A description of the Catch.

After entry is made. The arm extends and the shoulder girdle raised effortlessly. Some people call the arm extension a weightless lead arm or a slight stretch/reach forward. It is like a shrug to bring the shoulder to the ear just that it is done with the arm extended.

This movement HAS to be done with relaxedly and effortless in order for the catch to be performed fluidly. Reason is that when joints are tensed up in an exertion (the opposite of effortless), they cannot flex as easily and takes more effort to overcome the tension to execute another movement that requires fluidity.

That said, the catch is made by a slight scull outwards, followed by an Internal Rotation of the humerus bone done simultaneously with the flexion of the elbow. This combined movement from the extended arm position will allow the Early Vertical Forearm to be in place.

Visualize:
Extended arm position: Underside of forearm and bicep is facing the bottom of the pool.
After Internal Rotation and elbow flexion, Underside of forearm and bicep is facing back (opposite of direction of travel).

For those who do not understand what is internal rotation, I've done up these videos. In the video, I am using the clip of the pen cap as a start point to better illustrate what a rotation is. Then I taped it to my upper arm to show the movement of the arm in an internal rotation.

Firstly, the above video shows the pen rotating, looking at the cap it rotated from 6 o clock to 3 o clock. This sets a "benchmark" for what rotation is about.

Second video above I'm showing the internal rotation movement of the humerus with a flexed elbow. Look at the clip on the cap rotated from 6o clock to 3 o clock again, indicating the upper arm is rotating.

This 3rd video shows the internal rotation with an extended arm, which is specific to our swimming position where we need to start the internal rotation. Notice that the clip of the pen cap rotated towards the back. Right now, some of you may be lost but lets VISUALIZE if the arm can continue to rotate 360 degrees, the clip on the pen cap will ultimately rotate inwards towards my body and thus the movement in the video is actually an internal rotation.

The 4th and last video shows me executing the catch. Play and compare both 3rd and 4th videos and you'll see the clip of the cap rotating outwards indicating that the internal rotation does exist in executing the catch.


------------


Note that an internal rotation of the humerus (upper arm bone) has to be done with the elbow joint stay at where it is when the arm is extended and not moving backwards.

The need to do an elbow flexion together with the internal rotation adds on to the difficulty of keeping the elbow joint at the same location as where it was when the arm was extended. People tend to do the internal rotation and the flexion while moving the elbow backwards.. this is due to the tendency to rush through the pull in hope to quickly pull the water backwards to propel oneself forward.

I cannot emphasize more strongly the need to be patient while performing the catch as the EVF position and the process to getting to that position does not create any source of forward propulsion and if done with exertion, the downward movement of the hand and forearm caused by the internal rotation will break the forward momentum due to the pressing of water downwards.

Some people could not get the internal rotation of the humerus done simply because they are too tensed in that extended arm position. If you think about it, the internal rotation of the humerus is a literal movement of the bone that is connected to the shoulder through ligaments and muscles. If you are tensed in that extended arm position, you're actually forcing the humerus which is part of the arm (duh) to be locked in that pre-internal-rotation state.

Knowing what is happening and which part is moving in what way is the only way to learn the execution of a movement properly. I hope this post help you understand the internal rotation of humerus and how it is present in the catch phase of swimming.

I shall stop here and if you have more question, feel free to sms me at 8180 0621 or facebook me.

Cheers
KK

STRETCHING! IN DETAIL!

My apologies for my selfishness but I decided not to put up the Powerpoint slides for public download. It is more like because I don't wish for the time put in by KH and myself in this work to go wasted if it is to be taken and be misused or edited in anyway negative. However, if you are really keen to have a copy, just text me at 8180 0621 and I can email you. It really is not a problem as long as I know who is getting my files and are using it the right way. That's what sharing is about (to me, at least..). =)

Each stretch are to be held for 30seconds to 60seconds. Too short and it won't even get past the Stretch Reflex*.

*Stretch Reflex is a self defense mechanism by your body that triggers when the muscle is stretched beyond its comfortable range.

You need to hold the stretch beyond this stretch reflex occurrence (you'll feel the tension settle down about 10-15seconds into the stretch) before you can get any benefits from muscular lengthening.

Stretch AFTER workout or a short 10 minutes warm-up. Do NOT stretch when muscles are cold.

Cheers
KK

23032011 Swim Squad

Dear Team,

Tonight's Menu:
Warmup:
SKPKS 100 each
200m Build (Easy--Medium--Hard--Easy)

Main set:
5x100

3mins rest

6x50 Dash

Finale: 100m Relay.
KK's team: KK outswam everybody in the first wave despite starting 15-20seconds late but both team members (KH and Robert) cramped up and was generously rescued by team mates.. INSPIRATIONALLY DQ'ed! =P

Sam's Team is SOOOO OVER POWERING LA.. CHEATER BUG~~~ =ppp They are the WINNERS anyways.

Pauline's team: Pauline put on the most gracious 100m sprint I've ever seen in a competitive mood. The team fought hard especially Calvin who was so tired already and Mr Take dented my egos when he swam with such powerful catch that make the pushes he made so efficient and almost seemed effortlessly quick!

Ebnu's team is so concise on the stroke technique that coming in 2nd doesn't do them justice! LawLaw did a rescue before his swim.. LIFESAVER SIOLL.. and Wilson is just having some time of his life in the pool with all the record breaking 50s~~No wonder the 100 also so fast~ =P

----------------------------------------

The training was Superbly done. Looking at you guys spur each other on was just incredibly aspiring for me lap after lap... it keeps me invigorated!

--------------------------------------------------

KK
My stroke tonight was all about good surges and not flat out effort especially in the 50m and thus my timing are pretty slow for the 50m compared relatively to my 100s. Basically I felt that I'm never going to do any 50m flat out sprint and thus I hope to maximize my time in pool to perfect the race pace I want to race with for my 750m and 1.5km swim and above next time.

