Swim video website

This is one thing that seems to gets discussed alot. But I'm still not convinced it's the greatest thing to do and that is to mimic the form of competative swimmers. Maybe is has benefit for competing in sprint distances where the swim is short.

I think of it this way. Say you want to drive 300 miles. If you want to get there the fastest, you drive a Ferrari. If you want to get there using the least amount of gas, drive a Toyota Prius. The Ferrari's sole purpose is to go fast as possible and uses an extreme amount of gas. The Prius gets there and uses very little gas.

So, the idea in triathlon is to have enough energy left to finish the bike and run. The professional swimmers tailor their form for one purpose only, to go a short distance insanely fast with no reguard to energy consumption. But in triathlon, energy consumption is one of the most important things.

So why bother watching videos of the pro's in competition? I would much rather see videos of professional triathlete's training in the pool or openwater and mimic them.

Sorry, I'm not trying to be negative but I don't understand the point of watching pro swimmers compete.

But I will be the first to admit, I'm nowhere close to being a great swimmer and I have alot to learn.

Given the high correlation between swimming fast and swimming efficiently, I think a lot can be learned from watching really fast swimmers. Now granted, we'll probably not imitate their kick. But a LOT can be learned from things like position of hips, head, motion of the catch, timing and amount of body rotation, etc.

Dwayne, thanks for posting that. Great link!

You bring up a great point but I think those swimmers have awesome technique and can swim that way with less effort. While I have to work harder to swim 2:00/100's, they do it effortlessly. If I could capture just a little of their "perfect" technique I could get to the bike with less energy wasted. **I'm definitely not an expert either and all I've done so far are sprints.

I guess my question is how do you tell what part of their technique is wasting energy and what part is making you more efficient?

Maybe it's a matter of trial, error, and seeing what works for you.

Swimming pool... here we come!!!

I'm far from an expert swimmer. But I'll tell you a few things that are absolutely part of an efficient stroke.

1) Body position. See where the hips are relative to the surface. See where the head is relative to the body/spine as well as the surface.

2) Position of the lead arm when the other arm enters the water.

3) Amount and timing of the body rotation.

4) Much lesser impact than the above 3: Location of the hand relative to the hip when it leaves the water.



The one factor that I'm sure is not part of a really efficient stroke vs a really fast stroke is the kick. Triathletes will want to minimize the kick as much as possible to save the legs for bike and run.

I think Ironman2010 makes a good point and, if I find any videos of professional triathlete's training in the pool or openwater, I will certainly post them. In the mean time videos like these are the best illustrations of swim technique that I can find.

At least one of these shows Hackett in a 1500m swim. Even if it is a stand-alone swim, the conservation of energy he demostrates with his unusual kick is interesting.

I don't try to imitate the form of sprinters either. I try to notice where they are doing something that wouldn't be as effective over longer distances and instead pick out the movements that might help me. Thorpe, for instance, is not rolling as much or pulling as deeply as my swim coach has been advising though I find myself doing the same things in shorter sprints. He is, however, using front quadrant swimming which my coach has had me working towards. He also keeps his chest deeper than I can, so far, even though it seems to tilt his head upwards a bit. I want to experiment with that more too.

These examples may not be perfect for us but I think there is lots to be learned in them.

Edit: cross posted with Rob. Interesting that we both focused on some of the same points.


Edited by Micawber 2006-12-22 12:21 PM

Thanks for posting. They make it look so easy.