Time: 3.10PM (Marianne, don't speed please.. just don't keep using the brakes.. :P)
Venue to meet: BAO JIN TIAN, Food republic
ETA Beach: 3.30
Training starts: 3.40PM
Duration: 2hrs Max.
Things to bring:
1) Open mind to share, learn, overcome fear in open water *AND FISHES.... *
2) Courage to challenge ideas.
3) BRIGHTLY COLORED caps.
4) Vaseline optional
5) Bathing stuffs
6) Swim/Tri suits
7) Goggles
8) Running shoes *yes.. we'll be doing some runs after that.. :)* Since we're at the beach.. might as well do some strengthening work on the sand yeah... Hahaha.. maybe we'll just do transitions.
9) Anything else you please to bring. Matt??
SMS me direct at 81800621 to confirm attendance.
Confirmed personnels:
1) Me
2) Sam
3) Gen
4) Lawrence
5) Marianne
6) Wilson
Cheers
KK
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Sam's Review on previous training.... + MY reviews!
I felt crappy at the start due to post-running aches.. however, I’m glad I
braved through it.. I was surprised at how I could push myself for 5 x 100m set.
I’m pretty sure my focus on ‘reaching’ n ‘feeling’ every single stroke worked. I
felt my stroke lengthened and increase in ‘power’ from each of them. My timings
were 2:03, 2:07, 2:02, 1:57, 1:58. Quite impressed at the ‘built’ pattern
myself..
Overall, felt some improvement in terms of body control.
Even though side kicking still tire my legs out easily, I felt I was more
stable. Kicking wise, I did consciously try to avoid kicking from the knee but
like u say, it still wasn’t straight enough and not enough power was generated
from them. I know my legs are bad and so this is one area I really need to work
on.
Also, bad news was during the training, I felt an awkward
discomfort in my left shoulders and back. And true enough, it became worst after
I pushed myself during the 5 x 100m, couldn’t lift my head to breathe for
any stroke I tried to swim during the warm down. :S.. Lesson learnt everyone,
don’t be like me! Technique is very important or else u would end up with
injuries(I used to pull by shrugging my shoulders and not rotating my hips
enough) like me.
Samsam
Well, Let me go through 1 by 1.
James...
WELCOME TO SAPPHIRE SWIMMERS!!! =)
When I first saw your swim, I knew you practiced and learnt Total Immersion somewhere.. because I was there at your same stage couple of years back... Don't worry too much about your swim... My advice goes as per follow:
1) Ditch those nose clips, use your own air instead, practice breathing out from the nose.
2) Ditch those ear plugs, triathlon is gay enough to be in a enclosed and rather controlled environment to compete in, lets not make it worse.. (If you think its tough, go google XTERRA races) :), Anyway, the main point is, after swimming for long enough, and your breathing becomes smoother, there will not be build up of pressures in your head and body as a whole..Also, the movement will get smoother and water will more or less stop sipping in.
3) Work on your breathing, Continuous gaseous exchange is a MUST. DON'T EVER HOLD BREATHE! *check gen's write up below.*
Lawrence...
I think you're really doing very well so far.. The only thing I'd love to see you change is your pull... Well, I shan't repeat the 500words of write up that includes the following three words..
"Don't"
"Cross"
"Center"
....Well, You get the flow..... :D
Marianne...
I hope your question was answered just now in the swim session.. I thought you were gliding really well when I was giving you cue side by side as you swam. What do you think? I bet you felt very awkward.. but like i said, we're not fishes.. Swimming are not suppose to NOT feel awkward unless you practice it til it's ingrained in your nervous system just like how you pick up the cup and place the lid on your mouth and just pour the water into your mouth and swallow... :) I thought the breathing is better, but still its a little on the high side....
SamSam...
GREAT work on your swim.. I thought you swim Extraordinarily nice in the swim training session... peer pressure to look good as a coach DOES work eh? hee hee HEE... *My master plan is working...... :P*
Anyway, breathing is Completely too high tonight for 75% of the swim... Need to keep the ears on your shoulder la...
Gen,
Lack of rotation and holding of breathe (yes, when I was talking to wilson and james, I saw you doing that on your warm up and your 300m swim... Don't ask me how, maybe I got 10 pair of eyes...) when you swim your first 8 to 12 strokes is good for streamlining IF you're doing 50m sprints.. but if that's what you're training for then you probably shouldn't be in this swim squad liao right.... CHANGE LA!
Go ask your sister how to use your back muscles to pull by rotation.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST... BREATHING IS WAY OFF... FREAKING FREAKING HIGH CANNNN *SCREEEEEEAAAAAAMMMMMMMZZZ*
*Phew..*
Wilson...
Ahh.. I can't say enough how pleased I am of your progress.. Keep working on that side kicking drill to strengthen your core and swimming stabilizer muscles.. Work on your pull (remember the puppet thingy I showed you... ).. and you'll definitely be flying in no time. Also, next time, try 2 beat power kicks from your hips, don't do high frequency mini kicks like now.. :)
------------------------------------
Some pointers for all of you.
1) DRILLS are repetition of Part(s) of a Correct stroke/skill. It teaches your body what is correct and teaches your body to hold that position (in this case of swimming...)... So for example when you do a side kicking with extended arm drill and rotation without hip sinking.. PLEASE.. always think about how you can apply it to your normal swim... and with that feeling you gain from the drill, APPLY IT TO YOUR SWIM!
With the feelings and knowledge of the position you gained from doing the drills (pressing the chest down.. reaching and extending the spine.. etc..).. if you don't apply it in your normal swim, it'll be like having butter and bread but you don't put the butter onto the bread to make it taste better... I hope you get what I'm trying to say.
