Stroke Analysis & Technique Changes

Swimnews magazine for Oct-Nov contains some awesome artricles as is expected.

Most of you will know the swimnews.com website which has daily news updates and world ranking lists. The magazine is published by the same owner, Nick Thierry. Nick has given me permission to copy these extracts and distribute them to you.

One article is an analysis of Michael Phelps’ freestyle technique by Cecil Colwin (‘Swimming Into The 21st Century’) and the other is a thought-provoking look into the future of breaststroke technique by Josef Nagy, coach to Mike Barrowman, inventor of the ‘wave’ breaststroke and the accepted world’s expert on modern breaststroke.

The Phelps article is an eye-opener in terms of what he actually does as opposed to what you think he does. Nagy offers a proposition for much higher stroke rates on breaststroke and gets there by significantly restricting the kick pathway.

Swimnews is available bi-monthly at US$45 per year – order it here.

Cunning Cone

More Cone chatter.

An international level swimmer said to me the other day, 'Your Cone thing; it doesn't work for me, I don't fit the model.'

'Oh yes,' said I, 'how don't you fit it?'

'My heart rate is way lower than it says it should be.'

'OK, let's try some tests during this set.'

The swimmer positioned a heart rate monitor on the deck and prepared to start the 100's. Stroke rate during the first rep fluctuated 31-36-32-35-32-34-31. During the rest interval he asked me to predict the HR using the poster. Studying the range of data I had for his swim I made an 'intelligent' guess of 160 (33 cycles per minute). 'No way,' he cried triumphantly, 'It's 153!'

'Yes, but your problem is you're inconsistent with your stroke rhythm. Let's try to maintain a steady rhythm throughout the swim.'

It was a descending set and it took him a few reps to gain the required control. On the last rep he stepped up well and swam a controlled, solid effort, holding 44 cycles throughout. A look of glee plastered itself on his face as he held the monitor to his chest.

'Come on, what does your Cone say that one was?' he gloated.

The model says 43 is 180 and 44 is 182 so I thought I'd hedge my bets.

'181.'

'His face dropped, 'That's way off,' he said.

'Oh yeah, what was it then?'

'182.'

The public apology to the whole group was accepted with grace :)

Hurrying Hoff

Add this by Katie Hoff to the split pattern of Kate Ziegler mentioned in the previous post. Yards again, but ...

Especially:

25.93 53.73 (27.80)
1:21.75 (28.02) 1:49.87 (28.12)
2:18.02 (28.15) 2:45.83 (27.81)
3:13.62 (27.79) 3:41.50 (27.88)
4:09.27 (27.77) 4:37.02 (27.75)
5:04.58 (27.56) 5:32.24 (27.66)
5:59.78 (27.54) 6:27.23 (27.45)
6:54.62 (27.39) 7:22.05 (27.43)
7:49.37 (27.32) 8:16.93 (27.56)
8:44.31 (27.38) 9:10.77 (26.46)

Yes, you read that right: out in 4:37.02, back in 4:33.75. That’s not a misprint, 4:33.75. In case you weren’t aware, the current American Record stands at 4:33.35 by Kate Ziegler. I cannot stress how incredible that last 500 split

Zippy Ziegler

Check out this.

Especially the paragraph:

After taking the swim out fast with a 25.53 and remaining under 28 seconds per 50 through 150 yards, Ziegler then settled into a 28-second range throughout the entire swim, including a sub-28 27.89 at the 1550, before sprinting home in 25.45. Her final 50 was actually quicker than her first 50.

Now that's good tactics and good conditioning (even if it is short-course yards!).

Five Keys to Success

Craig Lord recently published a piece about Michael Phelps in TheTimesOnline. It discusses Phelps' chances of beating Mark Spitz' seven-for-seven in Munich 1972. At the conclusion of the article he quotes Bob Bowman's 'five keys to success'. Well worth studying:

Five keys to success

Endurance: “He trains for the 400m medley, the 1,500m freestyle and the 200 ‘fly in that order,” Bob Bowman, Phelps’s coach, says

Technique: “Years’ worth of small adjustments add up to large gains in performance capacity.”

Mental approach: “Our mental outlook is one of the few things that we can truly control. Training we must view as a privilege, and act accordingly. We must first look inward to find solutions to challenges. ‘The solution lies with us’ is our slogan.”

Speed and pace training: “How the time is swum is just as important as how fast the time is swum. Our sets are designated to make the stroke more respondent to racing conditions.”

Power training: “We believe that the dry land work must enhance our swimming performance, not hinder it: therefore, weightlifting - which can be very taxing to the muscles – is not a major component of our programme.”

Stop the Heart

Ernie Maglischo once said to me, 'Heart rate gets you into the stadium but it doesn't get you a good seat.' And, he's right.

Using HR prescriptions as the primary means of training intensity is stupid. Its a scatter gun approach which makes life too easy for the committed swimmers and too easy to cheat for the uncommitted. Swimmers can settle in to repetitions at, say, 160 bpm, and stay there with no real effort, commitment, concentration, focus or application at all. They can do the set brainless. Ask them to swim the same set holding a particular time, holding a particular stroke count and, just out of interest, watch what happens to their HR and you get a different story; they are now challenged. They have to think. They have to concentrate. They have to be conscious. They have to manage their technique, effort and application to complete the set correctly. While they're doing all that the coach can easily check their time and stroke rate and, therefore, know if they're 'holding steady' falling apart or randomly bouncing around all over the place.

Do not use heart rate as your primary intensity check. No two swimmers are the same, they have different maximums and different resting levels, therefore they have different functional ranges. Check out the FAQ's here and design your sets with layers of complexity starting with time targets, then stroke count or stroke rate targets as checks of effectiveness, then check what is happening to the heart rate as an indicator of improved or deteriorating efficiency.

Compile training times using the colour-coding system on the Cone, e.g. 10 x 200 'red' and have charts on the pool wall so swimmers can look up and learn their particular speed ranges for each colour zone. Recording test set information on a regular basis will enable you to do this relatively easily.

By all means have a heart but don't use it!

FINA article now uploaded

See the post below this one - Aiming to be Average!