For Gen, Sam and KH (look below still got more), you guys seem to rush the catch and isn't going deep enough to do the catch properly. Be patient on the catch and make sure you create loads of resistance and bring the resistance close to your shoulder and chest area then push back hard together with the body rotation for lateral streamlining and glide.

For Lawrence, you have to work on catching outside again... Now it went back to the "TaiJi" stroke like drawing 'X's underneath your body with your arms like that in and out, in and out... I recommend reading back the post about 3-4 weeks back before you leave for shang hai and work on the catch again.. I'm sure you'll get it back over the weekend's swim if you're coming!

For Calvin, its time to have more confidence in your focus and your ability! I love your happy go lucky method of training but glad my constant nagging (ok not nagging, you already clarified that..) manage to keep you on track and your fitness and timing of swim has gradually came down and become more and more consistent! Look at the previous year's sets to confirm my findings man! I'm super happy for you and I respect your passion to keep coming to training even though it's tough for you physically being slightly bigger size than most of us and you always seem to cast yourself as the more unfit one. You're Unfit NO MORE Calvin! =)

Robert and Pauline, as mentioned as long as you work on finding your comfortable breathing and stroke rhythm, I'm sure you'll be able to do freestyle well for OSIM. It's still a long way to go! Hmmm I haven't receive any text from you for morning swim leh.... COME COME COME LETS SWIM TOGETHER! =)
Oh, please don't overuse the buoy, only when you feel that you don't have that floating feeling then use it to remind for awhile or when you're dead beat then use it to help you ease off.. Some of the triathletes I know, they love the buoy so much, they never swim without it because without it, they sink and feels handicapped. Never let that happen to you yup!


Ebnu and Musaib! You two are the most wonderful daddy and son combi I've ever seen thus far in my life and I so wished it happened to me and my bro and my dad too. You've came very far in terms of swim stroke and it is a matter of time and patience in choosing to do only what is right. That means Drills and more drills and conscious swims... but if there is anyone in the team I can trust to keep practicing with patience and smart work, its you Ebnu and I'm sure Musaib will tag along if he don't want to get his butt kicked by Saori again. =pP Oh, please don't overuse the buoy too.. look at what I said above for Pauline and Robert. =)

KH... I got nothing to say but SOLID LA BRO! =) It's tiring to race, but I hope you find a source of motivation for yourself.. not just me! Set a goal for yourself! Fitness and Health is everything in life that money can't buy and I hope you too buy into that idea for the better life of yours and the people around you! =) GAMBATTE YO!!!

Wilson.... Looking pretty shagged today but the swim was incredibly consistent! THE GIRLS (like so many like that... hahhaa) in our team are all impressed that you're swimming as fast, if not faster, than them already! THAT'S THE WAY BRO!!! EGO EGO EGO EGO EGO X 1 MILLION~!!! hahahaha..

TAKESAWA SAN! Your catch is REALLY GOOD LAH! Could see that you can really grab hold of alot of water before pushing them back! It looked like an easy/moderate effort on the outside to me.. and that is a SIGN OF GOOD SWIMMING STROKE! GAMBATTE!!!! =)

----------------------------------------------------
Without further ado... The Timings!!!!

Do note 3 things about the timing I posted:

1) Timing of Sam and Lawrence is Not accurate as one ate too full and have some stomach bloatedness problem while the other had 2 weeks of DOWN TIME in ShangHaizzzzz... =pp

2) The old timing I dug up from various places for different people so I stated the month and year at the last column. Sep-10 means September 2010. The sets of 50s and sets of 100s are from different days too but are similar in rest intervals so they are very comparables. I'm sorry I couldn't find all as sometimes also nobody reply me when I ask for timing...

3) September is a peak period for Desaru competition so if you timing right now is as fast or faster than that period then you should be really happy! =)

For comparison.......

Enjoy!
KK
"Conditioning- You have to go through it to be conditioned. You're going to have to feel some pain.. like you lungs are burning, and you know, you want to spit up blood, that sort of thing..."

Samantha's first swim squad review 17032011

Today's gonna be my first writeup and review of team sapphire swim squad..
First things first, I'm definitely less detailed as compared to KK but
anyways, here we go.

It was a tough 1km warmup, inclusive of 2 sets of treacherous 200m kicks but i thought everyone did very well during the 200m pulls(simply because the buoy helps you float better and the set is purposely in the middle to allow a “rest” from the tough exertion in a warmup!). 

Vincent & Wilson
Both don't move much from your kick, too much bodily reactions(rocking) resulting from leg movements. Body looks stiff and tensed up during kick. Exhale more as you kick, think lifting and releasing legs gently but quickly. Light & fast kicks is the way to go.

Ebnu
A tad too much knee bending, straighten your legs up and keep the depth of the kick towards the shallower side. As usual, chest down, butt up,
kick from thighs and loosen your ankles should do you fine. Also quite a lot of bodily reactions from leg movements, keep the core tight like running~

Robert
Keep pushing through the sets continuously. The key here is continuity and in order to continue, you have to force your body to learn how to relax as your exhale and consciously stay loose when you inhale. Imagine Exhaling more than what you inhale will help a lot now as you tend to hold your breathe quite a bit. Also might want to consider front breathing as it is easier to do that with the pull buoy instead of side.

Gen
My guess is you pushed a little too hard in the first 600m warmup. You have to know your limits of your energy level, think far and ration them well through proper pacing.

-------------------------

Here are some things I noted as I saw KK's group swim your main set.

6x50  10s R
4x100 15s R
3x200 20s R (most strokes falter @ fatigue at this whole of last set)

Teck Beng
Your theories are perfect, time to put them in action! Haha.. I could feel that you were not catching enough water or creating enough resistance at your catch, thus your push wasn’t really making you surge. Also, have to constantly remind yourself to accelerate 2x faster at the push phase and continue consistently at that rhythm, voila!


