How many here swim for fitness or competition?

[swimmy]

A good recovery isn't pretty, Norf. There's a lot to it. First, it starts as the finish to the pull, meaning at the end of a full pull your hand is as far back as you can get it with that shoulder even pulled back. Meanwhile the other shoulder is pushed forward as its arm is stretched out finishing its recovery, in the rest mode. Your shoulders in this position make you an arrow. With the hand back the recovery starts as the elbow coming up. The hand only lifts slightly, the fingertips come forward just above the water but the elbow is way up. The hand comes forward as fast as possible, you want to hurry up and get it all the way forward and in the water and that shoulder forward also, into its rest moment. The hand should enter the water finger tips first at shoulder width, NEVER crossing over the centerline of your body in front of you. That's it, the recovery in a nutshell, the High Elbow version. But first we get the kick right.... That perfect, powerful kick is absolutely crucial...
Holding breath is only okay in a sprint up to fifty yards but most great swimmers will take one after surfacing from the turn on a 50 in a short course pool, in a long course it's common to see no breath taken. But that's a whole different swim, usually a shoulder driven freestyle, unlike the forward quadrant stroke whose recovery I described above.
Get that fricking flip turn mastered. Practice it, make EVERY turn a flip without fail.
Come swim with me any time you want, I'm always glad to help.

[BJE]

I've been practicing my flip turns but they can't really be called turns yet. I got a couple of pretty good ones in yesterday, but I also hit my elbow on the bottom of the pool while attempting a turn and it still hurts.

[merken]

BJE, don't be too hard on yourself for needing to stop and rest every now and then. There is no way I (or anyone, really) could swim the full 90-minute practice without a rest. Our coach builds in rest periods for us. Depending on the workout, we might rest every couple of minutes, or every 15 or so.

You say you want to "own" the pool. I've seen plenty of people get in and go all out for a few minutes, only to stop and have to get out because they've exhausted themselves too quickly by only focusing on speed and not form. People who don't know the first thing about form may be impressed by speed and flip turns, but those of us watching who know the strokes well won't be so impressed. Slow and steady wins the race, IMO. If someone's got great form and can go at it for 45 minutes, I'm going to be more "impressed" than if someone jumps in, goes balls-to-the-wall with their head up 3/4 of the time, and then has to get out again 5 minutes later.

[swimmy]

Correct, Merken. Thrashing the water is not ever going to be fast. Form and efficiency have to become virtually automatic and that comes with practice. What I said previously about reaching the front arm forward in its rest while the rear hand is finishing the stroke as far back as possible, with the shoulders angled is absolutely critical to slipping through the water. See it standing in front of a mirror. Raise one arm up some and let the other hang down, look at your shoulders. They are flat and horizontal. Hard to push through the water. Now stretch both arms as far as they'll go, raising one shoulder and dropping the other. Notice you have just transformed into a sleek arrow. Do this with EVERY stroke. Again that kick has to be right and head position proper. Nose down. Raise it only to see the wall as you approach it, you know its coming because with nose down you saw the T at the end of the lane line. Learn to recognize that distance from the wall that works for flip turn, it changes as your ability and speed increase. At just the right time, one hand is forward, the other is back. Make that back hand STAY BACK and straight, because it is already pointing in the direction you want to switch to! The other hand begins its stroke but you want your head and shoulders to follow it, so like doing a situp, your core muscles are throwing your head and shoulders down to follow your hand in a somersault. Your knees come up and you form a ball doing this somersault. Your feet splash into the water near the wall, you instantly find the wall with your feet and push off. Meanwhile the hand you followed is now pointing the direction your other hand stayed, join them together to form the streamline, you are on your back pushing off the wall. Right now is the fastest you go in your entire swim. Add a couple dolphin kicks as you roll onto your belly, surface and swim. EASY. LOL. PRACTICE.

[...:::sam:::...]

BJE, don't be too hard on yourself for needing to stop and rest every now and then. There is no way I (or anyone, really) could swim the full 90-minute practice without a rest. Our coach builds in rest periods for us. Depending on the workout, we might rest every couple of minutes, or every 15 or so.

You say you want to "own" the pool. I've seen plenty of people get in and go all out for a few minutes, only to stop and have to get out because they've exhausted themselves too quickly by only focusing on speed and not form. People who don't know the first thing about form may be impressed by speed and flip turns, but those of us watching who know the strokes well won't be so impressed. Slow and steady wins the race, IMO. If someone's got great form and can go at it for 45 minutes, I'm going to be more "impressed" than if someone jumps in, goes balls-to-the-wall with their head up 3/4 of the time, and then has to get out again 5 minutes later.

We do 90min without a rest once a week when building into the racing season, but it has to be put into context. That type of training is about building endurance for long course racing. But I agree that short sets with breaks and drills however are where strength and speed are built irrespective of if you're just looking to improve, short or long. For breathing, make sure all of that air in your lungs gets turned into a long stream of bubbles starting from as soon as your breath in stops until you've rotated for the next breath.

[Thom]

I've been practicing my flip turns but they can't really be called turns yet. I got a couple of pretty good ones in yesterday, but I also hit my elbow on the bottom of the pool while attempting a turn and it still hurts.

Some lap pools are very shallow at one end. Anyway, I still recommend the DVD on turn techniques from the Total Immersion site. ( totalimmersion.net ) I bought my first videos from them twenty years ago. They pretty much have things down to a science.

[52dno98]

Joined a new gym this week and got my first swim in this morning. There were a few guys in jammers, one guy in a squarecut, and me in my blue and red Arena suit. There's a long hallway between the men's locker room and the indoor pool with full height windows into the main weight room. Once I get my bearings after a few visits I think I'm going to start storing my street clothes in a locker so I can walk by the weight room in just goggles and my suit.