Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Why am I doing that drill?

Hi Athletes!

I recently did a swim clinic with USMS.  I have to tell you that not only did it help my stroke and speed a bit, but it helped me to understand WHY I've been doing those drills!  For a person like me, knowing what I'm supposed to think about when I do a drill is important.  Doing a drill incorrectly or just doing it and not getting any improvement frustrates me.

So, I thought I'd share what I learned about the swim drills we do all the time.  These were done in the order listed to reinforce the learning from each with the subsequent drill.
The USMS stroke clinic was great because we had the coaches who had just gone through the training the day before at each lane and we got immediate feedback from them after every length.  We were in the pool for four hours that day.  Two hours were dedicated to Freestyle, the remaining two hours were for Breaststroke, Backstroke, and Butterfly.

I improved my swimming for all four strokes and felt like I knew what I needed to focus on for improving my freestyle swimming for Triathlon.  It was a lot of fun  I hope these help you to improve your stroke!

1. One goggle in, One goggle out
This is to focus you on good body position and breathing.
Swim as normal and when you breathe, make sure only one goggle is above the water.  If you have two goggles out, your head is lifting up and your legs will drop, losing momentum.  Keeping momentum, once you have developed it, is very important for smoother, faster swimming.  Keep your eyes open to know if you have one or two goggles out.  Caution: don't over-rotate!

2. Rhythm Drill
This is to focus you on proper breathing timing.
Swim with one arm forward, the other along the body.  The forward arm is the stroking arm.  Breathe only on the side opposite the stroking arm. Rotate the head keeping one goggle underwater when you breathe.  Keep body position neutral.  Practice breathing as the stroking arm pulls backward, recovering faster than the arm recovers.

3. Top Hat Drill
This is to focus you on proper head position.
Using a hand paddle, put the paddle in the tip-top of your head and try to swim normally without losing the paddle.  You may use flippers if you like and just use your arms in a  torpedo position to practice keeping the paddle on the top of the head.  Then add stroking to see if you can keep it there for a full length.  Keep a high elbow during the pull phase underwater.

 4. Head Tap Drill
This is to focus on breath timing.
While swimming freestyle, during recovery of the stroke, before putting the hand in the water again, touch/tap the head.  Your hand should be tapping the head after the breath cycle is done and the head is down in the water.  If you are breathing when the head tap occurs, you are breathing too long or too late.

5. Verticle Kicking Drill
This is to focus the kick on both sides of the kick, up and down.
Treading water upright in the water, keep the ankles floppy and work on getting a push from both directions of the kick.  If you are having trouble staying afloat, you are not kicking with both directions of the kick.

6. Streamline Drill
This is to focus you on your body position and learn how to streamline your body.
Stand on the pool deck and raise your hands above your head.  Place both hands one on top of the other and squeeze your elbows to your head.  Pull yourself up very tall, trying to get 2 more inches of height.  You should have your arms slightly behind your ears and your shoulder blades pulled together.  This is the best streamline position. Now get into the lane, and push off getting into this same streamline position for the push-off. Get your body tight very quickly to get the farthest distance from the push.  See have far you can coast in this position after the push-off.

7. Catch Up Drill
This is to focus on body alignment and breath timing, delaying the stroke slightly to get a glide benefit before the pull.
Push off in streamline position and glide before you begin your stroke.  When you do begin the stroke, leave the front arm out front until the stroking arm recovers to the streamline position, then begin the next stroke.  Keep your body long throughout the swim, working to reduce the number of strokes per length by 2-3.
Note: triathletes practice this for open water swimming to protect the head and goggles from stray kicks and slaps from other triathletes swimming closely during racing.

8. Paddle and Fist Drills
This is to focus your attention on catching water on the stroke with your whole arm.
Grab a paddle with the straps facing away from the hand.  Grab at the bottom of the paddle and hold it against the wrist.  Swim using the paddles in this position focusing on pulling water with the whole arm, using the paddle to feel the catch at the forearm.  Next, swim with the hand in a fist focusing on high elbow catch to get the whole arm nearly 90 degrees to the direction of the swim early, pulling through with the arm.   After two lengths with paddles and fists, swim half a length with fists and then open your hand and swim the balance of the length with open hands.  Notice if you are using the whole arm for the catch now.

9. Stroke Count Challenge
This is to focus your attention on swimming long, easy strokes.
Using what you have learned from all these drills, swim a length and count strokes using no fins or paddles.  From the first length count, swim 4 more lengths, trying to reduce the strokes per length by 1 each time.  Notice what worked.
Keep your body streamlined, tight and your stroke focused on high elbow and full arm catch to get more propulsive force.  Keep your ankles loose and get the full propulsion from both sides of the kick.

Being more efficient in your stroke, more streamlined and getting a better kick can really be helpful for older athletes.  As strength declines, efficiency can make up for that loss in many ways.  Getting a good body position with a neutral head is the first thing to work on because nothing is efficient without good body position!

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