Gen
It's tough coping with exams and working out when tired. But hey, working
out should make you feel recharged isn't it. Jiayou! You have a diamond shaped entry, I.e your arms bend inwards upon entry and it is entering at the middle of your forehead, you should be reaching at your shoulder width and extend further in the water to glide.

I suspect it might be due to your tight shoulders as well because you can’t seem to have that extra shrug/shoulder extension after the entry that KK has been talking about that is critical to help you glide more.

You have powerful strokes but you need to learn how to segregate them from slow at the start to fastest at the end. You catch and hold the water firmly and then double up on the push, that's where you accelerate and surge forward(provided you can extend that shoulder and glide a wee bit more than now).

Marianne
I got to say you look really fine in the water lady. Alot of improvement
since!! Similar to gen, work on your catch, hold and push water not only
with your arms.. Make use of your opposite hip to push downwards to
coordinate the acceleration. Try to feel more resistance from your front part of the strokes and I'm sure u'd pick up speed in no time! Right now it’s a matter of catching no ball at the front and thus you got nothing to throw backward (in a basketball context).

Side note: Do you feel any pain in your right shoulder? I see your palm tend to turn outward upon entry of your right and that will cause tension on the right deltoid.

KK 
You would be sad to hear this but I honestly don't have much to correct your strokes here..:S due to your bulk around your pigeon chest, you tend to look inflexible/slow while rotating. Work on flexibility and mobility??
Left palm tend to slap onto water surface before slicing into the water(I.e
late entry), increases drag. Shifu said your right arm is more powerful than left, so you should work more on left side muscular activation yup. Lastly, keep the left entry closer to your forehead!

Vincent
You seem very controlled over every movement throughout your stroke. It is one thing to have control over your stroke but another to be able to execute them smoothly at low speed swims. Aim for that fluidity in your movements while executing those control… More flexi please! Swimmers are known to have jello yet firm stark bodies upon glide when they swim. Your pulls tend to shorten as you go deeper into longer swims, keep extending on the glide when the swim gets longer, accelerate and fly!!

Bryan
Gotta admit, you're pretty fast.. But if you're willing to brush up on some
technical issues, you will go even faster and better! I recommend you adopt
a high-elbow recovery and work on your arm alignment!! It should be in-line
with your shoulder width so that your body can glide straight in that sense.
Don't rush through your strokes in order to reach your destination fast.

One critical change now is to keep your head lower and more submerged in the water to keep the hip up. You swim with a 2 beat kick and that means the kick isn’t firing much when you swim, thus you need to play with head positioning to keep the hips up!

Aim to 'feel' your strokes better with more accuracy and glide through the water! You have to literally KNOW IN YOUR EYES whether you’re actually gliding through the water at all. The effort you put into your swim should translate to the velocity of your body through the water, if you see that you’re moving really slowly and choppily through the water while pushing hard then something is wrong.. Keep working on it, You have what it takes!

Wilson
Your legs significantly don't work when you swim, but excellent catch, push
and glide. I think you nailed the glide well and tend to rely on it. However when you glide, the whole body weight tend to be on that side, you have to hold the body weight with your core so you’re more ready for transition of strokes from one side to another! 

Oh do note your right arm recovery as well, similar to marianne's problem, I used to do the same and create some shoulder awkwardness for myself:(

--------------------------------------

As for the Ebnu and Robert's group, your focus was to work on continuity of swim  through the following:

6x50  10s R
4x100 15s R
6x50  30s R

Even though some of you did not complete the entire set, here are some
pointers for you to work on.

Musaib
Where are you rushing to ar? It seems like you either rush or shut your mind off when you swim. From the post swim briefing, you said you were pushing hard but it definitely seem like you were not really moving in the water as fast as your effort to award you with. Get what I mean? It’s like with that level of effort, you should be travelling through the water much much faster than what you’re doing now but.. Your strokes isn’t warranting that. 

You should really think of your strokes more!! Do your catch properly, most of the time the elbow is dropped... without the catch, you got nothing to push back and that’s when you’re “slipping” on the hold of water. Once you nailed the catch, try to hold your glide longer, complete your pushes.

I’m sure you will and can make good use of your strong kick and fast arms but you have to get the catch right first. TOP PRIORITY. 

Pauline
Another effortless swim! Too relaxed and too much gliding la... Do you even
pant after your swim? I highly doubt so leh..=p If you can complete the surge with your arm push slightly harder (esp your right) and up your stroke rate (I.e lesser glide), you would speed up a lot more! You’re ready to go a little faster.. =) Hope to see more competitiveness in you Pauline! ;)

Robert
Firstly, your breathing have improvements and it is showing in your ability to continuously swim for that 1.2-1.4km of swim! My suggestion is for you to read up on KK’s recent articles on the catching of water visualizing grabbing a barrel. Because right now, straight arm pull inhibits your forward gliding movement due to the fact that a straight arm pull pushes the water upwards.

Instead, angle your forearm to pull towards your hips. Think catch-hold water(feel most resistance here)-push water backwards-recover as one cycling revolution. Read the articles KK wrote as he described them in the finest of details and easy to understand parts. Break them down and do them part by part.. then once you get them right (can come to us and we’ll help you see), you have to execute the movement in one smooth fluid motion from slow at the front to fastest at the back.

Lastly, keep your body firmly streamline while swimming, body rotation looks fine but a bit lacking on the left (non breathing) side. You tend to rock and sway your body laterally left and right quite a fair bit, looks as though you're swimming like a snake! Do some planks and suck the guts in, that’s the feeling you should aim for while staying streamline relaxedly. As KK always mentioned in a intriguingly contradicting way, swimming requires you to be stiff (holding a position) but relaxed (feel loose) at the same time.