---- My fav. qn and phrase.. "Who don't understand??.. quick say now.. then I'll explain again...don't worry..."---
2) If you see my stroke got something weird, PLEASE tell me also... Don't be afraid to correct the coach! Swimming strokes are still changing even as we are talking right now. Just bring it up and discuss.. I'm very VERY open to such things... Ego and pride is definitely not an issue to me. I'm an addict to improvements... and will DO ANY THING to get tips.. ask sam, she know how obsessed I was.. asking every single person for tips when I was picking up swimming.. From the pros to the noobs.. I don't care.. because everyone's perception is different.. I believe even from the kids who knows nothing, sometimes I will hear enlightening words that I can apply to training. An open mind and heart to learn is KEY to improvement!:)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tonight's training not really worth mentioning but for record sake, we did about 900m of swim.
Followed by Porpoising (Its pronounced as "POR-PURSE".. http://forvo.com/word/porpoise/)
and then sighting.. and turning around a buoy.
Personal opinion... For core's sake.. we Need to do more butterfly........ --> Sam, Marianne and Lawrence will go "NOOOOOO..."
Cheers
Sado Maso KK.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Swim Squad 23/12/09
Swim details:
Warm up:
300m Easy FS
2x(50m Kick, 50m Pull)
1x 50m Kick with Rotation (right)
1x 50m Kick with Rotation (left)
Main Set
6x50 (2xEMH, no rest)
1min rest
5x100 (20sec rest after last person reach)
1min rest
6x50 (2xEMG, no rest)
Cooldown:
200m Easy Mixed
---------------------------------------
KK:
6x50: 5min55
5x100m:
1) 1:41
2) 1:46
3) 1:48
4) 1:44
5) 1:39
6x50: 6min18
------------------------------------------
Stroke Review:
Gen
1) When breathing, head lifts too high and hips sink too much and thus the drag is causing a huge slowdown in gliding velocity.
2) Kicks too much bending from the knee, especially during breathing.
3) Both arms are not going deep enough... too near to surface, resulting in a "upsloping" body position and thus hips drop.
Sam
1) Exactly the same as Gen..
2) See la.. injured already.. told you cannot lift head up to breathe.. when you do it soooooo many times over many many laps of training, injury sure set in one...... sigh.
Lawrence
1) During hard effort swim and when fatigue sets in, old habit of pulling across center axis of body occur again.
2) Non breathing side hand dragging on water surface due to insufficient rotation.
3) It is a good effort swim. Understand you're still trying to change the habits and thus the strokes are still "unconsistent"....
4) We should meet up for a 1 to 1 swim session some day then I can help you further with the techniques!
Marianne
1) Head too high when breathing and DID NOT return to deep position after breathing.
2) Take note that your problem is different from Sam and Gen who's Lifting their head up to breathe.. yours is caused by a upward rotation which causes the head to glide up high on the surface. Can ask me again and I'll show you on water during next session.
3) Important to take note to go back to streamlined position after breathing. Ideally, of course its better to not brake the surface too much while breathing.
Weihan
1) After the warmup slow swim, ALL SWIM ARE WITH A HIGH HEAD POSITION.
2) Take a look at your daddy's swim, and DO NOT FOLLOW HIS SWIMMING...... You look exactly like him right now in your swim and as a result, the hips are dropping.. Once you correct this, I reckon you can be MUCH faster than LawLaw with the same effort.
Last but not least...............
I noticed you guys don't like to drink water during training......
Is it because of lack of rest time?? Is 1 minute between sets not enough for drinking??? zzz.....
EVERYBODY..............................................
DRINK MORE WATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DO I NEED TO POST A PROVEN RESEARCH TO SHOW THE IMPORTANCE OF EFFECTS OF HYDRATION OVER PREVENTION OF CRAMPS???
*Phew*..
Waiting for your email on YOUR reviews.
Will post it up once you send to me. Last one to finish writing will treat drinks yah.
kekekee...
Cheers
KK
PS: Please note I am organizing an OPEN WATER swim session next Friday.
Tentatively...
Venue: Sentosa (Tanjong Beach)
Time: Afternoon 3pm to 4.30pm (Heck the sun)..
Post Swim: Dinner? Movie?? You suggest ba.
Warm up:
300m Easy FS
2x(50m Kick, 50m Pull)
1x 50m Kick with Rotation (right)
1x 50m Kick with Rotation (left)
Main Set
6x50 (2xEMH, no rest)
1min rest
5x100 (20sec rest after last person reach)
1min rest
6x50 (2xEMG, no rest)
Cooldown:
200m Easy Mixed
---------------------------------------
KK:
6x50: 5min55
5x100m:
1) 1:41
2) 1:46
3) 1:48
4) 1:44
5) 1:39
6x50: 6min18
------------------------------------------
Stroke Review:
Gen
1) When breathing, head lifts too high and hips sink too much and thus the drag is causing a huge slowdown in gliding velocity.
2) Kicks too much bending from the knee, especially during breathing.
3) Both arms are not going deep enough... too near to surface, resulting in a "upsloping" body position and thus hips drop.
Sam
1) Exactly the same as Gen..
2) See la.. injured already.. told you cannot lift head up to breathe.. when you do it soooooo many times over many many laps of training, injury sure set in one...... sigh.
Lawrence
1) During hard effort swim and when fatigue sets in, old habit of pulling across center axis of body occur again.
2) Non breathing side hand dragging on water surface due to insufficient rotation.
3) It is a good effort swim. Understand you're still trying to change the habits and thus the strokes are still "unconsistent"....
4) We should meet up for a 1 to 1 swim session some day then I can help you further with the techniques!
