FINAL WEEK – A workout for continuous improvement between classes

FINAL WEEK – A workout for continuous improvement between classes

This is a workout that incorporates several of our crucial drill sets. It takes about an hour to complete and there are breaks included. The idea is that completing this workout regularly will leave you with the best form possible and instill good habits. Cut and paste the entire workout and take it to the pool on your phone or on paper. Use sections if you have little time. Doing this once every week or two will really make a difference. Keep swimming and having fun!

WARM-UP:

FOCUS: BREATHING POSITION

Drill Set (300-400):

Drill 1 – Goggle In The Water: Place an arm out into the water about a foot below the surface. Lay your head on its’ side on top of it. Tilt your head over until you have a goggle in the water and your mouth out so you can breathe. This is where you want to be when taking a breath. Lower your head as far as possible while maintaining this position.

Swim (300):  5-6x50yd easy, working to duplicate the breathing position you just practiced, taking a short break after each to do the standing drill – SEE IF YOU CAN SEE UNDER THE SURFACE WHILE BREATHING. You will drink some water. That’s the nature of the sport.

(Optional) Drill 2  - Side Lying Kick (100): If you don’t see under the surface at all and know you’re lifting your head, do this version of the Side Kick drill. Lay on your side in the water with an arm outstretched, about a foot below the surface. The other arm is at your side. Lean your shoulders back a little (but stay more on your side than your back) so it’s easy to look up at the ceiling. Kick down the pool with a steady, strong effort, keeping your head as deep as possible with just your mouth and nose out of the water.

MAIN SETS:

FOCUS: BODY POSTURE

On Deck (Posture):

Go through the following points face up and down, using several kickboards to lie upon. Do this for 3-5min. Practice narrow kicks we did in class while keeping your back connected to the ground. You should be able to control the curvature of your back while moving your  legs and take all the pressure off of it.

Note: This deck work was developed by Olympic coach Richard Quick.

Face up –

Key Points:

1-Pull your belly button into your spine and flatten your low back to the ground.

2-Breathe out and push your ribcage down toward your waist.

3-Tuck your chin down into your neck so the back of your neck lines up with your spine.

4-Imagine you’re being stretched by someone pulling on the top of your head. Lengthen your neck.

Face down –

Key Points:

1-Pull your belly button into your spine, and take it off the floor. Your ribs and hips should be touching on either side of it.

2-Breathe out and flatten yourself down to the ground, all the while keeping your stomach from touching.

3-Tuck your chin up into your neck so the back of your neck lines up with your spine. Lift your forehead just a millimeter off the ground.

4-Imagine you’re being stretched by someone pulling on the top of your head. Lengthen.

Swim (400):

16x25 leaving every 50-60sec, focusing on each point above for blocks of four 25s.

FOCUS: EXTENDED POSITION AND CATCH

Drill Set (500):

Do this set twice through in order to practice everything more than once. Another good practice is to drill down the pool and swim back with a skill focus. Either way, 500-1000yd of varied practice will make a tremendous difference.

Side Kick (100yd) – one arm is out for 25yd and then switch to the other for the return trip. Palm flat, armpit facing down, head down, body rotated up as much as possible without changing the first three points.

Side Kick Switch (100yd) –

Note: Make sure your head stays still through the switch from one side to the other, as if it’s on a skewer.

Do 10 kicks in the Side Kick position (head down), then begin to recover the arm from your side. As it passes your head, begin to pull through with the extended arm, take a breath and get your head down, ending in the Side Kick position on the other side. 10 more kicks and then switch again.

Swim “The Rails” (100yd) – focus on landing in perfect side kick position every stroke. Imagine there are a set of rails beneath you, about a foot apart, and that the length of your arm, the side of your body, and your leg must land on one rail before every stroke. Breathe every 3-5 strokes so you can feel it on both sides.

Sculling (100yd) – You’ll be face down, kicking lightly to keep your body at the surface. As we did in class, shrug your shoulders forward to move your elbows out beside your head. Your forearms will be hanging straight down beneath them. Now perform the small sculling motions with your hands, sometimes described as “figure eights”. You should feel pressure on both the in- and out-scull.

Swim (100yd) – Extend fully into the Side Kick position you just practiced. From there, slowly drop the hand and forearm down into the water, allowing your body’s momentum to carry you over that hand. Wait until your forearm is vertical before pulling back. For many of you this will feel “late”. There will be a surge forward as you pull and slowing as you glide over your catch.

Note: This slowing down happens with all swimmers. Even Olympians sometimes slow 50% in this zone, as they make their catch. It’s hard to see with the naked eye unless you’ve been watching swimming for years. Center of Mass studies, time and again, have shown this to happen. As you increase arm turnover, this delay lasts a shorter amount of time.

FOCUS – KICK/LEG POSITION

Note: to see how the legs should be positioned and what you should be striving to look like in this drill, see my post “Freestyle – Frame by Frame” and look at the kick section.

Note: We did longer sets of each drill in class, and you may need to add yards here to get back in practice – perhaps 100-150yd of each in a workout dedicated to kicking.

Work continually on how to put the legs into position to create the least drag. This occurs when, during rotation, the leg on the side of the lower hip is raised toward the surface. This keeps the leg and foot above the low hip, reducing drag at the back of the stroke dramatically. Here’s where we break from typical INSTRUCTION about how to kick. This is how to ACTIVATE your hip to enable your kick, PLACE your leg in position USING YOUR HIP on the “UPKICK”, and FEEL the appropriate combination of hip and inner thigh muscles working to do this.

Drill Set (500):

Single Arm (50) – Push off with both arms overhead. You’ll pull with one arm all the way down the pool while the other one stays extended out front. Then pull with the other arm on the way back. With each pull, rotate fully onto your side and take a low breath. The GOAL is to make sure you’re rotating vs. swimming a flat stroke.

Single Arm – No Kick During Breathing Motion (50) – Now when you pull, hold your legs together as straight and narrow as possible. You may kick during recovery of the arm forward and when you’re stretched with both arms overhead, but not when you pull. The GOAL is to silence your kick for a portion of the stroke.

Single Arm – Opposite Heel Out As Pull Finishes (100) – As you pull through and rotate, LIFT YOUR OPPOSITE LEG UP WITH YOUR HIP, EXPOSING YOUR FOOT ABOVE THE SURFACE. Keep the leg straight as you do this. The danger is to simply bend the knee to get the foot out – but a straight-leg recovery upward is VITAL. You may kick to get set in the extended position, but when you pull through, lift the opposite leg. The GOAL  is to activate the hip and place the leg in perfect streamline position when the body is rotated.

Switching – 3 Strokes Right Side / 3 Strokes Left Side (100) – This is the same as the above drill, but now you must switch sides fairly often. Remember, the opposite leg rises as you pull. The GOAL is to get used to using one leg and then the other.

Switching – 1 Stroke Right Side / 1 Stroke Left Side (50) – Now you’re getting closer to a full stroke. You may kick between pulls to get balanced and ready. The GOAL is to begin to feel what it takes to do this every stroke.

2-Beat Kick (100) – Pull with one arm and lift the opposite leg, then pull with the other and lift the other leg. If you get out of sync, kick with both arms overhead and start anew. When you get it, you’ll feel yourself sliding along through the water with much more ease since there’s no drag from your legs and feet.

6-Beat Kick (50) – Some of you may decide to keep the 2-Beat kick for a while, or for the long term. Others may do better with a continuous kick. Do kick continuously, pull through and lift the opposite leg, then add a couple small kicks as you transition over and pull with the other arm. Think, “lift, kick, kick, lift, kick, kick,…”