Ebnu
Firstly, Good job on gliding! Rotation tend to originate from shoulders,
initiate the turn from hips instead, so you can use more force from your
core. Keep your arm close to you as you recover, rather than let it flail
outward unnecessarily. Watch your form as fatigue increases, I notice your
upper body is lifted higher due to the need to breathe easier, eyes were looking in front and that severely caused your lower body to sink and slows you down.

One tip for you, Ebnu, is to use the pull buoy and just lie flat on the water without moving anything. You’ll notice the head will want to dip in and stay submerged. Then using the pull buoy between your legs, push off the wall and glide then take 6 strokes without breathing while maintaining the submerged head position. Notice how you’ll move very far and pretty quickly glide through the water because the hips are floating.

Then remove the pull buoy, and repeat the process aiming for the SAME FEELING OF HIP FLOATING AND GLIDE. Kick off the wall, this time you don’t have the float so you have to keep your hip afloat by pressing the chest down with each arm entry. Remember to pierce through the water with your finger tips each time you do an entry and extend your arm into the water, while doing that use the arm extension momentum to press and lean your chest into the water. Continue that until it comes to a full extension each time. That should keep your hip afloat. Remember to do that every cycle. As usual, do it slow and part by part with accuracy first, then smoothen it out into one motion. =)

Overall, I see good continuous swim from everyone. We cannot emphasize more
on focusing of techniques. Think, feel and practice more often. Attempt to
correct one error at a time and then constantly remind yourself to work on
it until it becomes second nature to you. Hope to see more improvements next
time, 

ciao~!

SamSam~~~

Thoughts on Swim Lessons in Singapore.

This is a very blunt exclamation/comment on how the current swim lesson syllabus adopted by Swim Safer has affected our swim business and more importantly, the ways of learning of our students.


After testing many students under the swim safer syllabus, I've seen how co-testing can become a double edge sword. The main difference is in the practical aspect of the test, the previous NASSA test seem to focus a lot of long distance swim from bronze (8 laps) to gold(30 laps) and the current SS test was supposed to be more focused on the technique of swim strokes (bronze 1/4 lap per stroke for 4 strokes --- gold 2 laps per stroke for 4 strokes) and even incorporated lifesaving techniques to enhance the chance of survival/being saved.

First of all, the idea is a feasible one and I personally applaud the implementation of such a system amidst the number of older generation of coaches who are more reluctant to changes (nothing to deny here, unless you start seeing tonnes of kids swimming much better breast stroke kick which is the most commonly taught stroke, you have to agree that most of them still do a diamond kick and 75% of them don't even teach dorsi flexion properly).

However, I am very sad to see that the standard has not improve at all. The only changes that are commonly seen at pool now compared to previously are not technical changes to the kids' strokes or an update in the coaches' knowledge of proper swimming techniques. In fact, the changes are just coaches carrying more and more tools to the pool to facilitate practice of the Test, and also the kids doing more and more wrong strokes because fundamentals are not taught properly causing the mistakes to be brought forward to one stroke and another.

First of all, I am only a NCAP Level 1 (there are total of 3 levels) NROC swim coach and Lifesaving Instructor (lowest level of teaching cert) and by fundamentals, I really meant the most basic and general physic/rules of water works. I implement them throughout all my swim classes regardless of levels of performance expected.

By fundamentals, I meant:

1) Head position and its effect on body position in water (streamlining, horizontal bod position)
2) Inhalation and exhalation and conscious relaxation
3) Sculling - Fundamental of propulsion in water
4) Stroke rhythm - e.g: Pull->Kick->Glide for Breaststroke; Upon entry of one arm, the other arm exit for Backstroke
5) Ankle flexion for different strokes
6) Proper recovery techniques
7) Cause and Effects of drag
8) Basic reasoning for items performed in the pool, especially for Lifesaving techniques.

All of the above are the most, repeat: MOST fundamentals of water works for without any of the above, the kid just cannot swim efficiently.

The coaches reluctant to changes often gets enraged in such discussion by saying:

"Bro, we're not teaching competitive swimmers leh."
OR
"Bro, you teach HORlympic Swimmers is it?"
OR
"Bro, the parents keep wanting the kids to go test, just pass to you and you quickly pass them for me la"
OR
"Bro, you stupid la.. why go and focus so much? Can move in water from 1 end to another can liao"
OR
"Bro, there are some things YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND... we must have a standard.. and here, we're just teaching KIDS how to swim.. don't need to go so in depth la"

I mean, SERIOUSLY, if you don't go in depth now, when then go in depth? You expect them to drop into the sea and drown once then get resuscitated and come back to you and say "eh.. i think the things you taught before not good enough leh.. i almost drown leh.." and you reply "ah.. don't worry, last time you kid ma so cannot teach you too much details so now you come back i teach you how to swim PROPERLY ok?"..

And come on, if you call what I mentioned above in depth, you might as well go retake your swimming instructor license.

There is no difference in Competitive swim strokes and Non Competitive swim strokes. The only difference is that one is swam at a higher intensity than the others.

Do you call the people who jog in the park as JOGGERS but those who run slightly faster RUNNERS? Seriously?
So what do you call those who swim at a leisure pace?

There is only "strugglers" and swimmers in water, the difference is that the former have a diagonal to vertical body position in water and the latter has a near horizontal body position. One is splashing all around and creating loads of bubbles in the water while pulling/kicking, the other is gliding through the water effortlessly.

Effortless, is the key to leisure swim/run/cycling/walking isn't it? Unless you are telling me that you walk with your toes to make it more leisure and walk with the whole feet when you want to walk faster in a walking competition.. cycle with one leg to make it more effortless cos only work one leg and cycle with both legs if you want to go faster in a cycling competition.

You don't alter the techniques to do a leisure effort of exercise, especially in the case of water works because of the density of water and the drag caused by inability to streamline.