Marianne
1) Head too high when breathing and DID NOT return to deep position after breathing.
2) Take note that your problem is different from Sam and Gen who's Lifting their head up to breathe.. yours is caused by a upward rotation which causes the head to glide up high on the surface. Can ask me again and I'll show you on water during next session.
3) Important to take note to go back to streamlined position after breathing. Ideally, of course its better to not brake the surface too much while breathing.
Weihan
1) After the warmup slow swim, ALL SWIM ARE WITH A HIGH HEAD POSITION.
2) Take a look at your daddy's swim, and DO NOT FOLLOW HIS SWIMMING...... You look exactly like him right now in your swim and as a result, the hips are dropping.. Once you correct this, I reckon you can be MUCH faster than LawLaw with the same effort.
Last but not least...............
I noticed you guys don't like to drink water during training......
Is it because of lack of rest time?? Is 1 minute between sets not enough for drinking??? zzz.....
EVERYBODY..............................................
DRINK MORE WATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DO I NEED TO POST A PROVEN RESEARCH TO SHOW THE IMPORTANCE OF EFFECTS OF HYDRATION OVER PREVENTION OF CRAMPS???
*Phew*..
Waiting for your email on YOUR reviews.
Will post it up once you send to me. Last one to finish writing will treat drinks yah.
kekekee...
Cheers
KK
PS: Please note I am organizing an OPEN WATER swim session next Friday.
Tentatively...
Venue: Sentosa (Tanjong Beach)
Time: Afternoon 3pm to 4.30pm (Heck the sun)..
Post Swim: Dinner? Movie?? You suggest ba.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Swim training: 16/12/09 !!!!!
Ahh... swim training again!
New boy and girl in town:
WARM WARM WELCOME TO Bryan (a.k.a Phelps) AND Brenda!!! They're brother and sisters, just like weihan and ziting (wondergirl). Very fast young swimmers on the loose~~~ :P
Also, CONGRATULATIONS TO LAWRENCE WHO PASSED THE TIME TRIAL!!!Impressive deed!:)
Worth Mentioning:
Brave person of the night: Bryan, for coming with the TORN HUGE BLISTER ON THE PALM. Admirable, but still, please get the Sodium Chloride and keep it clean every day and night. Infection will make it damn hard to heal. Take care yeap.
Okay... so the night's swim was as follow:
200m warmup (100m only for Wilson)
6 x 50m Pair up(stroke for stroke) swim. (Modified racing, forcing each other to go for same amount of stroke and at same speed)
5 x 50m Drafting, race pace (30sec rest between each)
100m FS Easy drafting
3 x 50m sculling with kicking on the side
3 positions of sculling, 25m for each arm each time.
1- Catch phase, arm extended wrist on top and fingers down
2- End of Pull phase, elbow bent and high, follow straight down by wrist then fingers.
3- End of Push phase, arm extended with hand beside hip.
----------->At all time of sculling, observing palm to be facing back(opposite direction of where you're moving)<-----------
400m Stroke Time Trial Apparently everyone is too tired to remember all 8laps in specific number of strokes, I've jotted down the lowest and highest count for each of them.
Sam
Highest: 43
Lowest: 43
Lawrence
Highest: 52
Lowest: 46
Wilson
Highest: 70++++
Lowest: 54
Marianne
Highest: 55
Lowest: 52
Bryan
Highest: (n.a, blood blister on hand.. altered technique)
Lowest: (n.a, blood blister on hand.. altered technique)
Weihan
Highest: 45
Lowest: 40
Brenda
Highest: 59
Lowest: 48
Ziting
Highest: 56
Lowest: 48
--------------------------
On we go to swim reviews.. but before I start blabbering on everyone there, here is something I wanna tackle as I'm sure it is a question that many of you swimmers out there hope to have answers for.
Question of the night: "Why is it that I am swimming as hard as everyone else and I'm doing more strokes than them, BUT I'M STILL SLOWER?"
From my experience in training && reading && listening && researching && more training (talking to Lawrence made me miss my programmming codes.. && = AND in Java IDE..:P)...
I notice that the following components make up a fast swim.
- Holding a streamlined position
- Effective technique and Power to propel yourself (Water feel for catchind and holding water, plus amount of strength and speed to push water back)
- Ability to hold streamlined position when you're gliding AND when you're doing movements to propel yourself
So if you look at the equation, the simple answer to the question is that you may be lacking power (or don't know how to use them due to bad technique), OR simply the core muscles/stabilizer muscles to be holding your body in a specific position needed to slice through the water cleanly without creating any form of drag, OR you lack BOTH.
To make the choice even simpler....
If you're a rock climber since young, probably you'd be full of power versus your weight, but if you're not, its probably pretty down...
If you've been introduced efficient swimming since young (i.e in a swim club trained by a REAL GOOD COACH who knows his stuffs), you'd be gliding like a fish by now whether you have power or not... but if its no to that again, then technique wise is probably suffering alot.
So, all of you in my training, you know what you're training for already yah... look again in those words in RED FONT. Those are the key to make you a fast swimmer.
---------------------------
Reviews:
Generally:
Judging from the stroke counts of the last 400m. The ones whose technique (regardless whether its good or bad) and form is mature and pretty consistent are Sam, Marianne and Weihan. The difference in the number of strokes in 8 laps (only) despite the cumulated fatigue should be very little because it is a very short distance with no time limit but just a slow swim. Lawrence could almost fall into the category but I did not put him in the consistent label because he is consciously changing his strokes DRASTICALLY NOW and thus it is not possible for him to maintain a "same" stroke throughout any swim.
