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Hi Doug,
Great to see you again in the pool. But it would have been better back in the Caribbean!
After viewing you swim for 50, I chose these projects for you today:
- Bringing more of the torso power to bear on your stroke, in order to get more length per stroke
- Raising the average position of the legs, keeping them closer to the surface.
Overall, I’d like to see you getting more travel per stroke. You deserve more! The parts are moving coincidentally, but I suspect they are not connected as tightly as they could be, thus leaking power. To get more length per stroke, you need less drag and more power transferred through the body. You’ve got some drag in the legs in back and some power improvement opportunities in the front. Our two projects above will address the most obvious areas in your body.
Tapping Into More Torso Power
In order to improve power in the front, we need to increase resistance against the catch arm, and pull against it using the weight shift, and transfer it through that rotation into the skate side.
Focal Points for Increase In Power
- FIRST gather with forearm to build a bigger paddle, THEN pull against that resistance with torso rotation
- Weight Shift
- Pull from the pelvis (feel it down the whole side of the torso)
- maintain steady pressure through entire pull
- increase pressure with gradually tempo increase
We noticed that the right arm was not creating quite as big of a paddle as the left. So you can focus on that side specifically to help it feel more like the left side.
Improve Streamline Legs
You’re streamline in the front half of the body is doing better. The legs are still hanging down a bit more than we want, so that is the zone we can reduce drag in.
Focal Points for Lowering Drag in Back
- ‘Tippy toes’ tensility through the lower half of the body
- Feel thighs touch each other in counter-balanced foot position
- After the feet switch, reach that heel to touch the surface
Your goal is to feel the heel brush the surface on each CBF moment. I noticed that the right foot was not reaching nearly as high as the left foot on each CBF moment. That could be a mobility issue and it could be a muscle tone issue.
I suggested doing some lung walking from time to time each day when it comes to mind, in order to help increase hip mobility, particularly in the rearward direction.
Mat,
Thanks for such a great lesson! I think you hit on exactly on where I need to focus my energy. I feel pretty comfortable in the water; I feel like my energy expenditure is very reasonable, ie. I’m not getting tired or worn out. But my distance per stroke is pretty marginal and if I want to swim in the ocean I’ve got to up the game. Thanks for taking the time to pay attention!
I’m still looking forward to hearing that you will be coming back to Portland!
Doug
We are actively working on that pool lead! I will keep you posted.
Glad you liked our chosen projects. When you work in that specific way you should likely feel more local muscle fatigue as you become more deliberate about holding the arm in a particular shape. That will be necessary muscle tone work and then it will get easier to hold that shape and feel like you can really transfer the work to the torso more. Those smaller muscles around the shoulder and upper arm still need to do their part, but in a slightly different way than before.
Keep me posted on your progress.
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