Last but not least regarding stroke techniques imparting. Yes, they are kids but it is UP TO YOU as the COACH/TEACHER to find ways to express your points to the student so they can understand and absorb your knowledge. The age groups are to be chosen by YOU YOURSELF and if you choose one group that you can't manage to impart what you feel and learnt about swimming then you're simply being IRRESPONSIBLE and MONEY MINDED.

Inability to express your teaching to the different/lower age group does not automatically give you the right to discount what the students need to know about the fundamentals of water works even if the students are of low age.

---------------------------------------

Back to the co testing formula. I only test students from Sam's dad and Sam herself. Sometimes, we do teach together but I make sure that I let Sam test those I am in charge of and I test those she is in charge of. Some sabotages have been attempted and threats have come to me that we may get complaints if we test our own students.

My reasonings:

1) Sam and I teach together but she has her own level and I have my own level of students. We only pass students to each other when they are ready for the next level and once passed over, they are no longer handled by the previous teacher and thus getting tested by a "ex" teacher doesn't sound like "testing my own student" at all.

2) No offence but if you can't swim better, teach better and know better than what I know about swimming, I will not let what I taught go to waste by getting them to be tested by you and still paying you because you will simply NOT APPRECIATE WHAT I'VE IMPARTED TO MY DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS.
Sam herself undergo a LOT of preaching from me and I constantly updates her and ensure she understands the concept behind proper water work. And teaching together allows us to learn from each other and implement our consistency and insistency in fundamentals of water work across all ages. Other than her, I do not entrust my students to others, also because if she passed any of them who didn't perform well, I WILL FAIL THEM PERSONALLY WHEN PREPARING THE CERTIFICATES TOGETHER. No reluctancy or hesitance.

I have seen so many tests being carried out and some of them are really just going through the motions. The reason being the instructors/testers can be friends and integrity seem to be hard to find in most cases when monetary rewards are involved in the testing directly to the tester himself from the testees.

It is sad to see that happening and while some do uphold their standards in swim testing, it is hard to say that most have changed the way they view teaching swimming/water work is a neutral topic in itself that spreads across the board for kids versus adults and leisure swimming versus competitive swimming.

I write this post fully with my own enraged opinion because the supposedly improved system does not preach deep enough to the mindset of the coaches but implemented the system as "just another change, a little bit more major in the syllabus that's all.".

To me, the kid come to you for swim lesson, to learn the work of survivorship in water and this is probably the last lesson he or she is going to take for the rest of his or her life. If you do not teach him or her properly, then she'll be entrusted with a flawed technique that will complicate if emergency does arises and panic sets in that causes tension throughout the body and mind.

Egoistic as this post can be, the number of 'I's I've used, I teach to impart skills that last a life time through ensuring of proper understanding of water physic and works. I teach to ensure that when they meet a danger in life in the water aspects, they remember "TEACHER KK AND SAM TOLD ME TO KEEP MY CHIN TUCKED IN AND MY HEAD UNDER THE WATER SUBMERGED SO I WILL FLOAT PROPERLY TIL HELP ARRIVES"--- whatever age they took swimming from me til the day they die. That's one of my basic principle in this profession of mine.

Regards,
KK

09032011 Swim Squad

Jaslynn:
Problem 1:
Entry too deep... The deep entry has caused the whole arm to be pierced straight into the water downwards and causing the frontal area to be sooo much bigger with the front of your arms that you’re coming to a complete stop each time you do an entry…
Aim for-
Wrist deep entry, then extend arm fully just 10cm beneathe the surface and keep it there until catch starts. Be BRUTALLY HONEST with yourself during practice and DO NOT DO ONE PRACTICE WITHOUT CHECKING REALTIME as you do.. It is the only way to practice.

Problem 2:
Left arm drops down or skates to the side when breathing on the right...
Aim for-
Keep the shoulder and upper arm in contact with the side of your head when you breathe

Problem 3:
Kick got a lot of knee bend...
Aim for-
Keep legs straight and kick from the hip flexor and glutes. Remember your flutter kicks on the dry land.

Special note for Jassss baby:
Competitiveness is GOOD. Be competitive in your stroke. OUTDO ME. That's your aim by end of year. I started swimming 4 yrs back and I learnt by catch 4 weeks back. You started swimming when 10 yrs back. Should be an easy feat eh? Come on... PUMP IT UP!!!

Ebnu:
Problem 1.1:
Late entry, extended arm before entering water caused forearm pressing down on the water upon entering water
Problem 1.2:
This is compounded by problem 1… because of the late entry (after the extension of arm above water), you’re not able to make use of the pressing down of chest with the extension of the arm in the water.

Aim for-
Entry immediately once the hand passes the forehead. Extension occurs only after wrist is in the water, i.e. the elbow is still flexed when the wrist is in the water already.

Problem 2:
Scissors kick, caused by not connecting the torso and the thighs as a plank when twisting the hip.
Aim for-
Move the torso and the legs as one entity using the hip to coordinate and synchronize. This can be done also with a better and continuous flutter kick instead of a 2 beat kick.. however I will not recommend the continuous flutter kick option because then you’re avoiding the root problem of not being able to control the torso and legs together at the same time.

Special note for Ebnu:
The entry problem is your only hindrance to a smooth and really good stroke now Ebnu… If you can iron that out with short laps and very VERY honest and conscious awareness, you will definitely become a better than average swimmer after getting this corrected. You seem to understand the deeper meaning of swimming that I’ve been sharing and it has shown in your swim progress, I am truly impressed tonight for how far you’ve came by despite the busy work schedules.. keep it up!

Musaic:
Problem 1.1:
Late entry, extended arm before entering water caused forearm pressing down on the water upon entering water
Problem 1.2:
This is compounded by problem 1… because of the late entry (after the extension of arm above water), you’re not able to make use of the pressing down of chest with the extension of the arm in the water.

Aim for-
Entry immediately once the hand passes the forehead. Extension occurs only after wrist is in the water, i.e. the elbow is still flexed when the wrist is in the water already.

