KAYAK STROKE Versus FRONT QUADRANT SWIM (FQS)

First up:
THE VIDEOS!

BEFORE you watch the videos.. Take note:
To compare constant velocity of the body moving through the water, DO NOT look at anything else... JUST STARE at the hip and the nearest object next to it (i.e the lane rope, line on the floor or the deck floor)... Remember to offset the CAMERA's movement with the person's velocity. When the camera is moving together with the person in the frame in the same direction, the person will look always like he is in constant velocity.

For example, Scott Neyedli's SLOW SWIM at 2:25 - 2:45 which we will use for relative comparison here.. looks SMOOTHER than what it actually was. Compare the hip with the lane rope beside and you'll see that when he don't kick that much during that 2:25 2:45 period, his hips have a start stop or deceleration and acceleration phase as well just like Front Quadrant Swim (FQS).


KK SLOW SWIM - Note my cruise speed (80% 1500m) for 50m is about 52.5seconds so this is about 28seconds for 25m.. I've slowed down quite a lot and thus the hips are sinking a little cos I am trying very hard not to kick that much and reduced my arm pull to just forms and almost effortless push backs.. all just to save energy and do a relaxed continuous pull as suggested by Teck Beng... however.. from these 2 videos, I noticed that I do have start and stop instead of constant velocity! Read on to find out what I've discovered!





Scott Neyedli -- SLOW SWIM PART at 2:25 ~ 2:4



ALEXANDER POPOV (World Record Holder Olympian)



Shinji -- T.I at Perfection Nirvana-esque level.



After looking at my video of my slow swim until I cock eyed and then finally a moment of enlightenment struck.. I realized what went wrong. It was a case of thinking too much about one thing and forgotten where we came from.

We kind of forgotten about the benchmark of comparison - The Front Quadrant swim.

Most importantly, we kind of misinterpreted what is needed to be done for constant velocity to happen.

Allow me to explain.

First of all, notice that Alexander Popov and Scott Neyedli did their swim with STRONG kicks that are SUPERBLY CONTINUAL and with no pauses at all.

Constant velocity OF THE ENTIRE BODY in front crawl swimming is very tough to achieve. It requires the kick to be continually firing to compensate for the inevitable rise and fall of speed (or dead spot) in the arm stroke phases.

Yes.. I meant INEVITIBLE.

FOLLOW ME TIGHT AND CLOSELY THROUGH THE BELOW "ILLUSTRATION".

Arm stroke phases:

1) Out Sweep and Catch (No propulsion)
2) In Sweep and Push Back (Propulsion Starts, Optimum Velocity Achieved)
3) Exit and Recovery (No Propulsion)
4) Reach and Entry (No Propulsion)

In Front Quadrant swim:

After finishing the first pull to phase 3 (to make things easier to reference, we'll say we start with the RIGHT pull)...

The LEFT arm stays extended at the front without doing anything until the RIGHT arm recovers past the Forehead.

Once the RIGHT arm passes the forehead and reaches in front for Entry (phase 4), the LEFT arm starts the Out Sweep and Catch (phase 1) and upon the RIGHT arm's entry, the LEFT arm will do the In Sweep and Push back (phase 2) for it's optimum propulsion.

In Kayak Stroke:

After finishing the first pull, again RIGHT pull, the RIGHT arm will begin Recovery and Exit (Phase 3).

At this moment, there will be no waiting extension from the LEFT arm. The LEFT arm will start simultaneously the Out Sweep and Catch (phase 1).

Once the Right arm reaches and performs the entry (Phase 4), the LEFT arm is simultaneously doing the In Sweep and Push Back (Phase 2) to achieve optimum propulsion.

------------------ Are you lost? if yes, read from "ILLUSTRATION" again and then continue below for a Flow Chart ------------------

Clear?

Now we look at both stroking technique and we will notice from this following part of the cycle to be exactly the same:

Phase 3 (Exit and Recovery) --> Phase 4 (Reach and Entry) --> Phase 1 (Out Sweep and Catch)

There are NO propulsion coming from the arm AT ALL.

The only thing we can do here is to MAINTAIN OPTIMUM VELOCITY. KEYWORD is MAINTAIN.

There are TWO ways we CAN maintain velocity:
1) ALWAYS travel at the constant velocity.

2) REDUCE number of pauses and also the durations of each pause.

BUT EXACTLY... HOWWWWWW??????

There are TWO things we CAN DO to achieve that:

1) To add a continuous and strong kick that will keep pushing us forward REGARDLESS OF WHAT OUR ARMS ARE DOING.

