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Andrew Sheaff
เข้าร่วมเมื่อ 5 เม.ย. 2012
Helping swim coaches understand the key skills for fast swimming and providing strategies to develop those skills while training hard.
Simple.
Simple.
Different Head Position, Better Breaststroke Pulling?
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Want to help your swimmers go faster?
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FREE- Learn how to quickly and easily implement stroke counts into your coaching while avoiding all the common mistakes.
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GRAB THE BOOK- A Constraints-Led Approach To Swim Coaching
www.amazon.com/Constraints-Led-Approach-Routledge-Constraints-Based-Methodologies/dp/0367724782
Learn the most important skills in every stroke, as well as the most effective strategies for developing those skills.
www.coachandrewsheaff.com/get-stroke-fundamentals
Want to help your swimmers go faster?
FREE- Learn how to dramatically improve the skills that build speed without changing your training.
www.buildbettersets.com
FREE- Learn how to quickly and easily implement stroke counts into your coaching while avoiding all the common mistakes.
www.strokecounts.com
GRAB THE BOOK- A Constraints-Led Approach To Swim Coaching
www.amazon.com/Constraints-Led-Approach-Routledge-Constraints-Based-Methodologies/dp/0367724782
Learn the most important skills in every stroke, as well as the most effective strategies for developing those skills.
www.coachandrewsheaff.com/get-stroke-fundamentals
มุมมอง: 187
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High Elbow Pull OR Deep And Powerful Pull
มุมมอง 3457 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
Subscribe www.youtube.com/@Andrewsheaff Want to help your swimmers go faster? FREE- Learn how to dramatically improve the skills that build speed without changing your training. www.buildbettersets.com FREE- Learn how to quickly and easily implement stroke counts into your coaching while avoiding all the common mistakes. www.strokecounts.com GRAB THE BOOK- A Constraints-Led Approach To Swim Coa...
How To Improve Propulsion In Underwater Kicking
มุมมอง 5569 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
00:00 Introduction 00:49 Why does propulsion matter in underwater kicking? 01:27 What are the key skils? 03:14 Seeing underwater kicking propulsion skills 04:54 What’s the challenge? 06:23 Solutions 06:59 Flipper kick 08:32 Vertical kicking moving backward 09:43 DragSox 11:17 Resistance 12:20 Performance 13:26 Integration 14:32 Set #1 15:23 Set #2 16:20 Set #3 Subscribe www.youtube.com/@Andrews...
Q&A- How to Incorporate Stroke Counts Into Pace Work
มุมมอง 11312 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
Subscribe www.youtube.com/@Andrewsheaff Want more FREE coaching knowledge like this? Learn how to dramatically improve the skills that build speed without changing your training. www.buildbettersets.com Learn how to quickly and easily implement stroke counts into your coaching while avoiding all the common mistakes. www.strokecounts.com
Block Starts Are NOT Complicated
มุมมอง 15414 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
Subscribe www.youtube.com/@Andrewsheaff Want to help your swimmers go faster? FREE- Learn how to dramatically improve the skills that build speed without changing your training. www.buildbettersets.com FREE- Learn how to quickly and easily implement stroke counts into your coaching while avoiding all the common mistakes. www.strokecounts.com GRAB THE BOOK- A Constraints-Led Approach To Swim Coa...
Build Skills Faster With Contrast Training
มุมมอง 26916 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
Subscribe www.youtube.com/@Andrewsheaff Want to help your swimmers go faster? FREE- Learn how to dramatically improve the skills that build speed without changing your training. www.buildbettersets.com FREE- Learn how to quickly and easily implement stroke counts into your coaching while avoiding all the common mistakes. www.strokecounts.com Learn the most important skills in every stroke, as w...
The 'High Elbow' In Sprint Freestyle
มุมมอง 530วันที่ผ่านมา
Subscribe www.youtube.com/@Andrewsheaff Want to help your swimmers go faster? FREE- Learn how to dramatically improve the skills that build speed without changing your training. www.buildbettersets.com FREE- Learn how to quickly and easily implement stroke counts into your coaching while avoiding all the common mistakes. www.strokecounts.com GRAB THE BOOK- A Constraints-Led Approach To Swim Coa...
Q&A- How Do You Use Constraints During Short Seasons and Practices?
มุมมอง 89วันที่ผ่านมา
Q&A- How Do You Use Constraints During Short Seasons and Practices?
