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I had the unusual (chance) opportunity to share a lane at my rec pool last weekend with a former elite college swimmer still in great shape. I was surprised that in the 30 min he was in my lane, he spent a majority of time doing drills (even at his level and experience). He primarily did the one arm swim drill shown here but on the non-swim arm he held a kickboard by his hipwith his hand, maybe as an alternative to fins or as a way to generate a bit more flotation. When he was swimming, his underwaters were amazing. He would consistently get around 12-15 yards on each push off or flip-turn before he would surface and I counted that he only then needed 7 total strokes to cross the rest of the pool (this is a 25y pool).
I tried this single arm drill with fins, but it is still so hard to breath on the opposite side. It looks easy, but it is not. She is awesome! I don't know why but it is so relaxing just watching her swimming. I think she is the type of swimmer who just start moving forward without moving any bodypart. :)
Awesome video. Great explanation on the purpose of the drills and what to look/feel for while doing it. I wish more coaches explained the mechanics like you do.
My coach (held the WR 100 Fly, 65-69; WR 50 Fly, 70-74) would have us do “crushers” for triceps strength and long strokes. Here’s the sequence for a 25m pool… Sprint 25m Fly, do ten “water pushups” on the gutter or wall, do easy straight arm recovery, catch up drill, breathing on both sides to return. Rest 10-15 seconds, and repeat with nine pushups, etc. The fly and pushups are clearly to work the triceps. The straight arm recovery is to train the swimmer to push all the way to the end of the stroke, even when the triceps are burning. Catchup keeps the stroke long on the front end too. Since it’s done easy (and it needs to be too recover from the fly & pushups), the swimmer can focus on the longest possible stroke. The combination of cooked triceps and pushing long is unique to this sequence.
I’m so glad I better understand why I do the sculling drill. I love doing it but wasn’t sure what I accomplished. Your explanations are extremely helpful. Thanks!
Well, one drill I like is swimming catch up freestyle. Recently totally changed my freestyle stroke due to one of your videos about extending fully, and one from Swim Skills about a shoulder shrug. I do swim a lot of over arm side stroke. It is half one arm freestyle/top side arm, and half long dog paddle stroke/the under arm. I still don't understand the why of the skulling exercises. I did see one woman doing lengths of the pool going feet first. Best guess is that it is for getting a 'feel' for the water as in making sure your hands are maximizing pull. Other than that, I do use fins and hand paddles. Don't understand the frog's feet style of fins. We have 3 dimensional feet, not flat like a frog or duck. I use the Finis positive drive fins which push your feet into a pigeon toed position for extra ankle flexing and you can use the whole side of your foot for propulsion rather than just your toes.
Isn’t generating torque a key element? Isn’t it why some swimmers lift their head slightly more than others do? People are of various sizes, shapes and strengths, not only in whole, but in body parts, and these factors evolve with training and increased strength and endurance. Think physics!
Just because of coach swimming instruction video, my 100M freestyle went from 1：50 seconds to less than 1:35 average speed, really happy, you know who I am, coach, thank you very much.
Thanks for the video, nearly drowned doing 10 reps of each arm of the single arm drill and the day after went 2.5 seconds faster per 100m off a 30x100m workout. Is it normal that my stroke rate has increased and my dps has gone down as a result of adding more of a roll to my stroke as the single arm drill teaches?
Hey! Great stuff as always! I’ve improved since the 5” challange but now i want more and i’m looking for other challange in the effortless site But What do u think of the ocean Walker swim form? Seem so different but efficient
modern day freestyle doesnt really follow an S curve anymore. its all straight pulling nowadays in any strokes at the elite level. generally good advice tho :)