2) Don't glide. I.E don't do front quadrant swim (FQS).


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Before we carry on, let's break the swim down into diagrams and you'll see it much clearly in the phases.

KAYAK SWIM STROKE CHART and FQS SWIM STROKE CHART

If you go up and look at Shinji's stroke and compare it with the diagram of FQS SWIM chart above, you'll notice that there is a phase (in RED) that is two stages of non propulsion which causes the propulsion phase (phase 2 of In Sweep and Push Back) to kick in one stage later than the KAYAK SWIM STROKE. That causes an EXTRA DECELERATION as compared to the continuous KAYAK SWIM STROKE whereby there is no prolonged pause of stage 4 which is the arm extension of the non pulling arm while waiting for recovery hand to pass the forehead.

As for the continuous KAYAK SWIM STROKE, there is only one stage of Deceleration.

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With that, we conclude that the KAYAK SWIM STROKE achieved Objective number 2 on maintaining Velocity mentioned above on reducing number of pauses. While FQS SWIM STROKE totally denied Objective number 2 by increasing the duration of the pause and even dragging the pause to the next phase (thus increasing the number of pauses).

The duration of the pause, i.e the Speed of the arm doing the recovery will then be the determining factor for KAYAK SWIM STROKE when deciding to go faster or slower.

The above points now clearly dictate that Kayak Stroke is the more efficient stroke of the two.

However, it is important to note that both strokes CAN be fast. And CONSTANT VELOCITY IS ACHIEVABLE with BOTH STROKE TYPES.

The trick as stated above, other than not choosing FQS, is to compensate with a continuous and strong kick which will continually propel you forward regardless of what the arms are doing. The strong kick will thus eliminate the deceleration phase(s) of each stroke. Of course, the kick has to be much stronger in the FQS SWIM STROKE because of the extra deceleration phase.

I hope this article clarify ALL details on the stroke cycle efficiency of KAYAK swim stroke versus FQS other than knowing exactly when to relax and when to contract while performing the stroke itself which is ABSOLUTELY vital in getting the KAYAK swim stroke to work at a slow swim state. Without knowing when to relax, your KAYAK swim stroke will feel like thrashing water and breathlessness will haunt you throughout your whole swim. I hope Teck Beng can help explain upon that if you have the time as I've passed to you and Calvin all that I could explain on that day and I hope you guys did absorb on the exertion part too and now it's your time to give~ hehehee..

Cheers
KK

On Continous Pull and front quandrant swimming

Just a few points i picked up from Coach KK last Saturday in the pool.

He mentioned that by doing a continuous pull (AKA kayak stroke), you are actually swimming smoother as compares to doing the front quadrant swim (Start catch when recovery arm pass your ear, aka TI).

Now, by smoother, i immediately think of less splashes, calmer and maybe even stealthier. But actually, what KK meant by smoother is "constant speed" through the water. Constant speed, zero acceleration or deceleration.

And so my search of evidence if this is really true, i found this....

Below is a clip of Bill Kerby's swim (he is doing a front quadrant), with very obvious glide time. He is really, really 'smooth' and the swim really looks effortless (he IS an Olympian...)but i am only looking at his butt.



By fixing on his butt, you get a clear sense of his speed and acceleration in the water (see 1:10min on). It's clear that in every stroke, there is a deceleration and acceleration phase and if you look as closely as i did, it not difficult to notice the slowing down happens during the gliding.

Now, compare this to Scott Neyedli, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND1L8I2ZY5w&feature=relmfu), he is using the kayaking stroke. Observe his butt again, you will notice the constant speed (smooth) through the waters.

now, surely there is an obvious difference in excretion. So the question is, is there a video of a continuous stroke relax swim?

Training Consistency

It's been a long time since I blogged. Mainly because I haven't found meaningful new topics to cover since I've religiously did that week after week for 1.5yrs. I miss sharing more fruitful experiences but I'd prefer them to be tried and tested and to be full of values that I can bring myself to believe firmly BEFORE I post them out here.

A few caring friends and team mates of mine has asked me to used this blog as a form of revenue generating thing by posting "teasers" or meaningful items that needs elaboration but I have to politely object because in my world, sharing is Free and sharing is a MUST in order for improvements to come by and go forth. I cannot bring myself to simply network this blog and make it into a money making thing. I am still awfully thankful for all my friends who have and are trying to help me improve my business... it is incredibly humbling and incredibly gratifying for everything I've done that is ever so minimal to giving back the world of sports.

Tonight, I'm going to write about Training Consistency.

