The point of competitive swimming is to get to the wall first in a race, to be the fastest person in the water in an event. But how do we achieve the speed to be the fastest? If you ask young swimmers to go FAST in the water, they will often move their arms and legs rapidly, churning up a lot of splash and in general looking like a shark attacking a school of mullet. They expend a lot of effort, but the result is NOT speed.
A recent article in the ASCA Newsletter talked about the three R’s of competitive swimming – Rhythm, Range, and Relaxation. It is easy to see the importance of rhythm in butterfly and breaststroke. The proper timing helps keep the body moving forward always. Engaging the entire body in the roll of the fly makes a strong and efficient stroke. At no point should the body be paused (say to take a long, resting breath), but it should always be moving forward and the core of the body must be engaged in this process for the best efficiency. The same is true in breaststroke as the timing of the breath must be such that there is no pause in forward motion. The rhythms of backstroke and freestyle require a steady kick and constant propulsion with the hands with as little interruption caused by breathing as possible.
Gaining the most distance with every stroke taken is clearly an important element to speed. Minimizing drag on the body by maintaining the most streamlined position throughout the stroke and using the longest, most powerful strokes is key to being fast in the water. Taking MORE strokes does not translate into a faster race; using efficient strokes that move your body the most distance through the water is the key. Our best breaststrokers know exactly how many strokes they need to take each length of the pool and when they race, they should be focused on this efficiency of stroke to get the best result. In every stroke, again, the core of the body must be engaged to allow the stroke to be as strong as possible so that it can cover the greatest distance.
Sometimes in a racing situation, a swimmer may become slightly hysterical and the result is they frantically move their arms and legs to try to generate speed, only to find that they add time to their seed time. This is where the third element comes into play – relaxation. Try this experiment: float in the water and relax. Now, tense the muscles on your right side. What happens? You will find that your body begins to sink on the right side. Tension not only causes your body to drag through the water, it also increases the fatigue of your muscles. Of course, working muscles are contracting and tensing, but it is important to be mentally relaxed and to allow muscles to relax in rhythm with your stroke.
One of the great advantages to swimming with LY is that our coaching staff has a long term approach to helping swimmers become better. We aren’t working on an 8 week training schedule to try to produce a championship win at the League Championship. We are working on an 8 YEAR plan, to help swimmers develop the necessary skills to become the best swimmer they can be. We have the time to teach skills correctly, the patience to repeatedly make corrections, the experience to know which drills best help our swimmers. If you want to know which swimmers are making the greatest gains in our program, just watch our meet warm ups and see who knows our drills and executes them the best.
The swimmers who take the time to do drills correctly, and do them repeatedly correctly at every practice, are the swimmers who will ultimately step up on the blocks in competition and have the most efficient strokes and the best chance of winning. To be your best, focusing on technique at ALL TIMES is the key. Drills should be performed with precision. Strokes should be kept long and strong. Every turn in practice should be a race turn, every dive a race dive. Every finish should be completed on the wall with power. If you challenge every practice, you can approach every competition with confidence and allow yourself to relax and give your best performance.
There is a story of a young, but earnest Zen student who approached his teacher and asked the Master, “If I work very hard and diligently, how long will it take for me to find Zen?” The Master thought about this and replied, “Ten years ...” The student then said, “But what if I work very, very hard and really apply myself to learn fast - how long then?” Replied the Master, “Well, twenty years.” “But if I really, REALLY work at it, how long then?” asked the student. “Thirty years,” replied the Master. “But I do not understand,” said the disappointed student. “At each time that I say I will work harder, you say it will take me longer. Why do you say that?” Replied the Master, “When you have one eye on the goal, you only have one eye on the path."