It is natural for technique to falter and stroke rate to increase in long(er) swims but we should as much as possible keep the stroke rate to be consistent as fatigue increases in any steady state swims (no change in speed). Reason for that is simple. Imagine a scenario where 2 equal strength and fitness athletes (A and B) compete in a swim and run event. Both have equal energy level and everything else but as athlete B starts to get tired in the swim, he neglects his stroke rate and let it rise by 20% per 100m. Over 1.5km swim, his stroke rate would have increased by a whopping 120% per 100m if he starts to get tired at the 800th meter mark. You do your own math to count how many extra pull and kicks he has to do more than athlete A and then who is going to exit the water feeling fresher for the run.
By looking at our per lap stroke count for a specific number of laps, we'll be able to see how much fatigue is affecting our strokes and just how much mental control we're putting into our strokes even when our body are dealing with the lactate and pain.
Individually:
Lawrence:
- Big improvements for the pull (not crossing the central axis that much anymore)
- Timing of pull is off. You start your pull BEFORE recovery arm comes back and pass your forehead. You should wait until your arm recovers pass your forehead before starting the next pull
- Left arm recovery is too close to the surface due to a lack of rotation from right to left AFTER breathing. Left arm will feel strong and efficient because you feel like you can catch more water BUT its really because its creating a lot of drag and the contrast between being able to see the floor move after you breathe, your left arm pull will SEEM to be significantly more powerful than your right arm pull (which you can't see the floor moving after executing the right arm pull because you're breathing)... It really is a misconception. I used to have that too.
Bryan:
- Because of the pain in the palm's open wound, you're NOT able to press the hand down deep enough and thus your hips were SINKING ALL THE TIME!
- I'm impressed by your ability to keep your frustration in kempt as I'd have flared up at myself if I were you.
- Your strokes are still good overall because I've seen you swim all the time and I ain't gonna pass any judgement from this altered stroke of yours that looks like crap tonight. God bless your hand!
Weihan:
- Almost perfect swim, Right entry is too hard, creating a dead spot in an otherwise silky smooth stroke.
- Same problem as ZT too when you're starting your pull... Need to bend the elbow more when you're catching water.
- Pulling with arm only, don't know how to use back muscle. Ask me the next time you swim with me again. I will show you!
- When doing fast swim, the kick still comes out of water TOO MUCH! (Ankle onwards)... keep them down in the water to create propulsion..
Ziting:
- Lack of bend of elbow during start of the pull. Already told you since beginning and even did the sculling drill but you still didn't change during the 400m swim.
- Glad you got someone with same ability as you to train with.. She's next I'm gonna talk abt........
Brenda:
- WAY TOO MUCH KICK... end up always die off in the last few laps even though you could keep up with Ziting! The kick REALLY just burns you up! You have to trust your arms can do a better job as long as they can scull and catch water!
- Save the kick for sprints or when you're attempting to drop people off.. slow/steady state swims should have much lesser kicks than you're doing right now.
- If I were you, I'd really be doing just at most 3kicks / 1pull
- Kicks were NOT COORDINATED/SYNCHRONIZED with your pull! Thats the worst part. You CANNOT just let your leg do ALL THE KICK and then your arm just try to pull some water back and then think they're gonna GEL UP together and work wonderously to push you quickly through the water!!! Lesser, well coordinated kicks + pull will make you a much faster swimmer than now. We'll discuss about that in our lessons k.
Sam:
- Big big improvement in terms of stroke consistency.
- However the extended arm in front still have the tendency to float back up AFTER entry.
- As if floating back up is not bad enough, you have to face your palm to the FRONT! That is a stopping-yourself kind of sculling motion! Damn Wasted can........
- Legs are kicking too wide and too much knee bend still. You need to imagine that you're swimming through a small tunnel!
- Breathing has improved in terms of keeping head half submerged but when out of breathe, need to control more... sometimes still come up very high.
Marianne:
- Left arm snakes towards the center and then out again after entry. Should be going straight in at shoulder width and pierce straight through, don't snake in and out.
- Both arms are not pulling all the way back. Every Freestyle pull should end at the fully extended arm, last sculling position. You end your pull at about 10cm away from the last sculling position, can extend somemore. Do your math, 50pull x 10cm more propulsion, how many strokes lesser? (No prize for getting that right..:P)
- Not used to/lack of gliding. You always bring your arm back from the side to recover and start the next pull without even making use of the propulsion you made fully! Try to slow down the pull turnover rate. Leave your arm by your side after you finish your pull (fully extended) and glide til before you feel your body starts slowing down, and then bring the arm back and start the next pull... repeat the waiting and relaxing process. Don't forget to bubble and keep exchanging air!
*Gliding = moving through the water, without moving ANY PART OF YOUR BODY. A.K.A Free distance.
Wilson:
- When fresh, you can keep up with lawrence's steady swim speed AND stroke count at the stroke-for-stroke swim at the beginning! Really cool as that is how it should feel like or better all the time when you're actually swimming laps! Remember that feeling!
- When tired, you see that your technique falters the worst, 70+++ strokes? simply means hips are dropping, and when I attempted to draft you, I saw your legs are like 50cm in the 1.2m deep water? Imagine the drag. You're Literally dragging your legs along.
- What I see is this problem.. because our body types are quite similar and before I become a fitness instructor/strength trainer, I didn't know about core training too... and I noticed that when I swam longer, fatigue kicks in and even with my arms deep down and pressing on my chest, my hips drop from that (when i'm fresh, first few laps...) fully erected lower back, and hamstring and glutes position. I find that even 3cm of hip drops from the surface makes swimming just THAT much more difficult.
