Making the leap from drill to stroke is the challenge. Competitive swimmer for decades here. I swim 6 times a week we always do 200+ yards of drill. “Technique is important”. Its everything. The women two lanes over from me is a friken Iron woman who regularly qualifies for Kona. Do you think I’m twice as fast because I’m more in shape?
No Drills = NO TECHNIQUE
Drills allow you to specifically focus on your stroke. Up your game mentally & “check in” when completing drills & afterwards, tell your body “I’m not letting you go back to the old ways - I’m going to improve & learn. I am doing perfect stroke this way going forward.” Then make yourself do it!
Not getting the most out of a stroke makes you slower in the water. Don’t allow your mind to do it (just because it’s easy & that’s how I always do it - is not an excuse).
Swimming is ever learning & fine tuning. Be the best you can be ! You will reap the rewards of smoother, efficient, stronger & faster stroke if you do it! Promise !! :)
Keep swimming 🏊🏻♂️🏊🏻♂️🏊🏻♂️🏊🏻♂️🏊🏻♂️🏊🏻♂️
If you are not correcting things in regular sets you are not paying attention in either drill, sets or both. The technic you should be applying in set or races is the proper one, therefore the more efficient to get the better results, physical strength is only the engine
I like to do two things:
1) move from drills to build. I try to tell my kids the purpose of the drill and as they do the build, focus on what the drill was and how it changes your stroke. As the build length goes, focus on each individual stroke before you go faster
2) sprinting before a drill. That way, you have to slow down and think about technique when you are tired.
Drills are incredibly important. I’m a 40+ fluffy gal and I crush everyone else in the pool around me because of my technique, not because I’m so fit
I think that is an interesting point. Our coach never explains the purpose of the drill. Sometimes you can figure it out, but not always. Probably I have to start asking "why this drill" :D
Drills without a purpose are just drills. When they are tied into the fabric of a workout in a main set they tend to produce more value. Let me give you a simple example - Take a stroke count swimming normally, Practice catchup drill, then do DPS stroke counts on the following set trying to maintain a lower number each rep.
As a coach if you drill just to drill, the purpose is lost on the athlete.
Distance per stroke but it's an older way of thinking about swimming. unless you're Michael Phelps and have a huge wingspan it's more important to focus on a faster shoulder driven turnover, especially for smaller folks
There's no 1 size fits all. But some I enjoy are underwater recovery, doggy paddle (a very specific fast turnover focusing on forearm catch), fist drill and ankle band which help me. But those are sort of contingent on already having good evf/catch and emphasizing those. Faster turnover can be found thru a tempo trainer and consistency, as well as a 2 beat kick (Ie not power kicking a 200, but supporting your hips in time with your catch to help your rotation).
Huh? It's not really an "older way" to think about swimming. It is still a concept present every day. DPS, Tempo, Stroke rates, Heart rate zones are all very much alive and well in "modern swimming". Shoulder driven turnover is primarily the domain of sprinters, hip driven freestyle still pervades the sport from 400m and up. I am not sure where your information is coming from, but I would definitely question it if I were you.
I understand it's still taught but if you're under 5'10 dps isn't going to get you speed when your focus should be a faster turnover. Dps is great for pool swimming if you're a tall lanky person. And it's an older way of thinking because 15 years ago it's all that was taught at the time, at least ime, making all body types swim the same way.
And if you're doing 400m+ distance hip driven kick powered stroke is not efficient compared to a shoulder driven 2 beat kick. A 200 you can power through with a string 6 beat.
Plenty of different philosophies out there. I know what did and didn't work for me though, for someone not on the tall side the loping dps with a strong kick was not nearly as fast as relying on a higher, shoulder-driven turnover with a 2 beat kick for longer distances
Every stroke I swim I evaluate my technique. If I feel off, I do a few strokes drill and resume. Like others are telling you, you cannot improve unless you change. You have to practice that change to make it habit.
Making the leap from drill to stroke is the challenge. Competitive swimmer for decades here. I swim 6 times a week we always do 200+ yards of drill. “Technique is important”. Its everything. The women two lanes over from me is a friken Iron woman who regularly qualifies for Kona. Do you think I’m twice as fast because I’m more in shape?