How Breaststroke Kick is REALLY Peformed
มุมมอง 291วันที่ผ่านมา
How Breaststroke Kick is REALLY Peformed
Better Butterfly Pull Endurance With Straight Arm Freestyle
มุมมอง 44714 วันที่ผ่านมา
Better Butterfly Pull Endurance With Straight Arm Freestyle
Optimizing NOT Maximizing Propulsion For Speed
มุมมอง 80814 วันที่ผ่านมา
Optimizing NOT Maximizing Propulsion For Speed
Q&A- How To Plan For Skill Development
มุมมอง 12414 วันที่ผ่านมา
Q&A- How To Plan For Skill Development
How To Improve Alignment In Any Stroke
มุมมอง 55021 วันที่ผ่านมา
How To Improve Alignment In Any Stroke
The Role of LATERAL Motion During The Pull
มุมมอง 82221 วันที่ผ่านมา
The Role of LATERAL Motion During The Pull
Powerful Strategies For Faster Breaststroke Pullouts
มุมมอง 20921 วันที่ผ่านมา
Powerful Strategies For Faster Breaststroke Pullouts
Why Entry Timing Is Critical In EVERY Stroke
มุมมอง 79221 วันที่ผ่านมา
Why Entry Timing Is Critical In EVERY Stroke
BETTER Underwater Kicking With This Simple Strategy
มุมมอง 90628 วันที่ผ่านมา
BETTER Underwater Kicking With This Simple Strategy
Q&A- Why Race Pace AND Threshold Work Are Important
มุมมอง 198หลายเดือนก่อน
Q&A- Why Race Pace AND Threshold Work Are Important
Straight Or Bent Arm Freestyle Recovery?
มุมมอง 335หลายเดือนก่อน
Straight Or Bent Arm Freestyle Recovery?
Improve ANY Skill With Eyes Closed Swimming
มุมมอง 214หลายเดือนก่อน
Improve ANY Skill With Eyes Closed Swimming
Entry Timing Skill Part IV- Breaststroke
มุมมอง 383หลายเดือนก่อน
Entry Timing Skill Part IV- Breaststroke
How To Improve Horizontal Alignment In Backstroke
มุมมอง 211หลายเดือนก่อน
How To Improve Horizontal Alignment In Backstroke
Developing Better Freestyle Pulling With Underwater Recovery
มุมมอง 735หลายเดือนก่อน
Developing Better Freestyle Pulling With Underwater Recovery
Well, maybe you can answer, maybe not. With my over arm side stroke, the under arm is doing pretty much the dog paddle style of pull, or the breast stroke pull out stroke. With any distances, I use a full body length pull with the under side arm. When sprinting, I tend to use a 3/4 length pull, and maybe even a 1/2 length stroke, a bit longer than the standard breast stroke pull. While the full length under water pull does provide more distance/stroke, it does create more drag. Never quite sure where to stop the pull. I did see one video about the combat swim side stroke where the instructor mentioned that with sprints, he used a 1/2 body length pull. I figure I need to pull through the power zone, which to me is from 45 to 135 degrees of the 180 degree arc of the pull. So, which " should" work best?
I would do think that a half pull like breaststroke is going to be faster. You get a lot of the propulsion, much less of the drag, and a faster stroke rate. The real answer? Test it! See what's faster. As far as the degree of arm bend, I would focus on getting into a position where the forearm is facing backward for as long as possible.
The human body is an interesting set of levers, and no matter what sport we are involved in, we have to apply those levers. The windmill style as I call it, used in the 50 meter sprint and for the last 10 or so meters of just about every race, requires more power/force because of using longer levers. The distance swimmers all use about a 90 degree angle bend in their elbows, and the 200+ distances all use the gallop style and about the 120 or so degree bend at the elbow, or is that 60 degrees..... Anyway, you didn't cover back stroke here. It is kind of in a whole different category since we can't engage our arm, shoulder, back and front muscles the same way we do with freestyle. Part of why back stroke records are slower than freestyle.
Yep, different strategies tend to be more effective for certain events, although there is some individuality. Backstroke is similar, but instead of 'deeper', a straighter arm is 'wider'. Part of the reason, I didn't cover it is that the differences among really good backstrokes tend not to be nearly as extreme (because of anatomy there are fewer options), and the differences seem to drive more by individual differences as compared to anything else. For instance, Regan Smith is straighter than Kaylee McKeown, but both are very similar in speed from 50-100-200.