- To remedy, you tried to kick more frequently but the kick came from your knees and not your hips! As such, it created more drag and is not helping at all... I could see all those because I was drafting you for about 20m.
- Do more superman holds of 10 reps of 10seconds on each side.
- When you go holiday and have a chance to swim, Do more kicking on your side and pay ATTENTION to keeping the hips up with minimal kicking. Activate your obliques (side abs) to pull it up.. Keep your arms extended, and when you're extending your arm, THINK and VISUALIZE the arm stretching your chest, abs, then hips and then your legs to a SUPER SRAIGHT position that is LEVEL horizontally in the water.
- Remember: Technique works = more rest, more relaxed swim with ALOT of focus on doing things effortlessly IN THE RIGHT WAY. When its time to swim hard, swim hard, when no one is there to tell you whether you're holding your strokes fortress, then you'd be better off doing things slower and making sure they're correct.
*DEFINITION OF CORE MUSCLES: They're the ones that keep you standing upright and tall, keep your body in a streamline position literally from fingertip to toes.
For those of you who still thinks its the abs only, NOW THINK AGAIN.. YOUR ABS ARE BUT JUST A SMALL piece of muscle with some tendons to separate them into 6/8 PACKS.
The major CORE muscles are below:
Transverse Abdominis, Abs, lower back, Glutes (buttock), Hamstring (back of thigh), and your calves(upper calves) and soleus(lower calves).
-------------------------------------
Finally, people, you know you can find me if you need help on your strokes. I am just one comment (on this blog), or one email away from you! Can call me or text me at 81800621 too. My MSN is rukawa_koh@hotmail.com if you wanna add me up feel free too. I'm all out to share in this tri swim thingy.
Enjoy!
KK
New boy and girl in town:
WARM WARM WELCOME TO Bryan (a.k.a Phelps) AND Brenda!!! They're brother and sisters, just like weihan and ziting (wondergirl). Very fast young swimmers on the loose~~~ :P
Also, CONGRATULATIONS TO LAWRENCE WHO PASSED THE TIME TRIAL!!!Impressive deed!:)
Worth Mentioning:
Brave person of the night: Bryan, for coming with the TORN HUGE BLISTER ON THE PALM. Admirable, but still, please get the Sodium Chloride and keep it clean every day and night. Infection will make it damn hard to heal. Take care yeap.
Okay... so the night's swim was as follow:
200m warmup (100m only for Wilson)
6 x 50m Pair up(stroke for stroke) swim. (Modified racing, forcing each other to go for same amount of stroke and at same speed)
5 x 50m Drafting, race pace (30sec rest between each)
100m FS Easy drafting
3 x 50m sculling with kicking on the side
3 positions of sculling, 25m for each arm each time.
1- Catch phase, arm extended wrist on top and fingers down
2- End of Pull phase, elbow bent and high, follow straight down by wrist then fingers.
3- End of Push phase, arm extended with hand beside hip.
----------->At all time of sculling, observing palm to be facing back(opposite direction of where you're moving)<-----------
400m Stroke Time Trial Apparently everyone is too tired to remember all 8laps in specific number of strokes, I've jotted down the lowest and highest count for each of them.
Sam
Highest: 43
Lowest: 43
Lawrence
Highest: 52
Lowest: 46
Wilson
Highest: 70++++
Lowest: 54
Marianne
Highest: 55
Lowest: 52
Bryan
Highest: (n.a, blood blister on hand.. altered technique)
Lowest: (n.a, blood blister on hand.. altered technique)
Weihan
Highest: 45
Lowest: 40
Brenda
Highest: 59
Lowest: 48
Ziting
Highest: 56
Lowest: 48
--------------------------
On we go to swim reviews.. but before I start blabbering on everyone there, here is something I wanna tackle as I'm sure it is a question that many of you swimmers out there hope to have answers for.
Question of the night: "Why is it that I am swimming as hard as everyone else and I'm doing more strokes than them, BUT I'M STILL SLOWER?"
From my experience in training && reading && listening && researching && more training (talking to Lawrence made me miss my programmming codes.. && = AND in Java IDE..:P)...
I notice that the following components make up a fast swim.
- Holding a streamlined position
- Effective technique and Power to propel yourself (Water feel for catchind and holding water, plus amount of strength and speed to push water back)
- Ability to hold streamlined position when you're gliding AND when you're doing movements to propel yourself
So if you look at the equation, the simple answer to the question is that you may be lacking power (or don't know how to use them due to bad technique), OR simply the core muscles/stabilizer muscles to be holding your body in a specific position needed to slice through the water cleanly without creating any form of drag, OR you lack BOTH.
To make the choice even simpler....
If you're a rock climber since young, probably you'd be full of power versus your weight, but if you're not, its probably pretty down...
If you've been introduced efficient swimming since young (i.e in a swim club trained by a REAL GOOD COACH who knows his stuffs), you'd be gliding like a fish by now whether you have power or not... but if its no to that again, then technique wise is probably suffering alot.
So, all of you in my training, you know what you're training for already yah... look again in those words in RED FONT. Those are the key to make you a fast swimmer.
---------------------------
Reviews:
Generally:
Judging from the stroke counts of the last 400m. The ones whose technique (regardless whether its good or bad) and form is mature and pretty consistent are Sam, Marianne and Weihan. The difference in the number of strokes in 8 laps (only) despite the cumulated fatigue should be very little because it is a very short distance with no time limit but just a slow swim. Lawrence could almost fall into the category but I did not put him in the consistent label because he is consciously changing his strokes DRASTICALLY NOW and thus it is not possible for him to maintain a "same" stroke throughout any swim.