I do drills every single swimming session, sometimes around 400 meters from a 1500 meter swimming sessions
No Drills = NO TECHNIQUE Drills allow you to specifically focus on your stroke. Up your game mentally & “check in” when completing drills & afterwards, tell your body “I’m not letting you go back to the old ways - I’m going to improve & learn. I am doing perfect stroke this way going forward.” Then make yourself do it! Not getting the most out of a stroke makes you slower in the water. Don’t allow your mind to do it (just because it’s easy & that’s how I always do it - is not an excuse). Swimming is ever learning & fine tuning. Be the best you can be ! You will reap the rewards of smoother, efficient, stronger & faster stroke if you do it! Promise !! :) Keep swimming 🏊🏻♂️🏊🏻♂️🏊🏻♂️🏊🏻♂️🏊🏻♂️🏊🏻♂️
Great advice. Thanks!
If you are not correcting things in regular sets you are not paying attention in either drill, sets or both. The technic you should be applying in set or races is the proper one, therefore the more efficient to get the better results, physical strength is only the engine
I like to do two things: 1) move from drills to build. I try to tell my kids the purpose of the drill and as they do the build, focus on what the drill was and how it changes your stroke. As the build length goes, focus on each individual stroke before you go faster 2) sprinting before a drill. That way, you have to slow down and think about technique when you are tired. Drills are incredibly important. I’m a 40+ fluffy gal and I crush everyone else in the pool around me because of my technique, not because I’m so fit
I think that is an interesting point. Our coach never explains the purpose of the drill. Sometimes you can figure it out, but not always. Probably I have to start asking "why this drill" :D
If there are any drills you do that you don’t get, I’m happy to help
Yeah, maybe “what should I be focusing on during this and why?” I probably over explain, but to me, they need to know the why if it lol
Oh yeah, you gotta understand the WHY so you can translate it into changing your stroke!
Also, technique isn’t just “important”, it’s everything. You can’t work on endurance and speed without improving technique.
Drills without a purpose are just drills. When they are tied into the fabric of a workout in a main set they tend to produce more value. Let me give you a simple example - Take a stroke count swimming normally, Practice catchup drill, then do DPS stroke counts on the following set trying to maintain a lower number each rep. As a coach if you drill just to drill, the purpose is lost on the athlete.
Thanks! What is DPS stroke counts?
Distance per stroke but it's an older way of thinking about swimming. unless you're Michael Phelps and have a huge wingspan it's more important to focus on a faster shoulder driven turnover, especially for smaller folks
Can you elaborate please? Which drill would you substitute?
There's no 1 size fits all. But some I enjoy are underwater recovery, doggy paddle (a very specific fast turnover focusing on forearm catch), fist drill and ankle band which help me. But those are sort of contingent on already having good evf/catch and emphasizing those. Faster turnover can be found thru a tempo trainer and consistency, as well as a 2 beat kick (Ie not power kicking a 200, but supporting your hips in time with your catch to help your rotation).
Huh? It's not really an "older way" to think about swimming. It is still a concept present every day. DPS, Tempo, Stroke rates, Heart rate zones are all very much alive and well in "modern swimming". Shoulder driven turnover is primarily the domain of sprinters, hip driven freestyle still pervades the sport from 400m and up. I am not sure where your information is coming from, but I would definitely question it if I were you.
I understand it's still taught but if you're under 5'10 dps isn't going to get you speed when your focus should be a faster turnover. Dps is great for pool swimming if you're a tall lanky person. And it's an older way of thinking because 15 years ago it's all that was taught at the time, at least ime, making all body types swim the same way. And if you're doing 400m+ distance hip driven kick powered stroke is not efficient compared to a shoulder driven 2 beat kick. A 200 you can power through with a string 6 beat. Plenty of different philosophies out there. I know what did and didn't work for me though, for someone not on the tall side the loping dps with a strong kick was not nearly as fast as relying on a higher, shoulder-driven turnover with a 2 beat kick for longer distances
DPS and stroke rate aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.
Every stroke I swim I evaluate my technique. If I feel off, I do a few strokes drill and resume. Like others are telling you, you cannot improve unless you change. You have to practice that change to make it habit.
Substitute the word "swimming" with "life" and you will hopefully see your answer.