I was going to ask, but forgot..... again..... I blame it on old age. Anyway, is there any specific breathing pattern for back stroke? I find myself breathing on every arm pull. I thought it was my slow stroke rate, and tried to increase it, but that just made me burn more oxygen, and the breathing pattern stayed the same. I have tried to breathe on every other arm pull, but for me, it is like breathing every third arm pull in freestyle, it just leaves me gasping...
@@robohippy I don't know that there is a set breathing pattern that is optimal, but I think having a breathing pattern is important. It's mostly a matter of finding what works, or what doesn't!
i have seen alot of people say that pros kick hard on " both sides" meaning they kick fast on the up kick and down kick. is there much propulsion in the straight up kick? or is it just to a recovery action to start another strong down kick?
I think there is probably some. However, the skills that set up the next kick are the same ones that potentially create more propulsion.
Check out this for more. th-cam.com/video/vv4YKxBPha8/w-d-xo.html
Noticing that "kicking through the centerline" thing was key for me in fixing my butterfly and also getting anything out of my UDK as a middle aged masters swimmer. I think of it in terms of ending up in a "pike" position to make the kick work. Thanks for the video -- I really enjoy the no-nonsense academic delivery in your work. I'm struggling with tendinitis in my elbow right now, so I'm focusing on huge kick sets for the next couple weeks, and I'm planning to use some of these ideas to advance my kicking while I'm hurt. z
That's great! Keep up the good work. Some kick focusing training can often be a real difference maker. Piking is a good way of thinking about it, just make sure it's controlled.
could be effective for slow long distance too, I use it, I'm slow swimmer🙂
Yep. There's no 'right' answer, other than what creates the most speed for a given swimmer!
Thank you Andrew. Just proved this to myself today while doing repeat 25s Switched to deeper pull VS trying to get the EVF. The deeper pull was faster
AWESOME! Keep playing with it!
Super video, Andrew. Thank you. Flipper kicker (male) seems to be using his hands/arms to help him balance. Is this ok when first acquiring the skill?
I wouldn't worry about it. I don't pay attention to it at all. If the bubbles are there, the kick is doing what it needs to do. The hands are sort of for 'balance', and I don't really care if that's happening. Hope that helps!
Andrew I just love your passion and enthusiasm. Thanks for the interesting video. I will give it a try with my swimmers today.
Thanks! You are welcome!
Nice good information and clearly explained thanks for your insights.
You are welcome!
I am a master open water swimmer and I want to race some 800 mts freestyle in a pool. I need to work hard in starts and turns. This kind of video is what I need. Thank you!
You are very welcome. Best of luck!
@Andrew great video as always. I've heard arguments on whether the dominant leg should be placed forward or backward on the block. I am guessing, based on this video, that you would say it should be placed forward. Is that correct?
Whatever foot they would jump off of to dunk a basketball, that should be the forward foot, because that's pretty similar to what they're doing with both legs. The leg that can generate a lot of single leg power should be in the front. The back leg gets the body moving, but the front leg does the projection. I like the jump test to get a good idea. Don't tell them what you're doing, just have watch. If they're using the 'wrong' leg, whether you should switch it or not will depend on how old they are and whether it's worth the risk of making it worse. Hope that helps!
I am so old, they used to teach us to "slap" the water so we could start swimming immediately. No extension through the water. I can't really say I understand why they switched to the track type start vs. the old school broad jump start with both sets of toes hanging over the edge of the starting block. I guess it must provide a bit more power. Can't remember the last time I saw standing broad jump competition, but they always started with both feet in front rather than staggered.
100 stroke rate is 100 strokes per minute, right? 1 cycle = 2 strokes But what do u mean by "+ 0.5 sec/cycle"? Is that the rest period?
I didn't include rest periods because it depends on how fast the swimmers are going. They should get a decent amount of rest. For stroke rate, I mean the stroke rate they use during their 100 backstroke. For instance, it might be 1.30 seconds per cycle (s/c). That is the 'base' stroke rate. For the first 75s, you'd add 0.5 s/c, so they would swim those 75s at 1.80 s/c (1.30 + 0.5). As the set goes, the stroke rates get faster as the '+' gets smaller. Since each swimmer will use a slightly different stroke rate, you can individualize it using their racing stroke rate. If you don't know their racing stroke rate, 'normal' is between ~1.20-1.35, so you can use a number in that range. I hope that makes sense. Let me know if you have follow up questions.