Special note for Mu:
Your problem is kind of more serious than your daddy because you always seem to be swimming at a higher intensity/speed/power than normal due to the lack of pacing experience. As spoken, you need to work more diligently on the front part of the stroke!

Calvin:
Problem 1: 
Shoulder flexibility is the number 1 barrier.. You dropped your head down all the time because of 1, the tension on your neck and lower back if you keep it up and also the shoulder’s tension that makes recovery a tad more difficult than you thought it should be. Correct me if I’m wrong… that is just an observation from myself and also my shifu that china lifeguard who clocks 1:10 something for his 100m… :P

Aim for-
Google for pectoral stretches and shoulder stretches and follow religiously everyday. The Health requirement for general population in terms of flexibility is to stretch EVERY DAY holding each stretch for 30to60seconds. Now, we’re athletes, shouldn’t we do more than that? 

Special note for Cal:
Your catch, fast push and glide has been working out really well! I guess the ability to stay on your side and glide and your patience to do those things slowly (or slacker instinct ? :P) have been really really helpful!

Samantha:

Problem 1: 

Recovery was not with high elbow.

Aim for-

As you recover, bring your elbow out of water first instead of your hand/fingers, dragging the thumb alongside your body.. very close.. like when you flare out your thumb, it should glide on your body. Drop the wrist into the water just in front of the forehead.

Problem 2: 

Hip twist is not sharp enough to coordinate with your fast push.

Aim for-

Sharper hip twist and more core work. You know what to do smart coach girl.

Special note for Samsam:

The catch was well performed and at certain times of the swim, you’ve shown pretty good glimpse of a Kenneth-ish glide strokes especially in those where you delayed the catch to get a good hold and push back hard with a well timed hip twist. Keep up the good work and keep thinking when you swim!

Genevieve:
Problem 1: 
Didn’t allow enough time for the forward movement in water to work to its potential. Not gliding enough?

Aim for-
0.5 Seconds more glide in each arm stroke. Stretching your arm forward for that extra inch each time you enter the water will help get you that 0.5seconds. Reason is when you accelerate in the water with the push, your body will move forward at a surge (peak speed) for a short period of time before slowing down. However short that period of time before slowing down is, you’re not allowing the body to move forward with that speed for long enough and you’re rushing to start the next stroke which will start with a deceleration phase.

Special note for gen:
Work on shoulder flexibility and better recovery posture. Shoulder injury is soon on its way again if you keep swimming that way and combines it with running or badminton.

Yukari San:
Problem 1: 
Fingers are opened when you pull….. grrrr…. :P

Aim for-
Use rubber bands to tie your fingers together and swim! Haha.. kidding la.. remember to feel if your fingers are touching each other side by side… If they’re not, close them together! =)

Problem 2: 
Recovery is too outward swinging, made it look a little like butterfly! This means time wasted on the recovery because the hand takes a longer time (longer distance when its in an arc) to get back to the front and it also mean that the arm will be chopping in from the side instead of slicing through from the forehead onwards.

Aim for-
As you recover, bring your elbow out of water first instead of your hand/fingers, dragging the thumb alongside your body.. very close.. like when you flare out your thumb, it should glide on your body. Drop the wrist into the water just in front of the forehead.

Special note for Yukari:
Very fast and very smooth swim overall! Maybe it’s the swimmer background, but I credit it to your ability to understand and apply what you learnt into practice! Loads of gliding and I can see you’re really feeling the catch and resistance at the front of the pull and your accelerated push is really getting you to thrust forward quite a fair bit! You were just 1 body length behind me in that last lap! I sense a threat and I must work harder~~~ =pppp

Saori Chan:
Problem 1: 
I don’t see any problem with your strokes…………. Except when you breathe, your right arm tend not to push until it is straighten… that’s why left arm pull glide more than right arm pull… need to make them same same okay? =)

Aim for-
Make sure you straighten that right arm pull as you take in your breathe… and… Keep up the good work my dear. =)

Special note for “SOURY” san:
It is my honour to have a student like you… You’ve came very far with what you had initially in the class with Kei… I remembered you had problem understanding what I was talking about.. even until now which makes this feat of yours (being able to swim so well with a stroke that makes SOO many of them adults go WOOWWW…) very applausible! *Clap clap clap*.. I hope you will always continue swimming and reach greater heights in swim and triathlon! =)

Benjamin:
Problem 1: 
Left arm is not doing what the right arm is able to do. The catch is a little screwed, the recovery was a little messed up and the push lacks a little bit of power compared to the right. Since swimming needs you to propel with both arms, this imbalance has caused your stroke to go out of rhythm each time you swim longer laps (more than 50).

Aim for-
Put more HONEST and CONSCIOUS attention everytime you do your left arm ENTRY to END OF PUSH. To make things easier to learn, you have to slow down your swim on your own before you start to swim faster again.

Problem 2: 
You keep your head very high above the water when you’re doing a moderate effort swim. To make matter worst, your kick is not firing at all when you keep a high head position when you’re doing a moderate effort swim, that high head position doomed your hip position and your legs are just dragging like 16inches underneath the surface.

Aim for-
The ears and back of your head should feel submerged when doing slow swim. When you look in front, you have to put in MORE effort to press your chest down so your whole head is still submerged.

Special note for Ben:
I see a very very bright future in you doing sprint events if you can swallow that urge to go fast and powerful right now and work on your finesse. Your skills are the one that will bring you far, the stronger you get without a good position in the water, you’re only going to become more hindrance to your own power because of the density of water. I hope you do more slow swim making sure your bottom is ALWAYS on the surface on all laps. Do not slack for even 1 lap for the bottom to drop and you do it with lesser kicks, not more.

Teck Beng:
Problem 1: 
Your persistent work on the technique aspect of the stroke at slow speed has hindered your transition to fast stroking. The coordination is just very rusty because of the lack of speed work.

