Private Lesson Feb 4

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    Mat Hudson
    Keymaster

    Pool Session – February 4

    Today you requested that we work on these projects:

    1. Connect the 2 Beat Kick to rest of the stroke
    2. Take a video of my swimming
    3. Get your shoulder to slide forward in extension
    4. Check your upper arm in the catch
    5. Check breathing, particularly exhale

     

    2 Beat Kick

    We did these activities:

    • Standing rehearsal, with ankle-hip connection, one leg at a time
    • Standing rehearsal, with ankle-extension connection, one cross-combination at a time
    • Superman, with ankle-hip connection, one leg at a time
    • Superman, with ankle-extension connection, one cross-combination at a time
    • Superman, alternating sides
    • Superman to Whole Strokes

    There are two modes I had you practice in:

    1. Just examine the turn of the ankle and connection to the hip rotation
    2. Add some downward pressure for the arcing foot

    For timing the kick, at slow and moderate tempos and efforts, I recommend that you have the torso start to rotation, then just a moment later add the turn (or press) of the foot. In this more moderate kind of swimming you want the press of the foot to help you finish the torso rotation, to help you finish your extension in front. At high effort or fast tempos you might start the kick at what feels like the same moment you start the torso rotation, as if the kick was helping it get started. You may experiment with early, on-time and a slightly delayed press of the foot to examine how the timing affects the sensation of flow of force through the body. By this you can feel your way to a fine tuning of the kick timing.

    I also had you put on fins to examine how to produce a flutter kick just from the hip torque, as if you were just fluttering at the ankles. This was in contrast to forming the kick by bending at the knees and hip. This would allow you to form a very compact kick, and you can feel how the muscles around the hip socket are working, rather than the thigh muscles.

     

    Shoulder Extension

    I showed you how to extend your shoulder forward, by envisioning that you are opening up the cup of the armpit. As you extend that shoulder, the cup of the armpit opens and it turns to face the bottom of the pool. You feel a stretch through the armpit and down along the ribs. This turn of the armpit corresponds to the upper arm and shoulder rotating inward just a bit as you extend. That internal rotation happens to rotate your elbow into more ideal position to start the catch.

    You may also imagine that underwater ladder and as you slide your extending arm forward along the rail, you are reaching for a rung that is just 2 inches further. You do not twist the torso to reach further, just slide that side of the body (the shoulder) further another inch or two.

     

    Catch

    I explained how we want to feel a smooth transition from extending forward to the catch point (the rung on the ladder) to the scoop of the forearm into catch shape. Rather than an abrupt, mechanical motion of ‘extend forward – pull back’ there is slowing as you reach peak extension, as if coming to the end stretch of an elastic band, and then smoothly let it begin to contract and gradually apply more pressure on the catch.

    You also observed, upon setting the catch, how my upper arm was not staying as close to the surface as you expected. My shoulder and upper arm is not as extreme in how far it is internally rotated (that would create an extreme vertical forearm which is hard on the shoulder).

    I observed your stroke and felt your left hand target was not quite deep enough, that you were setting the catch in front of your head, rather than below the corridor your body would slide through. So, in general, you may aim for slightly lower targets, and set the catch with an elbow that is more outward and slightly less upward (because you were a bit on the extreme side) – while keeping the hand on track in line with the shoulder and hip as you pull.

     

    Breathing

    We talked for a moment as you described what you were feeling and then I described how I actually form my exhale, in contrast to the generic way I initially teach people to exhale (with the steady exhale from the nose). At moderate and strong effort levels, on a 3 stroke breathing pattern, I will hold breath on the first stroke, then start gradually increasing the intensity of the exhale and time it to peak at the moment I turn my face to the air. I can hear the increase of bubbling turbulence as the exhale increases in force. Maybe I could describe it on a scale of 0 to 3 and my exhale on the first stroke is 0, then increases 1-2-3! then inhale. This forceful exhale at the last moment primes my diaphragm to be ready to inhale nearly effortlessly at the moment my face touches the air.

    You noted you felt you may be exhaling too little, so you may experiment with a practicing a larger overall exhale volume, with this gradient pattern.

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