How to start fast in an open water race

We all know that starting fast can give athletes a great advantage in any race. In an open water race where a lot of people are competing is even more essential because it will help you get a better place in the racing terrain. That means that if you don't start fast you will find yourself stuck in the middle of a huge group of swimmers without the ability to slip out of this situation without getting bumped or tripped and losing a great deal of time and precious seconds of your time. A fast start is also good for triathletes too, although many of them approach the swim as a warm up for the bike and wun work they have to do later on their race. A part from the psychological boost they'll get, keep in mind that a few seconds lead in swimming translates into a lot more seconds in the bike part of the race because cycling is much faster than swimming.

Read more »

Sunday's motivational quote 10

Swimming workout: Find your balance point in breaststroke

I know that a lot of you enjoy a nice swimming practice on Sundays. So, I have a special workout for you that will help you find your balance point in breaststroke. Before you get into the water you would like to try a dryland exercise that will hep you get the feeling of the basic rocking motion in breaststroke. The exercise is called rocking drill (obviously you can find the same drill under a different name) and you lie on an exercise mat on your chest (prone). Then you alternately rock your head and chest up as you bend your knees and raise your heels toward your buttocks, then you rock you head and chest downward as you straighten your legs. I would love to hear your comments on the workout, and let me know what would you like the focus of the next workout to be. Enjoy!!!

Read more »

Mistakes to avoid during the release and recovery in backstroke

Although the release and recovery in backstroke seems as an easy job to do, swimmers make many mistakes during these two phases of the armstroke that can lead to an increase in resistive drag or disrupt the rhythm of the stroke. These mistakes are: to bring the arm out of the water with the little finger up and the palm facing out, to bring the hand out of the water with the palm facing down, to initiate recovery by lifting the hand rather than rolling the shoulder up, and to swing the arm low and to the side.

Let's take a closer look to each one of these mistakes that can affect your swimming technique.

Read more »

Low profile breathing swimming workout

A lot of swimmers, especially young ones and beginners, tend to rotate to much or they rise their heads up while breathing in freestyle. Swimmers who do that mistake lose balance and they don't swim straight which leads to neck pain and loss of speed. We all know that the better the technique the better we work out. With that in mind, I'll post various swimming workouts that will help you improve your swimming technique as well as challenge you aerobically. If you have any questions about the workout or the format that I'll use to write it, please make a comment or pm me. 

Read more »

Leg cramps in swimming

A cramp is an involuntary, painful contraction of the muscles that does not relax like it should. Cramps that occur while swimming often originate in one of three places: your toes, the arch of the foot, or the calves, with the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles of the calves being more common. The pain has a quick onset that is usually severe enough to force swimmers stop because of the tenderness they experience in their leg. A calf cramp will usually disappear on its own, but tenderness can remain even after the cramp vanishes.

Read more »

Mistakes during the second upsweep in backstroke

We've already talked about mistakes backstrokers do during the entry, first downsweep, and first upsweep of their armstroke so it's time to move on to the second upsweep and discuss what can be done wrong during this phase in backstroke. Swimmers who use this phase of the armstroke for propulsion are prone to commit three mistakes. They may pitch the hand up, instead of back, they may press the water too long as the arm travels toward the surface, and they may pitch the hand in rather than back.

Read more »

Sunday's motivational quote 9

Dolphin kick

The kick used in butterfly is called a dolphin kick because the legs move as one unit, like the tail of the dolphin. This kick is also used underwater during the starts and turns of butterfly, freestyle, and backstroke (and in the fly-back and breast-free IM transition turns) One dolphin kick consists of two parts: the upbeat and the downbeat and swimmers execute two dolphin kicks during each stroke cycle.

Read more »

Common mistakes during the first upsweep in backstroke

We've already discussed the most common mistakes swimmers do during the entry (here) and first downsweep (here) of their armstroke in backstroke, so today it's time to talk about what backstrokers should try and avoid during the first upsweep of their armstroke. Some of the most common mistakes they make during the first upsweep are: pulling with a straight arm, sculling the hand vertically, and pushing up against the water with the palm of the hand.

Read more »

Drag in swimming

Drag is the term used to identify the resistance of water to swimmers' movements through it. That resistance is caused by a difference in pressure between the water in front of and behind swimmers. Objects tend to be pushed from areas of high pressure toward areas of low pressure. Consequently, if the pressure of the water in front of swimmers is greater than the pressure behind, their speed will be decreased unless they can overcome the added pressure by stroking with greater force. The reduction in speed will be in direct proportion to the magnitude of the difference in water pressure in front of and behind the body.

Read more »

What to avoid during the first downsweep in backstroke

The most common mistakes that swimmers make during the first downsweep in backstroke is trying to push back against the water before the arm is deep enough and wide enough to make an effective catch. This mistake can take two forms: swimmers puh water down or they push water to the side.

Read more »

Sunday's motivational quote 8

Madam Butterfly

Mary T. Meagher (born in October 27th, 1964) is an American swimming legend and one of the greatest butterfly swimmers ever. In 1979 she broke her first world record in the 200m butterfly and was ready to race for her first Olympic medals at the 1980 Games in Moscow. However, Meagher, along with the rest of the United States Olympic Team, never gor her chance due to the American led boycott of the Games.

Read more »

Psychological benefits of swimming

Swimming is a fun activity and it provides a multitude of mental and physical benefits. Adults who engage in swimming are healthier and happier than people who live a sedentary life. Swimming may prolong life. According to research, swimmers have lower mortality rates than runners, walkers and those with sedentary lifestyles. A sedentary lifestyle increases the risk for developing life threatening health conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. So, what can senior and younger swimmers can gain mentally from swimming?