Plz can you make a video on backstroke catch ❤❤plz Thanks
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For sure, speed is dependent on stroke rate. One other difference is the amount of elbow bend. Most distance swimmers use about a 90 degree bend in their elbow while the longer distances use about a 120 degree bend/angle. And for the 50 sprint, straight arm pull and straight arm recover. At present, and until I get back in good shape, when I use hand paddles, I pull with that 90 degree or so bend rather than my normal 120 or so.
Adjust the skills for the task at hand!
Hmm, food for thought. I always want to que in the old Devo song, "You must whip it! Whip it good!". I have likened the dolphin kick to holding a 4 foot steel ruler with about 18 inches or so over the edge of the table. Knees would be at 1 foot, waist at 2 feet, shoulders at 3, and hands at 4 feet. Holding by the hands, raise it up a bit so the feet end comes off the table, then push the shoulders down to the table. The end of the ruler bounces up and down. This, to me is how the tension in the body should be. Never thought about dolphin kicks with a kick board but I can see that now for the breathing stroke. The breathing stroke has a slightly different kick than the swimming one. One difference is that you can't properly engage your core because you are inhaling. To compensate for that, every fly swimmer I have watched uses a higher amplitude kick with their heels coming slightly out of the water. Dolphin kick on your back is slightly mechanically different from the dolphin kick on your tummy, pretty much the same difference between the back stroke flutter kick and the freestyle flutter kick. There tends to be more knee bend and less hip bend. The heel and lower leg are more stream lined than the knee and thigh. I did watch an old one from Gary Hall Sr. where he had some swimmers hooked up to his velocimeter. One woman actually generated more power on her up kick than her down kick. I wish I had a velocimeter to play with!
Yep. Lots' of interesting stuff going on with dolphin kicking!
I coach high school and I ran into the problem of doing too many drills at the beginning last year but I did still focus on speed early and periodized the 13 weeks. Now after reading the constraints approach to swim coaching, I feel like I am able to tackle more earlier in the season when it comes to technique while still focusing on fitness and speed. This approach has actually made periodizing a short season easier and more effective and I am seeing much faster time drops earlier in the season. This constraints led methodology combined with a knowledge of technique and physiology and periodization make coaching way more impactful and more effective. Thank you Andrew for these videos and amazing book!
Nice work! Congrats! I appreciate the kind words.
What do you mean about buoy
Search 'pull buoy' in Google and you'll find it! Let me know if you have any questions after that. Hope that helps!
Funny thing about breast stroke kick when compared to flutter and dolphin kicks, the breast stroke kick pushes straight back. The other kicks are much more up and down and way less effective. This is why the breast stroke is so powerful, but the draw back is that it still creates huge amounts of drag. My feet will not turn out, I am VERY pigeon toed. It amazes me how much the elite swimmers slow down when the knees drop down into the slip stream.
It's all about resistance. Swimmers create a lot of resistance to set up the kick, and they have to be effective at creating a LOT of propulsion to offset that. If they're not, they're going to go slow!
It is like the scissor kick that most use for side stroke. Lots of propulsion, at the cost of lots of drag. When I switched to flutter kick on my over arm side stroke, I took off 3 seconds in 3 days from my 50 yard sprint time.
I discovered a pretty good drill for the breaststroke kick. Use a sponge noodle, and extend the arms with the noodle and push it under the water and just kick. It creates a lot of resistance and slows you down tremendously.
@@joeekaps5840 Nice! Anything that has resistance is going to help you feel the kick. Add the stabilization of the noodle and it's even better!
@@robohippy Great point. Kicking is a great example of the trade-offs between propulsion and resistance.
Hey Plz can you tell me how to use the band while doing backstroke 😊
www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=swimming+ankle+band&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 Grab one of the options at the link above. Strap it on our ankles, then have fun!
I am trying to pick up the fly again, after maybe 50 years of laying off..... It ain't as easy as it used to be... I was thinking at first that you were talking about the windmill style freestyle with straight arm pull and recover, which most people don't have the strength to do. This appears to be straight arm recover, but with standard pull. I may have to try this....
Yep, you got it. Good luck!
What do u mean by stretch cord ? The one used for resistance drill ?
Yep. Exactly.
@@Andrewsheaff thanks.
@@Jackyjhwang You are welcome.
