The number one problem I've seen for new swimmers is the inability to get over the hump in terms of endurance. I promise, it can be done. But you're doing it wrong. Trust me, if I can crank out 6+ miles as a fat smoker, then so can you. You just gotta work on your stroke. And when I say stroke, I actually mean your in-between stroke. Doing freestyle, or the crawl, or whatever the hell you want to call it, is all about NOT CRAWLING. It's about GLIDING. I'm going to address two common misconceptions about freestyle and bash them into submission.
1. You maintain your body parallel to the pool bottom.
A. Wrong, dammit. Sure, at times your body will find itself parallel to the bottom of the pool. You need to minimize those times. Work on shoulder rotation and really extend that lead arm out. Think about it. What has more drag: your profile or your chest and shoulders? You're not stupid, so I'd presume that you can arrive to the correct conclusion. Maximize the time spent with the lead arm extended and really stretch out the glide, both in terms of time and the distance you're reaching your arm. Be careful though! You don't want that nice shoulder rotation to turn into a body-wiggle. Focus on ensuring your entire trunk, and subsequently your legs, follow suit, because if not, your torso is spazzing out while your legs are flip-flapping away.
2. You kick your feet constantly.
A. This is only true for very short distances (i.e. sprint-type races). There are, in general, three types of kicks for freestyle: 2, 4, and 6-beat. 6 beat kick is essentially the constant sloshing of water that we see altogether far too many people doing. That's fine and dandy for short distance races, but when you're talking about trying to get some decent yardage in, efficiency is the name of the game. So, I'd urge you to try out what's affectionately known as the "welfare kick" (I know, probably a faux-pas, but it's a bad slang term for lazy kick). Let your legs drag behind your stroke; they will naturally be twisted back and forth from the shoulder and body rotation mentioned in the bullet above. Squeeze kicks into their natural spots....it should be in the in between phases of your stroke. Let your legs sort of drift and lightly add to your propulsion. Otherwise you'll exhaust yourself, and in many cases, prevent your body from achieving proper rotation because your legs will stay squared up and your upper body will start to do the dreaded "wiggle."
My goal here is to give a couple tips each week that, if incorporated into your stroke, will make your life easier in the water. Swimming is all about efficiency. If you get completely burnt up by the time you've swum 1000 yards, you've exhausted all your fast-twitch muscle fibers, but really haven't done anything to develop yourself cardiovascularly, aerobically, and worse yet: you haven't toned up your muscles to look slender and sexy for all the pool-side babes watching you that throughout my time as a swimmer were completely non-existent. You really want to stretch it out, (just like running) and get to the point where you can put in a couple hours of good swimming, without your stroke falling apart due to fatigue.
1. You maintain your body parallel to the pool bottom.
A. Wrong, dammit. Sure, at times your body will find itself parallel to the bottom of the pool. You need to minimize those times. Work on shoulder rotation and really extend that lead arm out. Think about it. What has more drag: your profile or your chest and shoulders? You're not stupid, so I'd presume that you can arrive to the correct conclusion. Maximize the time spent with the lead arm extended and really stretch out the glide, both in terms of time and the distance you're reaching your arm. Be careful though! You don't want that nice shoulder rotation to turn into a body-wiggle. Focus on ensuring your entire trunk, and subsequently your legs, follow suit, because if not, your torso is spazzing out while your legs are flip-flapping away.
2. You kick your feet constantly.
A. This is only true for very short distances (i.e. sprint-type races). There are, in general, three types of kicks for freestyle: 2, 4, and 6-beat. 6 beat kick is essentially the constant sloshing of water that we see altogether far too many people doing. That's fine and dandy for short distance races, but when you're talking about trying to get some decent yardage in, efficiency is the name of the game. So, I'd urge you to try out what's affectionately known as the "welfare kick" (I know, probably a faux-pas, but it's a bad slang term for lazy kick). Let your legs drag behind your stroke; they will naturally be twisted back and forth from the shoulder and body rotation mentioned in the bullet above. Squeeze kicks into their natural spots....it should be in the in between phases of your stroke. Let your legs sort of drift and lightly add to your propulsion. Otherwise you'll exhaust yourself, and in many cases, prevent your body from achieving proper rotation because your legs will stay squared up and your upper body will start to do the dreaded "wiggle."
My goal here is to give a couple tips each week that, if incorporated into your stroke, will make your life easier in the water. Swimming is all about efficiency. If you get completely burnt up by the time you've swum 1000 yards, you've exhausted all your fast-twitch muscle fibers, but really haven't done anything to develop yourself cardiovascularly, aerobically, and worse yet: you haven't toned up your muscles to look slender and sexy for all the pool-side babes watching you that throughout my time as a swimmer were completely non-existent. You really want to stretch it out, (just like running) and get to the point where you can put in a couple hours of good swimming, without your stroke falling apart due to fatigue.
wow! Thanks for writing. Keep it up, I love it!
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