It is natural for technique to falter and stroke rate to increase in long(er) swims but we should as much as possible keep the stroke rate to be consistent as fatigue increases in any steady state swims (no change in speed). Reason for that is simple. Imagine a scenario where 2 equal strength and fitness athletes (A and B) compete in a swim and run event. Both have equal energy level and everything else but as athlete B starts to get tired in the swim, he neglects his stroke rate and let it rise by 20% per 100m. Over 1.5km swim, his stroke rate would have increased by a whopping 120% per 100m if he starts to get tired at the 800th meter mark. You do your own math to count how many extra pull and kicks he has to do more than athlete A and then who is going to exit the water feeling fresher for the run.
By looking at our per lap stroke count for a specific number of laps, we'll be able to see how much fatigue is affecting our strokes and just how much mental control we're putting into our strokes even when our body are dealing with the lactate and pain.
Individually:
Lawrence:
- Big improvements for the pull (not crossing the central axis that much anymore)
- Timing of pull is off. You start your pull BEFORE recovery arm comes back and pass your forehead. You should wait until your arm recovers pass your forehead before starting the next pull
- Left arm recovery is too close to the surface due to a lack of rotation from right to left AFTER breathing. Left arm will feel strong and efficient because you feel like you can catch more water BUT its really because its creating a lot of drag and the contrast between being able to see the floor move after you breathe, your left arm pull will SEEM to be significantly more powerful than your right arm pull (which you can't see the floor moving after executing the right arm pull because you're breathing)... It really is a misconception. I used to have that too.
Bryan:
- Because of the pain in the palm's open wound, you're NOT able to press the hand down deep enough and thus your hips were SINKING ALL THE TIME!
- I'm impressed by your ability to keep your frustration in kempt as I'd have flared up at myself if I were you.
- Your strokes are still good overall because I've seen you swim all the time and I ain't gonna pass any judgement from this altered stroke of yours that looks like crap tonight. God bless your hand!
Weihan:
- Almost perfect swim, Right entry is too hard, creating a dead spot in an otherwise silky smooth stroke.
- Same problem as ZT too when you're starting your pull... Need to bend the elbow more when you're catching water.
- Pulling with arm only, don't know how to use back muscle. Ask me the next time you swim with me again. I will show you!
- When doing fast swim, the kick still comes out of water TOO MUCH! (Ankle onwards)... keep them down in the water to create propulsion..
Ziting:
- Lack of bend of elbow during start of the pull. Already told you since beginning and even did the sculling drill but you still didn't change during the 400m swim.
- Glad you got someone with same ability as you to train with.. She's next I'm gonna talk abt........
Brenda:
- WAY TOO MUCH KICK... end up always die off in the last few laps even though you could keep up with Ziting! The kick REALLY just burns you up! You have to trust your arms can do a better job as long as they can scull and catch water!
- Save the kick for sprints or when you're attempting to drop people off.. slow/steady state swims should have much lesser kicks than you're doing right now.
- If I were you, I'd really be doing just at most 3kicks / 1pull
- Kicks were NOT COORDINATED/SYNCHRONIZED with your pull! Thats the worst part. You CANNOT just let your leg do ALL THE KICK and then your arm just try to pull some water back and then think they're gonna GEL UP together and work wonderously to push you quickly through the water!!! Lesser, well coordinated kicks + pull will make you a much faster swimmer than now. We'll discuss about that in our lessons k.
Sam:
- Big big improvement in terms of stroke consistency.
- However the extended arm in front still have the tendency to float back up AFTER entry.
- As if floating back up is not bad enough, you have to face your palm to the FRONT! That is a stopping-yourself kind of sculling motion! Damn Wasted can........
- Legs are kicking too wide and too much knee bend still. You need to imagine that you're swimming through a small tunnel!
- Breathing has improved in terms of keeping head half submerged but when out of breathe, need to control more... sometimes still come up very high.
Marianne:
- Left arm snakes towards the center and then out again after entry. Should be going straight in at shoulder width and pierce straight through, don't snake in and out.
- Both arms are not pulling all the way back. Every Freestyle pull should end at the fully extended arm, last sculling position. You end your pull at about 10cm away from the last sculling position, can extend somemore. Do your math, 50pull x 10cm more propulsion, how many strokes lesser? (No prize for getting that right..:P)
- Not used to/lack of gliding. You always bring your arm back from the side to recover and start the next pull without even making use of the propulsion you made fully! Try to slow down the pull turnover rate. Leave your arm by your side after you finish your pull (fully extended) and glide til before you feel your body starts slowing down, and then bring the arm back and start the next pull... repeat the waiting and relaxing process. Don't forget to bubble and keep exchanging air!
*Gliding = moving through the water, without moving ANY PART OF YOUR BODY. A.K.A Free distance.
Wilson:
- When fresh, you can keep up with lawrence's steady swim speed AND stroke count at the stroke-for-stroke swim at the beginning! Really cool as that is how it should feel like or better all the time when you're actually swimming laps! Remember that feeling!
- When tired, you see that your technique falters the worst, 70+++ strokes? simply means hips are dropping, and when I attempted to draft you, I saw your legs are like 50cm in the 1.2m deep water? Imagine the drag. You're Literally dragging your legs along.
- What I see is this problem.. because our body types are quite similar and before I become a fitness instructor/strength trainer, I didn't know about core training too... and I noticed that when I swam longer, fatigue kicks in and even with my arms deep down and pressing on my chest, my hips drop from that (when i'm fresh, first few laps...) fully erected lower back, and hamstring and glutes position. I find that even 3cm of hip drops from the surface makes swimming just THAT much more difficult.
- To remedy, you tried to kick more frequently but the kick came from your knees and not your hips! As such, it created more drag and is not helping at all... I could see all those because I was drafting you for about 20m.