Id love a video about breaking the wrist in strokes like freestyle and Butterfly. A good example is Ledeckys world record compared to her current stroke where in her world record she broke the wrist earlier in the pull compared to now. A vast majority of coaches are against breaking the wrist and Id love your opinion on it
Here is a video about it in general and a potential solution. I think the WHEN is that matters. The hand should stay facing back through the end, and so at some point, it's going to bend. Hope that helps. th-cam.com/video/aqGAVTxkA3o/w-d-xo.html
This might be a silly question, but how might a doggy paddle stroke benefit compared to pulling to the hip? A swimmer would obviously be pulling more frequently, with shorter strokes and quicker recovery, in exchange for a longer pull and slower recovery. Just a hypothetical thought . What is your opinion Andrew, and please forgive me if you think I'm being ridiculous. 😄
I did a session today incorporating some of these principles and drills. My backstroke is working again. Still a long way to go. But i will do a lot more BK now that I know I can be competitive in this stroke again after years of technical neglect.
That's AWESOME! Keep up the great work.
Excellent presentation. Impressive and informative. Thank you brother.
You are welcome. Thank YOU! I appreciate it.
Hey can u do a video on engaging the lats and pecs in freestyle, also great video!
Yep. I will add it to the list. The video below can be a good start. th-cam.com/video/iUVGK5aiGJU/w-d-xo.html
They can 'squeeze' in those positions.
I can do an okay job at back stroke. Since my main stroke is the old over arm side stroke, I see everything in the pool, the good, the bad, and the ugly. One thing I see frequently, and at all levels, is that so many finish the back stroke arm pull by rolling their palm down and the final bit of push goes straight to the bottom of the pool rather than back to the wall. The youngster in the video has pretty much perfect pull form. The elite swimmer is okay, but still tends to roll his palm a bit. To me, the perfect finish would have your palm end up flat against your thigh with no need to rotate it over for the recover. One other thing I have wondered, is do you need a bit more body rotation with back stroke than you do with freestyle? With freestyle, most say around 40 degrees. Part of the reason for body rotation is to get the top side shoulder out of the water for a bit less drag. Simple with freestyle since your shoulders are on top of the water to begin with. With back stroke, your shoulders start off much lower in the water than with freestyle. I did see Gary Hall having his kids laying on their backs and doing s shoulder extension to help elevate the shoulders out of the water. After trying this, most of the time, it was not enough and I started adding a bit more body rotation. That seemed to help. Oh, the kid's underwater arm pull is half of the OASS pull. Body rotation for OASS is 20 or so degrees to either side of the vertical shoulders. Top side arm does freestyle, except the pull is more horizontal. Faster than breast stroke or back stroke. Only record was set in 1895 when a Brit swam 100 yards in 1:02.5. Freestyle record at that time was 1:01.2....
I think it may require a little more rotation, but it depends on the upper body mobility of the swimmer. In freestyle, the challenge is to get arm OUT of the water smoothly. In backstroke, the challenge is to get the arm IN to the water to get a better pull.
wait so im doing ive been doing it right for ages thinking it was wrong??
Maybe!
Well, I am in early season.... Got way out of shape this summer from taking 6 weeks off for a trip from Oregon to Maine and back.... Long road trip. I did add some 50 sprints to my kicking work out today. Average pulse rate and peak pulse rate were up about 5 points each. Not up to 100s yet. The kicking is my weakest point in my strokes.....
Keep working it!
recently, i have been experiementing in the 25 and 50m freestyle where in my hand entry i pause for a little bit before pulling, very little something like 0.1-0.3s just enough to make an early vertical forearm catch. What is your opinion on this? doing this i have been going a little faster bit faster so i think it is working for me. i used to immediately start pulling but that way i couldnt get much lat activation and rn im about 0.6-1s faster on average in my 25m freestyle.
If it's faster, there's your answer! What you think is 'pausing' might just be waiting to set the stroke up correctly.
One topic that actually got me banned from Swim Vice is the concept of body rotation. For years people have figured that the lower body drives the rotation. While that is true in any land based sport that uses rotation, as near as I can tell, it is mechanically and physically impossible for the lower body to drive the rotation. The feet need an anchor to drive upper body rotation, and there is nothing to anchor on in the water. Besides, our efforts are more about pulling rather than pushing or throwing.
I do not think the lower body drives rotation. It comes from the shoulders so that the arms can recover easily over the water.