Read more »

News from Swimming and more

Hello swimming lovers,

I've decided to drop the news column and provide you with a better way to learn swimming and other water sports related news. I've used paper.li to create a newspaper with fresh news from the aquatic world. Please follow this link and subscribe. The news will be published in a daily basis; feel free to make suggestions on what you would like to read on this newspaper or not.

http://paper.li/f-1379012394

Cheers

Aqua fitness for children

Obesity is becoming a significant health care concern for children as well as adults. The level of physical fitness in children has declined significantly, and the prevalence of obesity is rising rapidly. A decrease in physical education programmes, afterschool activities, and outdoor play combined with the availability and convenience of unhealthy fast foo increase the risk for children to become obese, unfit, and consequently unhealthy. Many fitness leaders and physical educators are concerned that children are not as active as they should be. Exercise can provide the same benefits to children as to adults, and water is an ideal environment for tempting children to play and be active. Most children love the pool and water activities.

Read more »

Backstroke to breastroke turn

The back to breast transition is the turn where the most time is won or lost of any other turn. The two most common ways of performing this IM transition turn are the traditional open turn and the crossover flip turn. Generally, the crossover is quicker off the wall, but the push off is not as powerful, so the two turns even out in the end. Furthermore, unless the crossover is done precisely, the likelihood of a disqualification is fairly high. The crossover is much harder to teach and perform and should be taught to seniors swimmers.

Read more »

British Swimming planning to reduce ITC'S

After a £4,000,000 funding cut, British Swimming has again had to further reduce its Intensive Training Center program. After cutting the Stockport ITC altogether in the spring, and reducing funding to the other ITC’s, the BBC is reporting that Swansea and Stirling ITC’s are on the block next.

In February, the Loughborough and Bath ITC’s were given four year renewals on “more cost effective terms,” while Swansea and Stirling were contracted just through the end of 2013. The Intensive Training Centers are funded training opportunities for elite athletes.

Read more »

Common entry mistakes in backstroke

The backstroke armstroke can be divided into eight phases: the entry and stretch, the first downsweep, the catch, the first upsweep, the second downsweep, the second upsweep, the release and exit, and the recovery. Some people divide the armstroke stroke in less phases, but you'll notice (when these series is done) that it's the same description. During these phases swimmers can make mistakes that will cost them time and energy. Today, we're going to talk about the entry mistakes in backstroke and what to avoid.

Read more »

Sunday's motivational quote 7

Original photo: [1]

Dawn Fraser's story

Dawn Fraser (born 4 September 1937) is an iconic Australian swimmer and a former politician. She was the first woman to win gold medals in the same event (100 m free) in three consecutive Olympics (1956, 1960, 1964). From 1956 to1964 she broke the women's world record for the 100 m freestyle race nine successive times, and her mark of 58.9 sec (1964) was unbroken until 1972.

Read more »

Breaststroke underwater pullout sequence

The underwater pullout sequence is a great equalizer of breastsroke races and it's used during the breaststroke send away (breast start, breast to breast turn and back to breast turn in IM). Even poor breaststrokers who streamline well, have a strong butterfly pull and kick, and can fake a single compact breaststroke kick can compete on the walls with the fastest swimmers, and they will have eight to nine fewer meters to swim.

Read more »

Tips for perfect open turns

We have already discussed the key points of the freestyle (here) and backstroke (here) turns. So, today we are going to give some tips for a perfect open turn. There are five variations of open turns, four of which are similar: breast to breast, fly to fly, and the individual medley (IM) transition turns of fly to back, and breast to free. The fifth kind, the back to breast IM transition turn, is performed differently and will be analyzed in an another post. 

When doing these four variations of an open turn keep in mind the following:

Read more »

FINIS partners with Under Armour

A couple of weeks old news but really interesting and very good for swimming and swimming industry. FINIS partners with Under Armour, read the statement from the FINIS' blog.

FINIS, a world leader in technical swimming products announces a partnership with Under Armour Inc., an innovative performance brand specializing in apparel, footwear and accessories accross numerous sports. Moving forward, all FINIS teams will be able to utilize the full range of Under Armour's product offering for their team members, to keep them comfortable on the deck and for training out of the pool.

Read more »

Common mistakes during the insweep, upsweep, and release in freestyle

This is the last post on the mistakes during the armstroke in freestyle series and it will cover the insweep, the upsweep and the release. You can find the rest posts of these series here (recovery and entry) and here (downsweep).

Read more »

Types of strength for swimmers

Swimming is not a sport that gives immediate gratification. When a person comes into competitive swimming without a base of athleticism, a great deal of time and energy must be devoted to building that base, to prepare the person to take on the rigors of training for competitive swimming. In contrast, when these qualities are already present, a swimmer is able to excel faster. A swimmer who comes into swimming with an athletic base in place is able to concentrate on developing solid swimming skills, gaining swimming experience, and swimming fast.

Read more »

The Russian Rocket

Aleksandr (Alexander) Popov, known by a variety of nicknames - "Sasha", "The Russian rocket","Ice Man", and "Big Dog"- is a Russian former Olympic gold medalist swimmer and he is regarded as one of the greatest sprint freestyle swimmers of all time. Popov took up swimming at the age of eight at the Children and Youth Sports School, and at that time, he was afraid of water, but his father insisted on him taking swimming lessons. Popoc started out as a backstroke swimmer and switched to freestyle only in 1990 when he joined Gennadi Touretski's squad. He later moved from Russia to Australia to be with his coach.

Read more »

Sunday's motivational quote 6