I believe I've written or touched on about this topic before in my previous blog but I've since then experienced a much more enlightening process of consistent training and also the result when there is suddenly a lack of the consistency due to some issues (it may be injury or sickness).

As for those of you who are still following this blog would have read.. I've been training under this China Coach named Cheng Qiang. I have full trust in whatever he prescribe for me and just like Team Sapphire's devotion to my training programs, I am willing to do a thousand sets of 100 if that is what he prescribe for me one day.

As a result of my faith, I've followed his training with utmost diligence. Trust me, having a coach to coach you personally, and I mean WATCH YOU SWIM from the deck at least once a week is a difference between heaven and earth as compared to when you train by yourself. I've improved to an extent whereby I've about 5-8 minutes ahead of my team mates in a 1500m swim and I am consistently doing 1:30-1:40 in my 100m sets. They are not crazy fast timing but to think that I've came from 1:45 - 1:55 for my 100m sets just 3 months back.. I think it is not a step but a leap of stairs up the ladder of improvement.

To set the record straight, Coach's rule of thumb for training consistency is never stop training for more than 2 days. I.E 2 days of rest is the max you can allow. I've stuck to it to a level whereby I will not allow more than 48hrs of non training.

The reason is simple to understand but I'm going to put it into details here. If you're yawning now, you should click the 'X' on the top right of the browser (windows) because it's going to get worst. If you truly care about what you're doing in the pool or whatever training then read on. A cup of coffee should help.

I started with alternating days of training.
I.E Training Monday - Wednesday - Friday
Rest Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday

I stuck with that for 4 weeks at the start and I've experienced tonnes of improvements. In terms of technique and also a very consistent swim timing.

Subsequently, I trained on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday and Rested only on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. It was rather manageable and I carried on for 4 weeks and at times, I found that recovery was a little tough especially when one has work to juggle unlike a professional athlete.

But Coach always says that you'll definitely feel tired once in a while and it is important to push through the tiredness and just finish the session.

He further supported the statement by prescribing all my training with just percentage effort requirements and no timing requirements except for the sprints.

And then after 2 weeks of that, I noticed my timing in swim training has been going up and down despite holding the same effort level day in and day out. However, after 1 day of down in workout, I'd come back feeling much stronger once I fully recover.

Very soon, I finally embarked on training 6 days a week with only Thursday as my rest day. Improvements was leaps and bounds for 3 weeks straight. Then I went to holiday and I couldn't find any pool to swim for 5 days. Then things started going downhill and I had to train 7 days straight to recover my fitness. Now I'm almost 80% back to pre holiday state of fitness.

I was doing 24:00 for 1500m at RPE of about 8/10 on the week before I go 5 days without training, after I came back, I was doing 25:30 - 26:00 for 1500m at RPE of about 9/10. And I am into my second 6 days cycle of fitness recovery training and I still can't get back at 100% pre holiday.

That is a brief account of what I went through.. I've spare the details of the training till next time.

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You see, what actually happens is that when a person train in a workout, the fitness improves once he recovers. However, when you follow a scheduled routine.. say training every alternate days and you start on a Monday.

By the time Friday comes, you'd have done 2 swims and going for the 3rd one. Imagine you're doing the following set every time you train:

Warmup: 400m
Main set: 1500m at 80%
Rest 5 mins
10 x 50 on 1min
Rest 5 mins
400 freestyle kick only (25m sprint, 25m easy)

When Friday comes, your legs would have felt pretty used up if you're like me training kick sprints for the first time. In fact, on Wednesday, I was already feeling the drag in my 50 on 1min sets.

But if you do nothing on the Saturday and completely rest it up, you'd probably recover much better than the Tuesday and Thursday which is a work day and you have to be busy while recovering from your workout. Then on Sunday's swim, you'd probably feel a boost of energy because your fatigue has dropped but you fitness is higher than Monday before you trained.

As I mentioned before, Fatigue and Fitness rise TOGETHER.
Which means:

If you Train, you get fitter once you recover and adapt to the workload. 
If you DON'T TRAIN, you lose your fitness because the body don't feel the need to adapt and thus goes back to sedentary state to "survive" or just live your normal daily life. Period.

Using that simple sentence, you can see that if you can train every single day and recover well, you ought to become fitter and fitter and there will be no limits to how best you can become!

HOWEVER, the limit here is fatigue. If there is no fatigue, we will all be superhumans, at least for those who are willing to train everyday. When you train, you get tired right? And because fatigue increases simultaneously with fitness, you'll not be able to ALWAYS BE ON FORM and be at your best in every single training 100% of the time. It is just near impossible to be that perfect unless you live your life with no life and just eat-train-sleep with no friends or family or work to entertain at ALL.