- Do more superman holds of 10 reps of 10seconds on each side.
- When you go holiday and have a chance to swim, Do more kicking on your side and pay ATTENTION to keeping the hips up with minimal kicking. Activate your obliques (side abs) to pull it up.. Keep your arms extended, and when you're extending your arm, THINK and VISUALIZE the arm stretching your chest, abs, then hips and then your legs to a SUPER SRAIGHT position that is LEVEL horizontally in the water.
- Remember: Technique works = more rest, more relaxed swim with ALOT of focus on doing things effortlessly IN THE RIGHT WAY. When its time to swim hard, swim hard, when no one is there to tell you whether you're holding your strokes fortress, then you'd be better off doing things slower and making sure they're correct.
*DEFINITION OF CORE MUSCLES: They're the ones that keep you standing upright and tall, keep your body in a streamline position literally from fingertip to toes.
For those of you who still thinks its the abs only, NOW THINK AGAIN.. YOUR ABS ARE BUT JUST A SMALL piece of muscle with some tendons to separate them into 6/8 PACKS.
The major CORE muscles are below:
Transverse Abdominis, Abs, lower back, Glutes (buttock), Hamstring (back of thigh), and your calves(upper calves) and soleus(lower calves).
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Finally, people, you know you can find me if you need help on your strokes. I am just one comment (on this blog), or one email away from you! Can call me or text me at 81800621 too. My MSN is rukawa_koh@hotmail.com if you wanna add me up feel free too. I'm all out to share in this tri swim thingy.
Enjoy!
KK
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Swim Squad: 09/12/09
Dear all, first of all, let us welcome Edmund and Allan Woooooo into our swim squad training! =) They are both my good friends and seniors in terms of swimming age and I have utmost respect for the achievements they have had in their swim time and lifesaving events! I remember when I started swimming 2 yrs back, my 500m time trial was 10:37 and when I heard that Ed's 500m was 9 flat+-10secs, I made sure I work hard enough to be where he is despite I am a short and fat guy compared to him which is a lengthy swimmer bod guy.
Allow me to say that I am privileged to be able to sharing my swim knowledge with them and even have them in our training! Before we go on, let us remind ourselves that fitness is a varying factor in life, you train, you gain fitness together with fatigue, and if you don't train, then fitness will go down the drain.
Speed of a swimmer does not equate to efficiency but the opposite is definitely true. For those who may argue here that "All i need to do is win, so as long as i swim fastest can already, who cares about strokes?". You may be right in the intermediate world of pure swimming. When it comes to multi-sports, every extra stroke you take that is redundant, it'll be a waste of energy. Let us also be reminded that 1.5k of swim/750m swim in the event is but just a small percentage of triathlons or biathlons. You got to know how to swim smart to save legs for the bike and/or run!
Without further ado, the program we did:
Tonight’s Swim (1.5km):
Warmup
200m Easy + (however many Lawrence and Wilson did *admire your hardworking attitude!*)
(As in 4x50m of 3 pull:1 breathe, 5:1, 7:1,9:1)
1X 50m Stroke Count:
Edmund: 45
Lawrence: 58
Ziting: 53
Weihan: 44
Wilson: 60+
1x 50m Reach and Glide(Exaggerated Gliding) + Stroke Count
Ed: 34
Lawrence: 53
Ziting: 50
Weihan: 38
1x50m Fist Swim
1x50m normal swim, stroke count
Ed: 35
Lawrence: 48
Ziting: 43
Weihan: 36
Main Set:
2x500m Time Trial + 5mins rest in between
Cool down:
2x50m breast stroke Easy
Timing Breakdown:
Ed:
Lap 1 – 0:49
Lap 2 – 0:55
Lap 3 – 0:56
Lap 4 – 1:02
Lap 5 – 0:58
Lap 6 – 1:03
Lap 7 – 1:02
Lap 8 – 1:05
Lap 9 – 1:07
Lap 10 – 1:05
First set: 10:02
Lap 11 – 20 Details:
Average: 1:02+ (Very fast on first lap, died off after 3rd)
Timing: 10:19 (excluding lazing around time should be 10:10)
Allan:
Lap 1 – 0:50
Lap 2 – 1:00
Lap 3 – 1:03
Lap 4 – 1:05
Lap 5 – 1:03
Lap 6 – 1:03
Lap 7 – 1:06
Lap 8 – 1:05
Lap 9 – 1:10
Lap 10 – 1:05
First Set: 10:30
Lap 11 – 20 Details:
Average: 1:04 (Very fast on first lap, died off after 2nd)
Timing: 10:38
Lawrence:
Lap 1 – 1:00
Lap 2 – 1:08
Lap 3 – 1:07
Lap 4 – 1:13
Lap 5 – 1:11
Lap 6 – 1:23
Lap 7 – 1:19
Lap 8 – 1:23
Lap 9 – 1:21
Lap 10 – 1:15
First Set: 12:20
Lap 11 – 20 Details:
Average: 1:18 (Stroke broke down after 3rd lap, VERY jialat. Swimming with arms only and the rest of the body parts are not in streamline position. Weak Stabilizer muscle)
Timing: 13:00
Weihan:
Lap 1 – 0:52
Lap 2 – 1:01
Lap 3 – 1:07
Lap 4 – 1:06
Lap 5 – 1:08
Lap 6 – 1:08
Lap 7 – 1:10
Lap 8 – 1:04
Lap 9 – 1:10
Lap 10 – 1:07
First Set Timing: 10:53
Lap 11 – 20 Details:
Average: 1:09 (Very fast on first lap, died off after 2nd, Strokes getting more consistent, GOOD!)