@@Andrewsheaffthanks to you i travel that infinite circle of learning. When the student(me)is ready to learn he finds the teacher. Who th your guidance i now can somewhat understand Popov style and apply it. Thank you for your videos
I swim a lot of catch up style as I find it to be the best drill for me to focus on body rotation. The rotation anchors on the pulling arm, no question. I commented to Gary Hall Sr. about that, and he responded that even with the windmill/50 meter sprint style, the pulling arm engaged slightly before the rotation started.
@@robohippy I agree. The timing of the pull and the rotation does not change much if at all with different speeds. The timing of the recovery and the rotation changes a lot.
@@patrickjcherilus-zm5yr You are very welcome.
I made drastic improvement in my underwater speed by watching your videos. I raced my friend in the 50 fly from a push and i beat manage to beat him to the 15m as i was underwater for around 11-12 meters and he only did them for 5-7 meters, that was the first time i beat someone who was stroking with just dolphin kicks, felt great though sadly i did end up losing the race by a body length.
That's awesome! Now time to work on the surface swimming:)
This is an awesome tip, makes logical sense. You see any issues using a scuba diving weighted belt?
Nope! Just pay attention to the weight and make sure it's manageable.
Hi.. just watched your video 👍 I'd like to know, at what age one's can start using weight belts? My daughter is 11 yo, can she put on the weight belts during her trainings? Thanks.
I'd probably wait a little longer, unless you can find one that is LIGHT (1-2 pounds). You don't want it to cause her much disruption to her stroke. If in doubt, I wouldn't use it yet.
I may have to add dragsox to my swim bag, never tried them. The problem with fins is that there is only one that is ergonomically correct, and those are the Positive Drive fins from Finis. We do not have flat feet like frogs or ducks. the main power on the front side kick (up for back stroke and down for freestyle) comes from the little toe side of our foot. The PD fins have very little blade on the big toe side, and a lot of fin on the little toe side, so this turns our feet inwards. Going pigeon toed does 2 things, for people like me who have stiff ankles, I get 10 or more degrees of toe point, and it presents the side of the foot to the water better/more efficiently. Frog feet force you to point your feet out straight behind you rather than toeing in. I have added a bunch of 1/4 inch holes top and bottom. This allows me to feel the water flowing between my toes which gives feedback for putting effort into the back side kick (up in freestyle, and down in back stroke). There is one mechanical difference between the flutter kick between freestyle and back stroke. With freestyle, you have to flex at the hip in order to present the little toe side of your foot to the most efficient angle for propulsion. With back stroke, most tend to flex more at the knee and almost no flexing at the hip. To me, the swimmer in the video is bringing his knees up too high out of the water. To me, the plus side of the back stroke kick is that the ankle and heel are far more streamlined than your knee is. In freestyle, the knee and thigh dip down into the slip stream.
DraxSox are FUN!
Just curious, what is your coaching experience of the past? You seem like you've been coaching alot of advanced swimmers from 10-15 years
I coached in the NCAA 15+ years, most recently at the University of Virginia.
@@Andrewsheaff No wonder you seem to know alot about this sport
Knowledge comes from learning and experience!
I have always called alignment and/or body position posture. Maybe that is not a more popular term because we all think of posture for we who walk upright rather than when we are laying in the water.... It requires the same things, head looking down, and core engagement. If your head is down, then, as a coach from Speedo said, "suck in your gut like you are trying to put your belly button on your spine". If you do those two, then your feet will not sink. I have never understood the concept of the kick helping keep the feet and lower body higher in the water. Yes, the down/front side kick is the stronger, but you have to kick up as well which does add to the power of the down kick, the action/reaction thing. Never could swim breast stroke, and now, even the thought of it drives me nuts because it is so inefficient. Even at the elite level, most swimmers come to an almost complete stop before the pull and kick. The old over arm side stroke is far faster and more efficient, as well as my favorite stroke, but it has been forgotten. Interesting about the undulation/porpoise action of the breast and fly. With the 'gallop' style, this is also used. I had thought that most of the efficiency of the gallop style came from this porpoise action, but apparently some comes from the uneven cadence of the stroke. No one has really done an in depth study of it, and/or explanation of why it works the way it does....
Yep. Posture is absolutely critical in swimming. Poor posture = slow swimming. As for the gallop, my intuitive sense is that it is a compromise between an endurance stroke and a sprint stroke. Where the sprint stroke has 'oppositional' timing and the endurance stroke has 'catch-up' timing, the gallop has both. For instance, the timing of the right arm recovery and the left arm pull can be oppositional while the timing of the left arm recovery and the right arm pull can be catch-up. I think swimmers do this to optimize stroke length and stroke rate in a way that is as efficient as possible. It's a compromise.
