Practice: Stepping Stones from Drill to Whole Stroke

[Admin Mediterra]

OBJECTIVE

• To learn how to incrementally move from Drill to Whole Stroke – Neuro-Muscular Stepping Stones.
• To add complexity to a drill, one-by-one, carefully strengthening neuro-muscular control.
• To precisely locate skill weakness and failure points to know exactly where you need to give more attention.

 

DISTANCE

1400 meters

DRILLS AND FOCAL POINTS

Drills:
Drill 1 = Skate to Spear Switch
Drill 2 = Skate to Swing Switch

Focal Points:
A = Start in Perfect Skate, Finish in Perfect Skate
B = Patient Front Arm
C = Spear Straight on Track to Target

You may choose Focal Points that suit your specific needs today. Use the Tune-Up time to identify those needs.

TUNE-UP

700 meters total.

250m mixed stroke, move as gently as possible, increase relaxation and joint flexibility

3 Rounds of (3x 50), swim gently

Round 1 – examine your head position and spine alignment
Round 2 – examine your arm positions and movements
Round 3 – examine breathing

MAIN SETS

700 meters total.

Stop and breath between drill movements, or use Interrupted Breathing.

Set 1

1x 25m Drill 1, NO breath, slow-motion, PAUSE at Mailslot, PAUSE At Hip
1x 25m Drill 1, NO breath, slow-motion, PAUSE at Mailslot
1x 25m Drill 1, NO breath, slow-motion
1x 25m Drill 1, NO breath

Set 2

1x 25m Drill 1, ONE breath, slow-motion, PAUSE at Mailslot, PAUSE At Hip
1x 25m Drill 1, ONE breath, slow-motion, PAUSE at Mailslot
1x 25m Drill 1, ONE breath, slow-motion
1x 25m Drill 1, ONE breath

Test Swim 1

1x 25, 1x 50, then 1x 75

Instructions:

Choose two Focal Points from the previous set that address your weakness or failure point.

Based on your performance in the previous drill set, set an expectation for how skillful you will swim in this test swim.

Holding those two FPs at the same time, swim the first 25m. If you are successful at holding your skill at the expected level, then test it on 50m, then 75m.

If you are not successful, determine what correction you will make, then repeat another 25m. Continue this process 2 more times to see if you may succeed. If not, return to the drills.

 

Set 3

1x 25m Drill 2, NO breath, slow-motion, PAUSE at Mailslot, PAUSE At Hip
1x 25m Drill 2, NO breath, slow-motion, PAUSE at Mailslot
1x 25m Drill 2, NO breath, slow-motion
1x 25m Drill 2, NO breath

Set 4

1x 25m Drill 2, ONE breath, slow-motion, PAUSE at Mailslot, PAUSE At Hip
1x 25m Drill 2, ONE breath, slow-motion, PAUSE at Mailslot
1x 25m Drill 2, ONE breath, slow-motion
1x 25m Drill 2, ONE breath

[Swing Switch, without Pause, in Full Motion is essentially Whole Stroke!]

Test Swim 2 (see instructions above)
Instructions:

• Do two rounds of this progression: Round #1 do just a single switch. On Round #2 do 3 to 5 multi-switches.
• Do all of these in careful SLOW MOTION.
• Do 2 to 4 drills on the left side, and then 2 to 4 drills on the right side. Be sure to work both sides of the body, and notice where one side feels easier or more difficult to control than the other side.
• In the drills always start in Perfect Skate Position and finish in Perfect Skate Position.
• Use PAUSES when the catch hand reaches the hip, and again, when the recovery hand reaches the spearing position in front of the head. Those pauses may need to be “One Thousand One, One Thousand Two” seconds long. The PAUSES are there to give you time to think and plan the next move.
• Do these at first without breathing (short repeats, of course), then try adding a single seamless breath – again, short repeats. Work both sides. If you are working in deeper water and cannot stop and stand between repeats, then use interrupted breathing position to rest while maintaining head position and streamline body.
• If failure occurs, assess, and either repeat the drill or go back through the set again to strengthen foundational skills.

As you moves through the stepping stones when he reaches a failure point he can clearly identify the cause by comparing the features of the successful step before, and the additional feature of the current step that has caused him to fail. Now he knows exactly what to work on.

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