In reply to Teck Bengs question.

Thank u teckbeng for the post. It is as intriguing as it is a headache to explain but I'll do my best.

Before I start, make no mistake, I encourage you to question my intentions and preaching. That is one thing I'm seeking when I started this free class. Because if everybody is a yes bitch(not referring to anyone in team, just in life as general.) in life then there will be no improvement.

Firstly, As far as fitness/technique is concerned, the jury will never be out in Any fixed and confirm manner.

Reasons?

1) individualization of everyone's differing range of motions. Some have double joints, some have stiff or frozen shoulders.

2) we can never figure out what is a Perfect stroke because God made us the way we are n we are not made to swim for life. So we can only get a general guideline on what should be done and avoid as much as possible what is proven that should not be done.

Allow me to direct you in a proper direction to understand my instructions from my point of view so that you'll get more light on what you are actually gonna read later on.

Firstly, it is difficult to convey through words and description to everyone so that everyone will Perceive instructions in different structures in their mind. Thus, as a coach, as far as knowledge wise that I know.. we could only imparting 50% of what we've learnt unless you read deep into wat you're doing. Which, in most cases, training is not their lives... so they don't and just take A for A and B for B. :) What happened to the rest of the information?

20% are generally lost in the ways information are broken down and digested and more importantly, accepted by the receiver. U can clearly see that some people in the squads are hitting some plateau because some that I preach are simply too unconventional to be accepted and practiced.

Then what's left are the details that you have to feel for and make what's right, often they are the time u spent training consciously n diligently trying out new things to see what works.

I, for one, am not a very law by law student. I will take in EVERY single details that my teachers and coaches give then I improvise and find out how better or worst I can make them then I compare with the timings or results that I get then determine what I want to do. And with that work ethic, I found out the last 30% of what I have which I could not impart. Again, it comes down to individualization.

Let's get back to your question of hip rotations.

First of all, make no mistake, there IS hip rotation from phelp's strokes. It's just not to the extend of 45degrees.

The truth is this: IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THAT MUCH.

Now, why are there coaches(me for example) who preach rotating of hips to 45degrees or more?

Firstly, we talk abt muscular activation. In my previous post I already touched on this. Your muscle fibers will not fire unless you tell it to.

In order for me to teach muscular activation, we have to use visual cues, easy to understand pointers and also one thing I always relied on is Exaggeration of movements.

Allow me to digress...

A lot of times when it comes down to a person (like u and me) who are concerned to the tiniest details of technique, we are more often than not, afraid to make mistakes rather than purposefully make them. We may not agree that is a good way to put it but because of the precision we try to execute a certain itenary(movement or work scope) with, we tend to lose track of what else can make things better even though the bible says that way we're doing is the best there is alrdy.

So, in order to break that norm, I have to make you guys do exaggerated movements, then if you're really concerned and clearly aware of what you are practicing, then your body will know something is wrong and you will raise question like you did today.

Okay, so what does exaggeration of movement do to help you other than make you raise questions?

It teaches your body to move in ways that it has never done before and then in order to move to that position or hold that position, activates that core group of muscles that you need to attain that position or movements.

With that, it makes possible easier learning curve of body movements which otherwise takes a thesis to explain how your bicep flex, let alone talk abt moving your body from finger tip to toes as a stiff as a plank but in a relaxed state of exertion with the activation of hip muscles.

To make things clearer, we go back to the formula of force = mass x acceleration. Physic says that a more powerful force can be executed with quicker movements or a bigger object moving through space. A human's arms and legs definitely don't account for half our body size when they move individually.. Thus it make sense to move all together to generate more force.

That is, in a synchronized manner, and the only way to do so is to time the movement with a corking movement from the core. And the hip is the center of this core.

Have u heard of Bruce lee's inch punch? How can he generate so much force that it makes a person flew back a couple of meters by moving his punch thru an inch of space?

1) his force is generated by moving his ENTIRE body forward,
2) at an incredibly HIGH VELOCITY.

You can visualize that by imagining he is actually throwing his 60kg of body weight through the one inch of space at warping speed. Imagine how much force that can generate.

So we now understand that moving the body in synch can generate more force, that is a bonus to streamlining.

Second point of why hip rotation is required, it is the only way your body can travel forward. Remember I taught about anchoring on one point and just rotating the opposite side of body towards where u anchored your arm on and you'll automatically move forward.

So you get two most significant points on why hip rotation is impt.

1) the only way to move forward in Water
2) the amount of force generated

Last but not least, I will say the hip activation is impt but you don't need a full 45degrees of rotation.


if you know how to move the hips in sharp controlled manner, ie have full control over your hips in multiple, forward, backward and lateral directions.. You can activate the hip by a inch of rotation to the side.

That will aid in disrupting the water lesser.

However, for the rest of the world who don't have such good hip control plus all the other stroke technique details polished up, the advantages of exaggerated hip movement overrides a swim without any.

Also, when you rotate the hips 45degrees, u must remember the more important synergy point is to keep the body in a plank and leveled position in the water as you glide. Streamline anyway so the disruption that occurs during propulsion isn't much of a concern in the glide eh. :)

Let me know if you got more qns. I love answering them because it forces me to tink even more.:)

Cheers
KK