Sun Yang and Katie Ledecky both swim gallop style. Maybe not as dramatic as the male sprinters though.
@@robohippy Ledecky definitely. Sun changes a bit. It's more pronounced over shorter distances and less pronounced over longer distances. Which goes back to the original idea of different swimmers using different strategies over different distances.
Like people, we are all different, some more so than others.... One side note, I like to drive with windows down and my arm out the window. I was checking for optimal hand position for finger spread and angle. Funny thing I noticed is that if I cup my hand slightly, like about the arc of a basketball, that seems to increase drag. Haven't seen that on any swim video yet. I had wondered why many of the oars and paddles were having cupped/concave shapes, like the rowing skulls. I need a hand model in one of the endless pools and a scale to measure drag....
@@robohippy THat's a tough one. It's very difficult to figure out what postures/positions are most effective, and to make matters worse, it likely changes over the course of the stroke depending on hand speed and angle!
I have regularly done kicking laps by going one length, 25 yards, at fewest kicks possible, and next length at fastest pace I can maintain. I do need to do 50 and 100 yard 'duration' sets. I prefer sprints to distance because of the better endorphin rushes.....
Alternating between as long as possible and as fast as possible is a strategy I use often in all the strokes. I have a video coming up about it within the next month or so.
Well, in the first freestyle part, they are swimming "gallop" style which is an uneven cadence. It is a quick 1, 2, then a slight pause. No clue who the male swimmer is, but the woman appears to be Katie. Some coaches make a big deal about having both arms "in the front quadrant". With a swimmer like Ariarne Titmus, she swims an even cadence stroke. All of the male swimmers use gallop style, some of the female swimmers do. With the gallop style, the non breathing side arm pulls first followed shortly after by the breathing side arm, then the slight pause. The non breathing side is at about half way through the pull by the time the breathing side arm enters the water. The 50 meter sprint is a whole different animal for men. Mostly they are in "windmill" style with the arms opposite each other similar to back stroke. No breathing. For most, this is a straight arm pull and straight arm recover. This produces the highest possible stroke rate. Most of the women do not have the raw power to do this. Only other time it is used is for the last 10 or less meters in just about every long axis stroke for the fast finish. As near as I can tell, the down/front side kick is anchored on the pulling arm. If you swim catch up style as a drill, you already use this. If you never noticed, keep this in mind next time you swim it. I do consider it to be the best single freestyle drill there is. With backstroke, there is one thing I have never heard mentioned in any of the videos I have watched. Took a long time for me to figure out why it was so difficult to get the top side shoulder, when rotating, out of the water. this is one advantage of long axis strokes, getting that top side shoulder out of the water for less frontal drag. So much harder. I finally figured out that with freestyle, you start with your shoulders on top of the water, so it is easy to get that top side shoulder out of the water. With back stroke, your shoulders are farther under the water. So, the question I would have is are you supposed to use a little more rotation in back stroke than you do in freestyle? Freestyle, most suggest 35 to 40 degrees rotation. Should back stroke be closer to 45?
Sun Yang is the first swimmer. Yes, there are many different rhythms that can be successful. It all depends on the individual and the event they're swimming. Part of the challenge is figuring out what is going to create the most speed for each swimmer.
Hmm, interesting. I had wondered about the sweeping of the arms in freestyle particularly. I had figured that a lot of the S shape was due to where your most powerful pull area was. This is some what similar to, or demonstrated by pulling yourself up out of the pool. Easier to do if your hands are about shoulder width apart, and far more difficult to do if your hands are wider apart or right next to each other. Back stroke is weird because you can't pull in the most powerful position like freestyle, and you can't really apply muscles the same way you do with freestyle, so you have to go more lateral. I am so old, they used to teach us, with freestyle to make an hour glass shaped pull, enter wide, pull to the middle, then sweep back out. Oh, many teach to have hand entry at 11 and 1 o'clock. If you watch any of the elite swimmers, they enter much more close to the body center line. I figure this is more due to body rotation. If you didn't use body rotation, then hand entry would be close to 11 and 1, but because of body rotation, it is closer to 2 or so minutes before 12 rather than 5 minutes. I would guess that the pull shape in the fly is wider because you have no body rotation with the fly. Never could swim breast stroke, my feet will not turn out enough to get any power from that kick.
