This is so great. Not a critique at all, but I can teach you the "lean" start I had swimmers doing long before we thought of the track block. There is no reason, if you have either really long arms, or those side bars few seem to understand, to have to pull on the block to be at the right angle to drive the legs. I'll try to remember to do a video at my Competitive Swimmer Magazine Camp in August for you. Feel free to show up too -- It's August 1-4 at Riverside Community College; 9-5:30.
Fares, love your videos! My kids are 10 and 7 and doing swim team--I'd love to see some videos tailored to kids. You're inspiring me to swim for fitness too and once I get going I will look into your app.
Ooh I see why Aristotle said: 'Well begun is half done'. Thanks ProFares for tutoring us the starting off with the perfect one, then more likely to do well and be ahead.
Can you please help my daughter? she pushes off the block ok, but she just goes straight deep into the bottom of the water, and it takes longer to come up. Coaches are saying, you have to open up your shoulder. chest up. However, we do not understand how to do. So, as soon as you dive into the water, quickly chest out? Can you make a video how to do that -- what to do after you are off the block & when entering the water?
I’m not a professional, but as a youth coach and a current high school swimmer preparing for college swimming, I can offer some tips. When my kids dive too deep, it’s often because of the angle they’re entering the water. Instead of diving out, they are diving down. A drill I’ve found useful is to place a pool noodle a certain distance away from the starting block and have her practice diving over it. She might belly flop at first, but that’s okay, you can move the pool noodle closer if you need to. As she gets better, you can move the noodle further away. The goal is for her to think about diving out, not down. Aiming to reach the flags during the dive has helped me and might help her. As for the “open your chest and shoulders.” After she enters the water, the coaches want her to start rising toward the surface. To do this, she should slightly lift her chest and shoulders. Think of it as gently arching her upper back while keeping her core tight. Another way to think about it is to tilt her hands slightly upward as soon as she enters the water. This small adjustment can help her start moving up toward the surface sooner. The key is to maintain a tight, streamlined position while making these subtle movements. Over time, with practice, she’ll find the balance that works best for her. Hope this helps! And again I’m not a professional and I haven’t seen your daughter dive, but this has helped with my kids before and hopefully it can help her too.
So useful Fares. Just a comment: I have seen that most world class swimmers just rest their toes in their back foot, they dont rest the whole back foot as you show. Can you comment on this please?
seriously, that's my problem the first time i dived, i went straight down and touched the bottom of the pool, which was like 10ft deep, had to kick from legs to come up.
Not to critisise, but I beliieve what u said about elite athletes dive with that angle, is incorrect. Diving in at that obtuse, almost curved angle will cause ur legs to flop on the surface of the water. This creates drag like crazy and slows u right down, and it's not a clean entry. Ur entire body must be straight and enter in one hole in the water, otherwise anything else will slow u down. Watch any Olympic race replay. None of them dive like that with that angle. Other than that, this video is great!
The body straightens out as it is entering the water so the entire body is entering through a small hole. The trick is timing this. It's not noticeable in real speed but if you watch in slow motion, you'll see it. There's a few good videos of Caeleb Dressel in slow motion and he enters the water not in a straight line, but as his upper body is entering the water, his lower body is adjusting and he slips in a small hole.