Second Set Timing: 11:30
Ziting:
Lap 1 – 0:58
Lap 2 – 1:21
Lap 3 – 1:18
Lap 4 – 1:29
Lap 5 – 1:24
Lap 6 – 1:25
Lap 7 – 1:28
Lap 8 – 1:25
Lap 9 – 1:25
Lap 10 – 1:22
First Set Timing: 13:35
Lap 11 – 20 Details:
Average: 1:28 (Very fast on first lap, died off after 2nd, No need to chase your brother, Save fuel for 2nd lap onwards and you’ll shave at least 1 min off. J)
Second Set Timing: 14:40
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Edmund:
- Kick is strong, but too much knee flexion caused lower leg to completely came out of surface, creating drag.
- Pull/Stroke count is consistently around 45strokes a lap +-3. Good. :)
- When fresh, only left arm is pulling across center axis of body
- When fatigue sets in, both arms entry are way pass center axis of body, which directly caused the catch phase to start at center or opposite side and then coming back across body instead of a normal 'S' pull.
- Have "storing energy" action from legs when doing 2beat kicks, Causing legs to open up wide laterally. Try to keep them toes pointing inwards like pigeon.
- Very Aerobically fit and lengthy to begin with and thus timing still comes in at about 10mins. However if we were to go to a 3rd set, I would probably be expecting to see 10:40 or more (which should not happen if stroke is consistent, given his aerobic capacity).
I will find a way to upload a video I took during the swim.
Allan:
- The only one who's swimming with his body instead of just arms and legs.
- Good body rotation
- When fatigue sets in, tends to lift head out higher to breathe. Should try to roll body around like a satay stick has impaled you from head to toes. Try keeping ear touching shoulder next time.
- Due to the almost non-existing kick, there is a lackluster effort of keeping the legs together in streamline position. Legs tend to open up wide during swim, causing drag.
Wilson:
- Good job tonight! Saw huge leap of improvement in your swim after you tried reaching in front and applying pressure around chest into the water. I'm sure you felt it too as you were streaming down the water like REALLY fast for the 15meters!
- Remember to lean into the water and don't fight it. Water resistance comes in cubic folds as it is 1000x more dense than air.
- Need to work more on keeping body streamlined, remember the exercise I taught you, prone down, alternate side of leg and arm extension.. the exercise will help.
- Am glad to see you're not swimming with dragonboat strength but trying hard to master the finesse.
- Remember hip rotation and every arm and leg movement should sync from hip.
- The body, from fingertip to toes are 1 piece. Aim for a straight horizontal base line from the finger tip to your toes, underneathe the water.
- Entry should be in front of forehead. Not too far in front. About wrist deep, then extend in front and slightly downwards.
Ziting:
- First 10 laps was horrendous from 5th lap onwards due to the body positioning error that happened everytime I see you swim.
- Good thing is it was changed in the 2nd 10laps!
- Remember to keep the kick small and frequency lower, in order not to tire yourself out too much! Huge muscles from the quads (thighs) drains ALOT of oxygen quickly...
- Entry should go deeper then start extending arms
- Head position usually too high thus unable to make good use of the lung to press the hips up.
- Expected timing from correcting the high head position should be minus 2mins from current Time trial.
Weihan:
- Am overall happy with your swim tonight!
- Kick has improved, lesser splashes equals to more propulsion!
- At certain times, entry still tend to be too close to surface, need to go deeper.
- Gliding was consistent.
- Pull was a little weak though, considering its a time trial effort....
- Keep up the good work!
Lawrence:
- Really happy to see the head going deep and thus the chest helped the hip to stay on surface all the time.
- Breathing was really close to the surface of water and not too high too! Good work!
- From time trial swim timing per lap, you can see an increase in per lap timing as the time trial goes on, due to increase of fatigue.
- Important to note that the fatigue is caused by increased resistance due to the non-streamline position.
- Pulling still goes to center, and across. Especially left arm when breathing on the right.
- You should try the following:
* Reach forward at shoulder width. REALLY reaching forward, not just straighten arms.
* Ask Wilson about the exercise I taught him and do it every alternate nights
* Pull outwards instead of straight down at the beginning. Then after arm passes face, pull water closer to body and push straight until hand exit beside thigh
- Have to work on rotation from left to right and right to left. Especially at high effort sets.
- The crossing center axis pulls are probably caused by the entry to close to the center of the head and lack of awareness of where the arms are moving at the start of the pull. Chain reaction, 1 thing lead to another.
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Conclusion:
Wowie, it was a tough session for me. Haha.. seriously I AM surprised at the amount of information I'm processing at the pool and manage to remember these details even though they're not really complete.
My apologies for not being able to do the second time trial with per lap timing like the 1st one. Am running a fever and the headache was creeping in and thus I decided to use the second time trial to focus on stroke mistake recognition instead of per lap timing recording.
Really appreciate the effort by wilson, the patience, Sorry if I neglected you! Please, stop me when you need me! I will always be focused, so don't be bothered by the stressed look in my face! haha.
Also, effort by Ziting was really really admirable too. Allan is brave *clap clap* to come for swim training after ceasing to train for so long, those egos must be hard to tame too.. REALLY APPRECIATE k. :) .. Edmund's arrival is a pleasant surprise and DAMN I HATE MYSELF FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO SWIM WITH YOU, would probably get another PB tonight! haha.. and Lawrence, you know what I like about you? You are the few ones who're swimming with your BRAINS... That is definitely the fastest way to improvement!
Sam, Gen, Marianne, Ben and Jasper, we miss you!
Til next wednesday!
Cheers
Coach KK
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