My first thought, other than left arm coming more over the top rather than bent elbow, was that her core was not properly engaged. "Suck in your gut like you are trying to put your belly button on your spine." from a coach at Speedo. Not having core properly engaged will cause the snaking in the water, and also, you do not get all the power of your body rotation that you should be getting. An exercise from my days as a gymnast, not too many 195 pound gymnasts but that is another story.... anyway, we would stand with heels, butt, and shoulders against the wall, slip just your fingers behind your back, and try to pin them to the wall by sucking in your gut. This can be done lying on the ground, and I would suggest using a firm mat, not a soft one. Try to put your spine on the mat. Your lower abdomen should be feeling this pulling action, and it will pull all of the curve out of your spine which will raise your feet and reduce drag. On first set, she was breathing every 3rd stroke. On second set, she was breathing every other stroke. If you watch Katie Ledecky, she breaths every other stroke. Katie also swims "gallop" style where you actually porpoise a bit and the arm pull is not symmetrical. Breathing side stays extended for a slight pause, then a quick 1, 2 pull, then repeat, and generally you go mostly under water. There is less drag if you are underwater, less bow wave, and no surface tension, or at least that is how it was explained to me.... One other point, if you watch Katie, she swims with about a 90 degree bend at the elbow. This tends to be much more common with distance swimmers while shorter distance swimmers will have less of a bend at the elbow, like about 120 for the 100 meter freestyle. Quite the improvement!!! Oh, with catch up drill, and the dog paddle drill, I would suggest a snorkel so you can forget about breathing and concentrate on mechanics.
I have been pondering this as I swim my daily laps. There are 2 exercises that I consider essential for me to figure out how to link body rotation to the kick for more power. I am more of a sprinter than a distance guy. One is catch up freestyle, and the other is lots of kicking laps with full body rotation, a snorkel, and NO kick board. First, the catch up style: This is all about linking body rotation and the arm pull, to the kick. Essential to note here that pulling arm engages first to start the upper body rotation, and the down/front side kick on the same side happens just slightly after, which matches the arm/hand/pull just getting into the power point. The most powerful part of the pull happens from about 45 degrees to 135 degrees on that 180 degree arc of the arm pull. This area is where your main pull strength/power happens. By getting to the power point, you now have an anchor for the kick to power off of. The rotation does NOT come from the lower body as some say. Next, for kicking laps, and I do a LOT of these, you need a snorkel, and fins are fine. One variation is with full body rotation, about 40 degrees to either side of the horizontal line, or since this is a drill, you can actually go past that 40 degree mark to work your muscles on the sides of your abs. Can't remember the name right now.... One variation, I am extending one arm out in front, and retracting the other slightly. Again, the pulling arm goes slightly before the down kick on the same side. On some laps, I breath on every third kick, so like a 6 beat kick pattern. On some I breathe on every other kick, which is not like the 4 beat kick, but an even beat kick, if that makes sense. I burn a lot of oxygen, so especially for sprint kick laps, this makes for easy breathing. The other variation is in the so called "superman" position, which means as streamlined as possible, and not like the superman in the movies who has a big arch in his back, and is terrible stream lining. Hands over lapped like you do when you push off the wall. For both of these exercises, you want to feel your lower abdomen being tight. Not tight like a board, but more like a coiled spring. I think of trampoline springs, and the good trampolines have springs and not bungee cords. So, anchor one end to a table , and anchor/clamp/glue a board to the other end. Board/stick should be centered on the spring and about 12 inches long. Twang one side of the stick and watch how it goes back and forth/up and down. This will give you better form for better efficiency in your kicking, and also in utilizing your rotation. You do not want your body to be rigid like a board, but you do need it to be like the coiled spring. Hope this makes sense.......
Great video ! Thanks ! I love the kickboard dril. One request: could you also show a drill in one of your future videos, on how to optimize the body rotation on your non-breathing side ? I noticed with Petra’s technique she rotates her body more to the left side compared to the right side. That’s also something I noticed by myself when doing freestyle, and I guess this is less efficiënt 😅 Thank you in advance ! 🙏🏼
The best advice I have for myself being adult after 2 years of swimming: At long ranges do the movements that are comfortable. If arm or knee feels hurting or in little pain every stroke - fix it by extra rotation or another angles, or by reducing the power, or not very high elbow catch. After 400 meters you do not have to feel pain, if you have pain - fix your moves. Ideal swim requires ideal stretch and when you are not ideally streched you have to change ideal swim school moves. With more practice moves will become more ideal. And for more speed you need muscle power, so train muscles, and heart if you swim long distances! Ideal technique will give you 50% of speed,and not more. If you are stuck with speed- develop your power.
Thank you that you point me to the importance of aligning. I'm on the stage, when I know a lot, but didn't put it all together in practice. So it's important for me to focus on main details.
