t have to lift your entire face out of the water for a breath will help. Look straight across the surface of the water, one eye in the water & one eye out to breathe. Keeping your head “lift” as shallow and quick as possible gets you back into the proper position and lifts your feet back up. In open water, if I have to sight (which immediately starts to sink my feet if I don’t engage my core to help keep them up) I bury my chin to my chest for a second or two, which will lift your legs back up.
Thats a good explanation. Ive been doing tri’s and im’s fpr years and I still suck at swimming and its so frustrating. I was at the pool yesterday and a 15 yr old with a pb passed me. My swim time for im is usually around 1:10.
What is the correct shape/form for kicking? I typically barely kick.
So today’s swim workout included lots of swimming with a pull buoy, and I have two questions:
I can definitely feel my inner thighs after the workout. I don’t think I squeezed the pull buoy that hard, but is that indicative something wrong/right/good/bad I’m doing?
Are you supposed to rotate your hips sideways when swimming with a pull buoy? I find it harder to do with the buoy between my legs, but it’s something I’ve been told to focus on when I swim and I want to make sure I’m doing this right.
thank you
yes you may be squeezing to hard, but the effort you are putting into squeezing could be focused more on your upper body. the buoy is to help make your lower body relaxed to teach you to balance better in the water.
As little disruption as possible…there’s a reason boat propellers don’t stick out sideways. Most of your kick comes from your hip and your ankle/foot. “Flipper feet”
Toes pointed slightly inward (my big toes/knuckles often touch/brush), no more than hip-width apart at any time. It’s to be evenly up and down (or side-to-side, if you’re kicking on your side) and constant. A six-beat kick is propulsive but not energy-wasting, it’s just a constant metronome. I’m by no means a good kicker, but I’ve found it does help me stay even in my stroke and propulsion.