Olympics 1500m swim - Sun Yang - Mr. Smooth?

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2012-08-06 7:56 AM

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Subject: Olympics 1500m swim - Sun Yang - Mr. Smooth?

I have been watching most of the Olympics live via streaming and I watched the men's 1500m swimming final the other day.  Sun Yang of China easily broke the WR and won the event easily.

All of the Olympic swimmers are amazing, but his stroke was eye-opening to me.  What really struck me was the ease, the smoothness, and the fluidity of his stroke.  The underwater camera shots were amazing.  He didn't seem to be working hard at all - though of course he was.  There is an animated Mr. Smooth on the http://www.swimsmooth.comwebsite.  I can't help thinking they could easily substitute a video of Sun Yang swimming and achieve the same result.

I'm trying to get better at swimming and have some obvious swim flaws to work out.  I have the endurance but no speed yet.  I can't help thinking that if I could study his stroke for a few hours and try to emulate it I would certainly get better.

Bill



Edited by breger1 2012-08-06 7:59 AM

2012-08-06 2:36 PM
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Subject: RE: Olympics 1500m swim - Sun Yang - Mr. Smooth?
I haven't watched the event yet, but I did watch him get the earlier world record.  He is amazingly smooth and efficient.  Emulating his stroke would do wonders for just about anyone swimming long distance.
2012-08-06 3:26 PM
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Subject: RE: Olympics 1500m swim - Sun Yang - Mr. Smooth?

the people at swim smooth analyzed sun yang's stroke

http://www.feelforthewater.com/2011/08/our-stroke-analysis-two-best-1500m.html

 

good read...

Sun has an amazingly long stroke, perhaps the longest we've ever seen in the elite swimming world. It looks like he's *gliding* down the pool but be very careful - it's almost entirely an illusion due to the sheer length of his stroke. Here's some consecutive frames from his video, 0.04 seconds apart:

2012-08-06 3:43 PM
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Subject: RE: Olympics 1500m swim - Sun Yang - Mr. Smooth?

Thanks for that link/blog.  I'm going to spend some time looking over that one and thinking about wht they're saying.

Bill

2012-08-06 5:02 PM
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Subject: RE: Olympics 1500m swim - Sun Yang - Mr. Smooth?

Actually I REALLY don't like Sun Yung's kick. I haven't read the article if they tapped on it yet. I'm obviously not at a place to criticize him because I wasn't racing that event, but as blisteringly fast as he is, he seemed to not get much power from the rear. He could be a bunch faster with a steady kick tempo

Heavy respect for the guy his emotional shout at the end made me tear up Cry

2012-08-06 5:10 PM
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Subject: RE: Olympics 1500m swim - Sun Yang - Mr. Smooth?
I noticed the kick....I also noticed that he seemed to STOP kicking for a second whenever he took a breath. Am I right?? I was wondering if I should try that. My issue is that I try to kick too hard and whenever I roll, it's like my legs are fighting against the rest of my body.

2012-08-06 5:12 PM
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Subject: RE: Olympics 1500m swim - Sun Yang - Mr. Smooth?
odpaul7 - 2012-08-06 6:02 PM

Actually I REALLY don't like Sun Yung's kick. I haven't read the article if they tapped on it yet. I'm obviously not at a place to criticize him because I wasn't racing that event, but as blisteringly fast as he is, he seemed to not get much power from the rear. He could be a bunch faster with a steady kick tempo

Heavy respect for the guy his emotional shout at the end made me tear up Cry

Actually- in video of his world record 1500 he appears to save his legs for the end.  Very easy kick (sometimes 2bt plus added (apparently) passive leg motion), but much more vigorous down the stretch. 

What's not to like about a WR?????

2012-08-06 5:26 PM
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Subject: RE: Olympics 1500m swim - Sun Yang - Mr. Smooth?

Actually- in video of his world record 1500 he appears to save his legs for the end.  Very easy kick (sometimes 2bt plus added (apparently) passive leg motion), but much more vigorous down the stretch. 

What's not to like about a WR?????

Oh I love that he won, he definitely deserves it! He sped up the kick in the last 100m I noticed. it was probably just an energy conservation thing but I still wonder if the last 100-200m split speed drop from his kicking would have been outweighed by the time he'd have sped up throughout the other 1300m in the race with a 6-beat kick.

I'm sure he's worked on it haha but I'm just a graduated high school swimmer. The worlds fastest 1500m swimmer gets to pick his stroke I'm sure x)

2012-08-06 5:30 PM
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Subject: RE: Olympics 1500m swim - Sun Yang - Mr. Smooth?

runk8run - 2012-08-06 5:10 PM I noticed the kick....I also noticed that he seemed to STOP kicking for a second whenever he took a breath. Am I right?? I was wondering if I should try that. My issue is that I try to kick too hard and whenever I roll, it's like my legs are fighting against the rest of my body.

Alleviating that comes with yardage. You'll eventually get the rhythm down just right. Remember, your kick should be contained in probably the size of a traffic cone. if you're kicking too hard you're probably kicking too wide. Keep it small.

a drill you can do is the 6-count kick where you just stay on one side, count every time your right or left leg (whichever side you're dominant on) reaches the bottom of the kick 6 times, take a stroke and rotate to the other side. It feels very awkward at first; try to time it so it feels smooth. It might take a couple hundred yards to get it "just right".

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