GUE Fundies question

[elan]

I suggest some physiology courses.

You are artificially lowing your co2 levels with that exercise (by forcing it out at an increased rate than normal respiration).

I can hardly call "Inhale 6s / Exhale 12s" and increased rate I just timed myself and found it being 2/4 at my normal respiration rate. That cycle he posted is 3 times as long

 

[PfcAJ]

yea, it is 3x longer. Thats what increased means...

 

[Guy Alcala]

Before doing the 15 m underwater swim try to relax for few mins (usually 2 mins its enough). Inhale/exhale 20-25 times. Inhale 2s / Exhale 4s...Inhale 4s / Exhale 8s..... Inhale 6s / Exhale 12s. Try to do at least 10 reps 6/12. When you finish the last round....Inhale and go. You`ll perform 50% better by doing this exercise. Good luck!

Breaststroke seems to be the easier style to do. 10 mins / 275m is a decent swimming time.

I find the most important thing for me is when I do an underwater breathhold swim. If I do it as soon as I get in the pool I'm often struggling to make the last few yards (20 yd. wide pool). But if I first push myself a bit while swimming an extended distance, say 500 to 800 yds, I'm a bit tired, I relax more and I do the underwater swim even slower (which is key). It's not uncommon that I can do side to side and return (40 yds with a turn halfway) on a single breath more easily than I can do 20 yards right off the bat.

And yeah, anyone who can swim the distance shouldn't have any trouble making 300 (or 400) yards in 14 minutes.

Guy

 

[lamont]

You should be able to backstroke the 400yd and do it in under 14 mins, it isn't a very fast pace.

My freestyle 400yd is about 10m30s and that actually sucks pretty bad.

For 500yd (T2/C2) you probably can't backstroke that one, at least not the whole way. And with my freestyle speed I can only do that in about 13m comfortably. A good swimmer, though, can probably comfortably do 500yd in ~8m or so. A lot of it is technique.

A couple beginner things to work on:

- Learning freestyle is mostly about learning how to breathe so that you don't get chlorine up your nose which just takes practice. Try going to the pool 3 times a week for a solid month, and if you put some solid time towards freestyle you'll get better at it.
- Keep your head down and try to keep your body horizontal (that one should sound familiar)
- Focus on pulling complete strokes -- extend your arms as far as you can in front of you and pull all the way back (either for backstroke or freestyle this will help improve your efficiency).
- I find that trying to kick harder gets minimal speed improvements but tires me out faster due to using the big leg muscles more, my arms work better for swimming than my legs -- you need to at least kick enough to stay fairly horizontal though. Of course if you're trying to get a workout and tire yourself out, kick as hard as you can...

And mostly the difference I see between the people in the slow lane and the medium lane is that the people in the slow lane keep their head out of the water, and have terrible trim in the water. You've got to get comfortable with your face in the water and get horizontal...

 

[bs63366]

lamont,

Thanks for the pointers, I will be sure to be paying attention to that while I am doing my swimming in the pool.

 

[Blackwood]

A couple beginner things to work on:

- Focus on pulling complete strokes -- extend your arms as far as you can in front of you and pull all the way back (either for backstroke or freestyle this will help improve your efficiency).

Also note the front crawl is has a two-phase power stroke: You start by pulling and end by pushing. Really try to shove the water at the end of the power cycle.

Many people hold their arms out wide and windmill in the water (i.e. 'pulling' the whole time). This puts a lot of strain on the shoulders, and it's not very effective. It's best to keep your hands inside the area between your shoulder blades. I could touch my sternum with my thumb at about the transition point from pull to push.

- I find that trying to kick harder gets minimal speed improvements but tires me out faster due to using the big leg muscles more, my arms work better for swimming than my legs -- you need to at least kick enough to stay fairly horizontal though. Of course if you're trying to get a workout and tire yourself out, kick as hard as you can...

Yah. Really good forward crawl swimmers (e.g. Micheal Phelps) probably get something like 25% of their speed from the kick. I get about 10% on average (I spent some time swimming at a sustainable pace, both kicking and using a pull buoy so as to not kick). I was about 10% faster when I kicked, but like you said it's substantially more tiring.

However, it's important to kick because a) it keeps you balanced and b) it promotes good flat body position in the water. If you don't kick, your legs will droop (unless you are using something like the buoy above), and you'll thus create a lot more drag.

 

[TSandM]

I actually found buying the Total Immersion book and freestyle video was very helpful. Danny Riordan swears by TI; apparently he was originally a very poor swimmer, and used the program to improve. I have not taken one of their clinics, because I choke on the cost. And I'm still not a GOOD swimmer, but I can now swim laps in the crawl, which I couldn't do at all when I took Fundies, or C1 for that matter.

 

[supersand]

I'll second the total immersion book and video. They really break the stroke down into individual managable pieces. The trim and balance info presented for swimming might even help with diving as well. Gets you thinking about streamlining and body positioning and how important they are if you want to move through water efficiently.

-Erik

 

[Guy Alcala]

I'll second the total immersion book and video. They really break the stroke down into individual managable pieces. The trim and balance info presented for swimming might even help with diving as well. Gets you thinking about streamlining and body positioning and how important they are if you want to move through water efficiently.

-Erik

I don't think there's any might about it

Guy

 

[aMc10]

Is the breath hold swim done in a swimsuit or full gear?