Fair play to her. 🎉❤ Hope she got a prize 🏆 I really recognise my arms in her stroke. I find the catch so hard-that early vertical forearms thing is trckkkkkkky!
@@siskatrainingsystems no. I must look for that! Had lesson today and mentioned this issue and my coach said “yes I agree, you have minimal catch” eeek! How the heck am I getting to the other end?!
This is very useful tips as I myself has that snaking problem. If you could find more people with other mistakes and see how it is gradually fixed over time after the coaching session it would also be more useful.
So glad you found the video useful! Yes , you are reading my mind , we are thinking about taking my team to the pool and finding random people to fix their stroke ...
great tips and drills. working younger swimmers i have them turn the board length ways. the snaking or hula freestyle also has to do with hand entry. my thoughts are when the hand enters along the centerline swimmers tend to shift their hips not rotate. turning the board or using a piece of pvc pipe cut to length, hopefully reinforces an outside hand entry. thoughts?
Thank you so much for this video! I started swimming the beginning of this year, so lots to learn. I find my hips dropping and didn't know how to lift them up to get that floaty feeling. Also struggling with breathing but I've found breathing out through my nose helps (I don't know why 🤷) is that correct?
My pleasure! Glad you found our channel, breathing out in general is a good idea to help establish a rhythm when it comes to breathing in swimming so your on the right track ! … plenty of videos on the channel covering the topic of breathing , have a look👌
I would say that she really has the makings of a very good stroke. She tends to rush the arms throughout the pull phase which is common - Leave the non pull arm a second longer out front so effectively forming a catch up, close the fingers and slightly cup the hands on the pull . She has a natural 2 beat kick don’t try to force any faster legs at this stage. Small changes get used to them and move on to the next.
Jeez, I feel bad saying anything negative about your wife's stroke. You and your family are such great people. However, you asked for it, and as a coach myself, I love to give my feedback. 😆. so far, she has very little catch. she doesn't finish her stroke at the back end and her kick could be tighter and sharper.
Haha thanks for the kind words, we appreciate that! I agree with your analysis 100% those are definitely things she needs to think about going forward 💪 thank you
She didn’t look like she had improved by 10%. Her stroke still almost looked the same, albeit she is a nice swimmer with fairly ordinary needs for improvement. I’d say it was probably a subconscious increase in effort, along with a slight improvement! You’d be doing well to knock off 10% of her 1900m pace in one session. My guess is that this same test wouldn’t work with a 100 max effort. That’s not to say that these drills won’t have positive improvements, but it would take months, if not longer to make that level of improvement.
Nice analysis, yes some adjustments require months of consistency to change and she has those type of issues as well, but in the video we chose to focus on the easy quick fixes …most people who didn’t grow up swimming usually have some quick fixes that could lead to significant improvement immediately
Definitely not impossible, bad technique is like swimming with clothes on ..sometimes there are easy fixes in technique that could be holding you back and they can be changed immediately…those changes release immediate speed
Well keep following us here and get on my email list , every week I’m sending out insights on how to get better..go to www.siskasystems.com and put your email in the take quiz section and you will be part of the newsletter
All good, so far. But it is as it is, every water Training is limited in effectivenes, accuracy, efficiency, and all the time a lot common mistakes get repeatet and repeated for months and often many years, even in professional sport 10 Years, or lifetyme, because yes, it is difficult elimination errors inside the water, water is a tricky character, leads you to make main mistakes. And so a mass of Athletes workdwide burning theyre time for years, for little progress, or even for none. VITS shows the other way.
Any tips for Petra's Stroke?? Let us know below! 👇
Great job dropping 10 seconds that quickly. She's a world-class athlete.
Often some simple adjustments can lead to this kind of improvement
Thank you Coach👍 Adult beginner practicing this today!
You can do it, thanks for watching!
Thank you, great advice, exactly what I am working on. Best regards
My pleasure! You can do it!
Good to watch a non pro , and how your Tips helped here.
After training time I would put more in the armstroke mid till end.
Appreciate the feedback, thank you!