Aim for-
As the saying goes, if you want to be fast, you have to practice fast. As you can see from my very own production, it is not smooth at all because I was just not used to doing such high rep pulls and kicks for a prolonged period of time. And that in itself is a flaw to our highly precise piece of work. As spoken, build in speed sets of 25 or 50m once in awhile.. do 20x50 and mix and match a barrage of 25 or 50m fast swim reps while ensuring stroke integrity. As long as you inject enough rest (active or stationary doesn’t matter), you will be fine.

Problem 2:
Your long armS tend to be lazy on the push and didn’t straight all the way. It is vital to have a good follow through so that the force can be exerted backwards fully without any restrictions from your own movement.

Aim for-
Straighten your arms fully at the power phase.. Do not rush to exit and recover. =)

Problem 3:
Your left arm catch tend to have a dropped elbow.

Aim for:
Bilateral breathing… Go tame that dragon. =)

Special note to TB:
It is almost there. Keep working on it. I’m working on it too. Am proud to say we have the most “textbook” strokes in the team… our left arm sucks at the same time though. Hahaha.. Mine’s improving quite a bit cos I can breathe bilaterally now… The earlier you tackle it, the faster your improvements will come. Tip on left breathing: turn your head to the sky, not the side; exhale immediately when you finish inhaling, do not hold your breathe…. Jiayou! =)

Yasmin:
Problem 1: 
Your entry is always very controlled. Such that when you enter the water with your hands already, there is a jerk-extend-jerk-full extension kind of phase. It is very very jerky. This jerky recovery and entry has caused you to stop accelerating and gliding to your full potential because of the force put forward by your jerky motions.

Aim for:
Smooth and slick slicing motion. Fingers in, wrist deep, extend arm underneath the water like you’re wearing a long sleeve shirt… All in 1 slick motion. To make things even better, time the extension together with the push on the opposite arm to get a maximum glide! Again, too much control is no good, you have to work on it to make it naturally smooth!

Special note to Yas:
As far as tolerating a very irritating coach goes, you’re doing an extremely good job. I need you to do an even greater job so you can compete well in your age group. You can swim so well your physique is a great advantage over those at your age. Work diligently, for a hot bod when you grow up or for simply health reason or even bragging rights to your friends! I look forward to seeing your improvement in leaps and bounds in the upcoming lessons!

Meher:
Problem 1.1: 
You’re entering with an already extended arm much like Mr Ebnu’s. Late entry, extended arm before entering water caused forearm pressing down on the water upon entering water
Problem 1.2: 
This is compounded by problem 1… because of the late entry (after the extension of arm above water), you’re not able to make use of the pressing down of chest with the extension of the arm in the water.

Aim for-
Entry immediately once the hand passes the forehead. Extension occurs only after wrist is in the water, i.e. the elbow is still flexed when the wrist is in the water already.

Special note to “MyHair”:
Congratulations to your Milo Try-athlon feat! Coming up first for your age group for swim and bike then finishing bravely for 4th in your run. That is just Amazing for a kid at your age. Work on the technique part and your fitness will bring you to great heights!!! Keep the interest and passion burning… don’t let it fade! =) Uncle KK feels your excitement each time you swim with me… keep it up!=)

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Before I end the post, I’d like to share this story that a world class swim coach shared with me before in a seminar. He is currently coaching an Australian national team breaststroker. I shall not name him as I do not wish to be charged for copyrighting of any sort..

Under this coach, there was 2 girl swimmers. Both at age of 8.5 yrs old. We’ll call them girl A and girl B.

Girl A is very competitive and always training very very hard in the pool and no matter what the coach said about her techniques, she did not put into heart but continued swimming using a lot of force.

That has led her to a very very successful competitive career at the age of 10-14 years old as her forceful swim has gotten her an extremely well developed physique compared to her peers of the same age.

At the same time, Girl B was losing on every single event… at the back stage, she was working really hard with the coach to correct her techniques. Each time, she’d lose out by a fair bit because her physique are just not as well developed. However, she kept at it and by age 15, she finally had her late height spurt and her muscular features are getting more defined.

This time round, both Girl A and B have advanced from the children category to the youth category. Swimmers at this age are all more or less muscularly developed and Girl A who seemingly won all the competition in the children categories, started to lag very very far behind. Girl B, on the other hand, are starting to get podium finishes.

Feeling frustrated, Girl A worked even harder in the pool and clocked up to 75km per week in the pool. On one national competition, both of them qualified for the final heat. Girl B finished 1st, beat Girl A hands down and Girl A did not manage to even get a podium finish. Girl A burnt out at the end and stopped competing, Girl B is still winning championships right now as I typed this out.

The reason is simple. Kids develop at different ages and some develops faster while some are late bloomers. When they join competition with similar age groupers, especially the very very young ones will definitely have a very obvious advantage if they’re more physically developed.

Girl A found success with her flailing freestyle because she grew up physically faster than the rest of the same age and ignored the technique aspect of swimming.

As they grew older and advanced to the older groups, the physical advantage will be more or less balanced out and the one final aspect that will give you the true advantage will be how efficient and economical your stroke is.

Swimming, being the finesse sport that it is, if techniques are not properly imparted to the swimmers at young age with strict discipline, the bad habits are going to stay for life.

And not only does the bad habit stays, but as you get more and more obsessed with training up your power and strength and endurance while neglecting your technique, all those power will turn against you in the way of drag and resistance underwater thus compounding the situation even further.

We coaches have to be extremely responsible for these stages of maturity and development when we coach our kids...

For us adults, we have to learn that as we age gracefully, the absolute power will sooner or later be loss, it is the efficiency that will ultimately buy us our bragging rights so its better to work our ass off your stroke now than let people laugh at us when our power fail us and we look more like drowning than swimming yup. =)

Cheers
KK

02032011 swim squad

Apologies for the late update.. been hit by the flu virus and really tired lately to crank up something constructive.