As you described, certain positions are going to be stronger than others. And those positions change based upon where the arm is in the pull and the presence or ascence of rotation. The hands are going to be move in and and to stay in the strangest positions while still moving backward.
You can see Phelps's entire upper back and lower back when he is swimming butterfly, incredible body position
If you're speaking of Michael in general, yes, he's pretty good! Body position makes all the difference. This video is actually Ian Crocker. At the meet that's video is from, he actually beat Michael and broke the world record over 100-m.
@@Andrewsheaff oh the 50.4 100 fly in 2005? my bad, i thought that was phelps's footage😄
@@akiraowo3047 It's actually from 2003 when we went the first 50.9!
@@Andrewsheaff dang, 50.9 in 2003 is crazy
@@akiraowo3047 In 24 hours, the world record went from 51.8 to 50.9, with the record being broken by 3 different swimmers!
Can see how significantly important this info is gonna be and is more useful than any other video ...right up my alley as a coach of very talented future swimmers 😊
AWESOME! Good luck.
Extremely helpful delivery and I'm a very experienced Teacher but this is exactly the patient aspect of technique that swimmers need 😊
Thank you very much. I'm glad it was helpful for you.
Hey Andrew, I noticed that most top level swimmers kick with a slightly bigger bend at the knees and they also kick deeper. Is this due to the fact that their leg muscles are extremely strong? I have tried various depths which the kick, and in my case I get the most propulsion with a more shallow depth in my kick, approximately 9 inches to maybe one foot. What is your opinion?
2 reasons. #1 The pull actually causes the hips/legs to sink a bit, and since sprinters are pulling harder and faster, they need to kick harder to keep the hips up. Bending the knees can help keep the hips up a little better as well. HOWEVER, that takes a lot of energy, which is why distance swimmers don't do it. #2 Bending the knee can get the foot facing back a little more to create a little more propulsion. Again, it takes more energy, so distance swimmers don't do it. I think the videos can be a little misleading. The feet are moving over a pretty big range of motion, but they're also coming out of the water slightly. It's not quite as deep as you think. I would NOT try to kick deeper. Just work on improving your kick while kicking and let it happen when you swim. They're not 'trying' to kick deeper. It just happens. Good question. Hope that helps!
@@Andrewsheaff Appreciate the detailed response. One more thing, what types of dry land exercises would you recommend for a stronger kick applied to all the strokes?
@@joeekaps5840 You bet. I think working the legs with basic strength training exercises through a full range of motion gets the job done. I don't think there are any special exercises. Keep it simple. If there are obvious range of motion problems in the hips and feet, work on those. Hope that helps. I've seen anything and everything be effective. Work on basic strength and range of motion and work the legs hard in the water.
I could watch your videos all day. Thank you for sharing your wisdom!
Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. There's a new series starting tomorrow that goes into more of the 'details' of creating propulsion. Enjoy!
Are freestyle sprinters also working on this connection ? Or are they doing the opposite - kicking as fast as possible whatever the arm position ?
They are working on it as well. It happens a little bit differently and a LOT faster. The legs are still connected to the arms. Obviously, that's a lot harder to do, which is why it's a lot harder to swim fast! Swimmers have to be just as skilled but they have a lot less time to make it happen. Hope that helps.
Would a good drill be to do multiple pullouts across a 25m or 50m pool and use fins the make up for some of the propulsion lost for not having the wall or the blocks to push off for the initial speed on the 2nd and subsequent pullouts away from the wall?
Yep. I like that for 'overspeed' where swimmers can feel how much resistance they're creating as they move through the water because they're going faster. I talk about it around the 17:30 mark. Hope that helps.
So would you have them do 2 dolphin kicks with fins for pullouts done in the middle of the pool? The first one to mimic the propulsion from kick off the wall and the 2nd for the one dolphin kick allowed in the Pullout.
@@elliotthough765 Yep. That's a great strategy. Use the fins to generate some speed, and then do the pullout. Repeat.
@@Andrewsheaff Thanks for all the excellent content you put out. Your channel is a great resource for parents like me who never swam competitively but have young swimmers who are swimming competitively and want to help them get better. In my case, my daughter is 8YO and loves the sport. She goes to an International school here in Thailand where Swim Team starts in grade 2. Consequently I’m always searching YT for swimming related content. Keep up the great work you do.
@@elliotthough765 You are very welcome. Best of luck to your daughter!
Very nice explanation
Thank you very much!