Thus that brings us to the fact that we have to manage our fatigue level while training consistently in order to get the fittest state we can possibly be.

Managing that fatigue level will mean:
- Ignoring swim timing and focus solely on effort percentage and stroke integrity only unless it's a speed work set or time trial.
- Put more focus on the recovery things to do rather than just solely thinking about doing more.

I feel that the above are the absolute important points to understand in terms of training consistency.

Because serious athletes who train all the time will measure their performance in terms of timing results. As science has taught us, only quantifiable results can be useful in tracking milestones and benchmarks.
And that has led to many people forgetting about the other part of the Fitness equation, which is the fatigue.

Fatigue can come not just from your training but your external stress factors such as sleep deprivation and work requirements.

And like the example sets I prescribed above, if you carried on doing that for 2 weeks and somehow, you always have Over Time to work on Saturdays and maybe Tuesdays then you'd probably not recover well and thus your swim time on Wednesday and especially on the second week of continuous training may probably reflect pretty badly.

It is important to note that this bad timing reflection is not a KPI (Key Performance Indicator) of just your fitness but it is an indicator of a combination of how well rested you are versus how trained/fit you are.

Thus having a bad day or two in a week is actually very normal especially if you work in high stress environments or basically not getting enough social supports or simply not able to sleep well enough.

However, after having such bad days then you'd have to take particular notes on recovering well on the following rest days or going easy on the next one and focus solely on technique if you're training every day like I am.

The key here is to maintain the effort and push on in the training and do your best to maintain that 80% RPE and STROKE PERFORMANCE INTEGRITY regardless of your fatigue level AS LONG AS YOU MADE SURE YOU'VE DONE YOUR BEST TO RECOVER.

The reason that you do at 80% RPE in swim is that it is an effort level whereby you can do a hard long swim (At least 1500m) and thus it is aerobic. Training aerobically or near the aerobic threshold when you're on good form, is fantastic for building fitness because you train your body to use Oxygen at the maximal level your body is capable of and many studies have confirmed that training at Aerobic threshold is the best way to improve fitness.

And by knowing that your timing may fluctuate due to many external factors, the only compounding factor in training will be your mental strength. When you look at a Wednesday's swim time and see that it is 2minutes slower than the Monday swim time, your body will definitely shout "TIRED!!!"... But after 1 day of complete rest or whichever way you ensure you are completely rested before the next workout, physiologically your body should be ready for the training unless you fell sick.

But from my experience, the Friday's swim are always the toughest despite I have a full rest day always on Thursday. The reason is my mind always tells me "Wednesday's swim was tough to maintain at 80% and good form man.. I could hardly complete it!"

What the mind didn't take into consideration is that I had a full day of rest on Thursday and the micro torn muscles would have recovered by now and adapted to the training.

By ensuring that you follow the 80% training effort in your long swims unless speedwork requires you to go all out.. you can be sure that whether you're tired or not, you're performing your best AEROBICALLY and thus not increasing the intensity to something too much that will complicate the recovery to get ready for the next training session.

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On the other hand, for those who don't have a coach to manage your swim time, you have to note that in a training program, you have to take note of the intensity, duration and also the weekly volume of workouts.

Fatigue rise way way way way way way faster than fitness while it takes years to cultivate supreme base fitness to build the speed on. If all athletes look long term enough in terms of achieving your goal, then the overtraining side of training will probably not happen at all but most people wants results fast and with less work.

Commercial training always tell you "FASTER, HIGH INTENSITY = MORE GAINS". That is right in a way provided you can recover.

If you can't recover, then doing high intensity workouts for days after days, you may simply just be breaking your body down again and again without allowing it to recover adequately.

Note: It is possible to ALWAYS stay and live in that overtrained fatigue state. Some people think it is normal to be tired all the time. Not true. A good athlete should feel energetic all the time because of good recovery.

We come back to the point whereby fitness is only gained when you recover and body adapts to the training load. Without that happening, the fatigue will accumulate and the body will not adapt and when that happens, you're just on a one way ticket to overtraining and consistent fatigue with minimal to little fitness gain or even fitness loss in long term because of the inability to train due to injury or burnout exhaustion from the overtraining.

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I know the article is alittle messy here and there but I write as I think and if you lost me somewhere, comment here or write me an email at enquiry@sapphireswimming.com or SMS me at (+65) 8180 0621 and I will gladly reply you what you wish to know.

Cheers
Coach KK