Swim squad was really easy and it was again about doing the catch -- pull -- push sequence right. This time, I added a little speed work to it to make things slightly more challenging but ironically, easier to achieve. Before I start the nagging and stuffs, I am gonna do some blabbering about my coaching development thus far as I felt that this is a breakthrough period for myself both as a coach and as a swimmer.

I noticed that when we go through 1 phase of super theoretical lesson, we should follow up with one that exercises a lot of control over our movements.. repeat them at torturing slow speed to ensure accuracy.. then (with trust and by faith) hoping that they did go home to think about what we went through.. we follow up again with one that does not control the effort of swim to smoothen out the stroke parts we changed.


Very often, swimming skills have to be taught and imparted by FEEL, not just by theory and practices. That is a skill that I pride myself with as a coach (I believe there are also many coaches out there who teach like this and have met success) and I firmly believe that when we impart by guiding them to feel what is correct, one can pick up what may seem like a skill that only talented sportsmen can have.


More often than not I see coaches at pool asking children to go up and down the pool with their board in weird awkward positions that does not teach them how to make use of water to give them buoyancy.. and when their boards are taken away from them, they do not know how to activate "pressing on their build-in buoy" to help them stay afloat.


I also see very loud coaches who just kept shouting at their kids for doing something that seem like an easy feat for the coach but the kid just have no idea what in the hell are the coach trying to achieve with THAT KID'S LIMBS. Seriously, get them to feel what you feel, and you'll get them to do what you want them to do surprisingly quick. Of course it is not easy as every unique individual perceives differently a same logic/thought.. and as kids, their logic may be limited at that very moment just like we are right now and need time. We have to be patient with the slow learners, but firm with the players.


By teaching, I have also developed a keen sense of feel when watching somebody execute a movement or skill to see if it is coordinated and followed through in the correct force output direction. Being a late bloomer in swimming also allowed me to relate to these learners how they feel when they do a certain thing wrongly. And that has helped me in turn to impart a skill very quickly to adults and children alike.

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Moving on to the swim squad training's focus...

It has been quite a while since they have experienced some breakthroughs in speed and stroke length.. And isn't it unbelievable that some of them are making improvements like a 12 seconds improvements in 2 days time just because he finally FEEL what i'm trying to impart?

Developing a feel for all movements sports is important, and it is even MORE critical in movements in water. The single reason being we're suspended in the water with nothing to plant our limbs on to exert force in whichever direction we want to go.

That has directly resulted in a fact that a difference in pitch angles of your palm facing backwards even in a small degree can cause a drastic change in the amount of water you can "grab and hold" throughout your arm stroke.

Yes, I meant throughout the WHOLE arm stroke, FROM ENTRY TO EXIT, we have to be mindful of how our palms are placed relative to the direction we're moving and also our body position because of our limited joints R.O.M..

In addition to how the palms are facing backwards, we have to actually ensure the speed of the pull is in the right sequence -- start slow til catch --> gradually build up speed at in sweep --> limb movements speed drop a little then explode backwards with the up sweep twice as fast as the catch.

While controlling the limb velocity, we need also to control the direction of the force applied. Do not confuse this with the palm facing directions. Even with the palm facing parallel backwards you can still apply force to the side using your forearms if you choose to do so by simply moving the limbs slightly to the wrong directions.

Having said the above, it is such a intricate matter that one has to put in the practice consciously and with top grade awareness before he or she can feel what's possible to be compromised towards his R.O.M and also what cannot be compromised in the stroke but need to work on the flexibility or strength conditioning.

What we did in the swim squad was simple. Using stroke count versus timing to gauge if you can get more out of the same number of stroke counts. We first get the minimum number of strokes one can get without kicking.

The reason I choose to do it without kicking is because the human nature is to use the kick to help flotation but the correct way to keep one's hips afloat and the body hugging the surface even with limb movements is to press on the buoy and use the core muscles in the back (erector spinae, glutes, hamstrings, calves) to do an Isometric hold while we stroke.

Then we aim to get a faster timing with the exact number of strokes by focusing on grabbing more water at the front end with a slower movement and end with a stronger push. Most were able to squeeze about 3-4 of seconds out of the harder push...

Then we allow a slightly higher number of pulls and hope to achieve 10 seconds lesser with 2 strokes more (still without the kick). It is of course impossible but saying that gives an idea of how hard we're really trying to get a good grip of water before we can do anything about moving the water backwards to travel frontwards. Most shaved about 6 seconds off their usual hard swim without kick timing AND PEOPLE ARE STILL ABLE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT TIREDNESS - which means they're not really tired....

Then we compare against a flat out sprint and most were able to get another 6-7 seconds less with a huge increase in stroke rate and kicks..

Then we justify if the 7 seconds per lap multiplied by 30 to give a 1.5km distance will give a 210 seconds saving (3mins+) and finish the swim extremely tired with still bike and run to go... doesn't really sound right.

So we concluded that we should work towards perfecting that hard glide effort of swim instead of flat out sprints for triathlons because that is just not what is required of triathlons. We have to be able to get AS MUCH TIME OUT AS POSSIBLE with the most efficient stroke we can afford.

That efficiency comes by first maintaining good lateral/streamline body position, TREMENDOUS good feel of gripping the water at the front end of the stroke and a powerful push phase at the last part of the arm stroke.. and excellent muscular control to immediately let go and relax the EPICALLY powerful pushing arm for a tofu like recovery.. and lastly good core strength to rotate the hip to the other side to repeat the process again and again And Again.

Enjoy the mind boggling week guys. Check my facebook status if you wish to know more Details about the pull. DISCUSS among yourself in facebook THEN ASK ME. I don't wanna repeatedly explain the same thing again and again.. too painful on my brain to even digest that shit when i'm sick.

Peace,
KK