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