My first thought, other than left arm coming more over the top rather than bent elbow, was that her core was not properly engaged. "Suck in your gut like you are trying to put your belly button on your spine." from a coach at Speedo. Not having core properly engaged will cause the snaking in the water, and also, you do not get all the power of your body rotation that you should be getting. An exercise from my days as a gymnast, not too many 195 pound gymnasts but that is another story.... anyway, we would stand with heels, butt, and shoulders against the wall, slip just your fingers behind your back, and try to pin them to the wall by sucking in your gut. This can be done lying on the ground, and I would suggest using a firm mat, not a soft one. Try to put your spine on the mat. Your lower abdomen should be feeling this pulling action, and it will pull all of the curve out of your spine which will raise your feet and reduce drag. On first set, she was breathing every 3rd stroke. On second set, she was breathing every other stroke. If you watch Katie Ledecky, she breaths every other stroke. Katie also swims "gallop" style where you actually porpoise a bit and the arm pull is not symmetrical. Breathing side stays extended for a slight pause, then a quick 1, 2 pull, then repeat, and generally you go mostly under water. There is less drag if you are underwater, less bow wave, and no surface tension, or at least that is how it was explained to me.... One other point, if you watch Katie, she swims with about a 90 degree bend at the elbow. This tends to be much more common with distance swimmers while shorter distance swimmers will have less of a bend at the elbow, like about 120 for the 100 meter freestyle. Quite the improvement!!! Oh, with catch up drill, and the dog paddle drill, I would suggest a snorkel so you can forget about breathing and concentrate on mechanics.
Great input, thanks for the analysis!
This answers so many questions! Grateful.
Dude, Iam reading your comments since years under any swimming content video. Stay healthy!
@@bobdillen5641 haha yes I've seen his comments on other channels, honoured to have on ours as wells😄👍
I have been pondering this as I swim my daily laps. There are 2 exercises that I consider essential for me to figure out how to link body rotation to the kick for more power. I am more of a sprinter than a distance guy. One is catch up freestyle, and the other is lots of kicking laps with full body rotation, a snorkel, and NO kick board. First, the catch up style: This is all about linking body rotation and the arm pull, to the kick. Essential to note here that pulling arm engages first to start the upper body rotation, and the down/front side kick on the same side happens just slightly after, which matches the arm/hand/pull just getting into the power point. The most powerful part of the pull happens from about 45 degrees to 135 degrees on that 180 degree arc of the arm pull. This area is where your main pull strength/power happens. By getting to the power point, you now have an anchor for the kick to power off of. The rotation does NOT come from the lower body as some say.
Next, for kicking laps, and I do a LOT of these, you need a snorkel, and fins are fine. One variation is with full body rotation, about 40 degrees to either side of the horizontal line, or since this is a drill, you can actually go past that 40 degree mark to work your muscles on the sides of your abs. Can't remember the name right now.... One variation, I am extending one arm out in front, and retracting the other slightly. Again, the pulling arm goes slightly before the down kick on the same side. On some laps, I breath on every third kick, so like a 6 beat kick pattern. On some I breathe on every other kick, which is not like the 4 beat kick, but an even beat kick, if that makes sense. I burn a lot of oxygen, so especially for sprint kick laps, this makes for easy breathing. The other variation is in the so called "superman" position, which means as streamlined as possible, and not like the superman in the movies who has a big arch in his back, and is terrible stream lining. Hands over lapped like you do when you push off the wall. For both of these exercises, you want to feel your lower abdomen being tight. Not tight like a board, but more like a coiled spring. I think of trampoline springs, and the good trampolines have springs and not bungee cords. So, anchor one end to a table , and anchor/clamp/glue a board to the other end. Board/stick should be centered on the spring and about 12 inches long. Twang one side of the stick and watch how it goes back and forth/up and down. This will give you better form for better efficiency in your kicking, and also in utilizing your rotation. You do not want your body to be rigid like a board, but you do need it to be like the coiled spring. Hope this makes sense.......
I liked this drills very much
Im confident they will help🙏
I will definitely try the same drills ,thanks !
Let me know how it goes, my pleasure!
Great video ! Thanks !
I love the kickboard dril.
One request: could you also show a drill in one of your future videos, on how to optimize the body rotation on your non-breathing side ?
I noticed with Petra’s technique she rotates her body more to the left side compared to the right side. That’s also something I noticed by myself when doing freestyle, and I guess this is less efficiënt 😅
Thank you in advance ! 🙏🏼
Thank you! Ok will mark that down as something to explain in a future video 🫶👊
The best advice I have for myself being adult after 2 years of swimming:
At long ranges do the movements that are comfortable. If arm or knee feels hurting or in little pain every stroke - fix it by extra rotation or another angles, or by reducing the power, or not very high elbow catch.
After 400 meters you do not have to feel pain, if you have pain - fix your moves.
Ideal swim requires ideal stretch and when you are not ideally streched you have to change ideal swim school moves.
With more practice moves will become more ideal.
And for more speed you need muscle power, so train muscles, and heart if you swim long distances!
Ideal technique will give you 50% of speed,and not more. If you are stuck with speed- develop your power.
Excellent points , thank you for your comment!
Thank you that you point me to the importance of aligning. I'm on the stage, when I know a lot, but didn't put it all together in practice. So it's important for me to focus on main details.
Yes exactly, keep it simple in the beginning, don't let yourself feel overwhelmed🙏
Thank you coach …
My pleasure!
