[roots]

Is this the place to start a swimming discussion?<br><br>
Just wondering, since I normally have no clue when I go for lap swims.<br><br>
I've been a swimmer most of my life, but never in organized team or for really any purpose. As I've ventured into marathoning, over the past couple years I've made it a goal to add one swim per week for cross-training purposes. I started out with 20 min and progressed to a 40 minute swim. Nothing fancy, just freestyle and breaststroke.<br><br>
I feel like a noob, but each week it gets easier. I even think I can do a flip-turn now. Half the time I even get it right and pull it off.<br><br>
I have a question. Lately, I've been using one of the foam thingys (don't know the name) that isolates the torso. So the swim becomes all arms and pulling. My swim has been about 2/3 free and 1/3 pulling. Is this good, or am I cheating myself?<br><br>
Can I count my yards when I use the aid?<br><br>
Thanks for the input.<br>
~clueless swimmer.

 

[sistergoldenhair]

I'm pretty sure the "thing" is a pool buoy. Other than that, I am an equally clueless weekly lap swimmer, so hopefully a "real" swimmer or two will pop in!<br><br>
I swim for about an hour at a time, varying kick, freestyle sprints, longer-slower freestyle sets, and breastsroke.<br><br>
My big question is my kick has NO oomph. I have strong legs, but in the water it's like I'm kicking in place. Any ideas on how to make it more powerful?

 

[wyrillco]

I am so not an expert.<br><br>
I just bought the Total Immersion DVD and am going to attempt to learn to better my stroke thru it. I'm hoping to meet with a TI coach in a few weeks as well.<br><br>
I'm so slow at swimming.

 

[drgenie]

Doing sprints with the kickboard to isolate your legs might help with the power, kinda how we do track repeats in running. I swam in high school and we always did drills like that to increase leg strength and speed. I guess it's that same fast twitch principle as power bursts in running??<br><br>
I'll let Tithers address this in more detail, but from what I remember when I was dating a triathlete, was that in tris you don't want to kick too much, it is supposed to be more about the arm pull, so that you save your legs for the other two events. It really depends on what you are looking to get out of the swim. If you're just swimming for cross training, then kick away. If you're training for a tri, the upper body strength is, I think, more important. But again, I was just a tri sidekick, although I did do some brick workouts with him for company, and I started swimming again because I really enjoyed it. But my event was the backstroke, and that's a whole different animal than freestyle.

 

[Tithers]

Gah..even with the kickboard I have no power!<br><br>
I don't kick to move per se...I kick to keep my legs afloat to put myself in the total immersion "downhill" position. I started out with TI! Great for balance and drills, etc. I developed some funny habits from TI which got corrected after a few swim lessons and clinics.<br><br>
I like the pull bouy...but kickboard helps isolate the correct muscles to kick from...your hips and butt. At least-that's where it burns when I kick.<br><br>
I did an OWS today and noticed my legs were tired b/c I was kicking too much. I also mostly kick when I rotate from side to side.