Fair play to her. 🎉❤ Hope she got a prize 🏆
I really recognise my arms in her stroke. I find the catch so hard-that early vertical forearms thing is trckkkkkkky!
She deserves one , I'll have to work on that ...the catch can seem tricky you are right , have you seen my recent video all about the catch ?
@@siskatrainingsystems no. I must look for that! Had lesson today and mentioned this issue and my coach said “yes I agree, you have minimal catch” eeek! How the heck am I getting to the other end?!
@@notmyrealname6272 you can do it! th-cam.com/video/a_nRIcTcBbY/w-d-xo.html
@@siskatrainingsystems thanks so much :) I’ll always keep trying!
@@siskatrainingsystems I just watched that. It’s excellent!!!can’t wait to try all that. Thanks so much.
This is very useful tips as I myself has that snaking problem.
If you could find more people with other mistakes and see how it is gradually fixed over time after the coaching session it would also be more useful.
So glad you found the video useful! Yes , you are reading my mind , we are thinking about taking my team to the pool and finding random people to fix their stroke ...
great tips and drills. working younger swimmers i have them turn the board length ways. the snaking or hula freestyle also has to do with hand entry. my thoughts are when the hand enters along the centerline swimmers tend to shift their hips not rotate. turning the board or using a piece of pvc pipe cut to length, hopefully reinforces an outside hand entry. thoughts?
Great idea , fantastic way to get the kids to do it right ...love it!
Thank you so much for this video! I started swimming the beginning of this year, so lots to learn. I find my hips dropping and didn't know how to lift them up to get that floaty feeling. Also struggling with breathing but I've found breathing out through my nose helps (I don't know why 🤷) is that correct?
My pleasure! Glad you found our channel, breathing out in general is a good idea to help establish a rhythm when it comes to breathing in swimming so your on the right track ! … plenty of videos on the channel covering the topic of breathing , have a look👌
I would say that she really has the makings of a very good stroke.
She tends to rush the arms throughout the pull phase which is common - Leave the non pull arm a second longer out front so effectively forming a catch up, close the fingers and slightly cup the hands on the pull . She has a natural 2 beat kick don’t try to force any faster legs at this stage. Small changes get used to them and move on to the next.
Great input! I agree, I see a lot of potential in her stroke as well...your tips are spot on👊
It’s not a 2 beat kick
Jeez, I feel bad saying anything negative about your wife's stroke. You and your family are such great people. However, you asked for it, and as a coach myself, I love to give my feedback. 😆. so far, she has very little catch. she doesn't finish her stroke at the back end and her kick could be tighter and sharper.
Haha thanks for the kind words, we appreciate that! I agree with your analysis 100% those are definitely things she needs to think about going forward 💪 thank you
Great video. Her 70.3 swim time improved by 4 minutes.
Yes that's correct! She just needs to back up that technique with some swim fitness now 💪
She didn’t look like she had improved by 10%. Her stroke still almost looked the same, albeit she is a nice swimmer with fairly ordinary needs for improvement. I’d say it was probably a subconscious increase in effort, along with a slight improvement! You’d be doing well to knock off 10% of her 1900m pace in one session. My guess is that this same test wouldn’t work with a 100 max effort. That’s not to say that these drills won’t have positive improvements, but it would take months, if not longer to make that level of improvement.
Nice analysis, yes some adjustments require months of consistency to change and she has those type of issues as well, but in the video we chose to focus on the easy quick fixes …most people who didn’t grow up swimming usually have some quick fixes that could lead to significant improvement immediately
Impossible to drop 10 seconds in just one session. Is this 50m pool?
Definitely not impossible, bad technique is like swimming with clothes on ..sometimes there are easy fixes in technique that could be holding you back and they can be changed immediately…those changes release immediate speed
What is “snakin’”?
It's how my wife was swimming..her body was not in proper alignment, it was moving like a snake down the pool instead of straight
100 yards at 1:49 shes faster than me hahahaha... mine is 2:10 per 100 meters ..
Keep going, you can get a lot faster 🤝😎👊
@siskatrainingsystems i hope so even though i dont have a.coach or proper training, just by myself only, and youtube university hahahaha..
Well keep following us here and get on my email list , every week I’m sending out insights on how to get better..go to www.siskasystems.com and put your email in the take quiz section and you will be part of the newsletter
@siskatrainingsystems yes sir
All good, so far. But it is as it is, every water Training is limited in effectivenes, accuracy, efficiency, and all the time a lot common mistakes get repeatet and repeated for months and often many years, even in professional sport 10 Years, or lifetyme, because yes, it is difficult elimination errors inside the water, water is a tricky character, leads you to make main mistakes. And so a mass of Athletes workdwide burning theyre time for years, for little progress, or even for none.
VITS shows the other way.
We are all definitely curious about VITS