Second, training with all four strokes produces more training adaptations. As I explained in Chapter 15, once the body acclimates to any type of training, the opportunity for further adaptation decreases. The more one-dimensional a training program, the more quickly the body adapts, limiting your potential for improvement. Employing more modes of training gives you more opportunities to get your body thinking: "This is a new task; I'd better attack it with all the vigor I have available." One workshop alum (a triathlete and recent convert to four-stroke training) told us in a recent e-mail: "I finally realized that when I swim just freestyle, my body experiences a limited range of effort and fatigue. It's kind of like running or biking the same loop every day — you know every dip and hill, and have cracked their codes so well that your body runs on auto-pilot. Swimming a different stroke is like tackling a brand new course. My body learns to deal with unexpected demands — just as it will have to do when I race on an unfamiliar course or under unpredictable conditions. The physical and mental benefits have been powerful."
Third, a key ingredient of a quality workout is using as much of the body's muscle tissue as possible. Freestyle workouts use the same muscle groups over and over. Training in a medley of strokes (or drills) recruits the largest number of muscle groups possible. Such workouts are also less likely to cause overuse injuries. By spreading the workload over more joints and movement patterns, you reduce the potential for repetitive overwork in any particular motion.
Fourth, my motivation and enjoyment are greater when I vary my training. With a variety of strokes and drills, I can set an endless range of personal goals, and devise an endless number of interesting, challenging workouts to achieve them. I get as much of a charge from a personal-best breaststroke swimming-golf score as I do from improving my freestyle golf score. And since my potential in the other strokes remains relatively less tapped than in free, personal training achievements happen with greater frequency, keeping me fresher both mentally and physically.
For all these reasons, I never "go through the motions" on the other strokes, just because they're not freestyle. I try to swim them with the same high expectations as in freestyle. The better the quality of my interaction with the water in any form, the more I learn about aquatic fluency and economy in general. Working on this puzzle in so many varied ways keeps my learning curve steep and my interest high.
In some cases, the crossover learning is quite direct. Swimming or drilling in backstroke provide different insights about body balance, alignment, and rotation than those I learn when doing freestyle, but the learning translates directly to my freestyle. The other strokes make my freestyle better in less direct, but still valuable ways. Simply by increasing the variety of my interactions with the water, my body becomes a better instrument for moving through water. And when that happens, my freestyle improves. I'd guess I've stretched my horizon for continued freestyle improvement by a good ten years, simply by training in such a multi-dimensional way.
Best of all, to gain such benefits yourself doesn't mean you need to swim an advanced or race-legal butterfly or breaststroke. You can learn precisely the lessons you are ready to absorb by practicing fluent, coordinated movement in whatever way you're able. Backstroke drills can teach you lessons just as valuable as backstroke swimming. Short-axis drills may teach you even more than swimming whole-stroke in fly or breast because the full strokes require more advanced skills. Fly and breast drills can be quite simple and easy to learn, and you'll benefit more by practicing smooth, fluent, and effortless "butterfly-like-movement" in a drill than by swimming butterstruggle.
You can teach yourself an entire range of "different strokes" skills with the aid of the Four Strokes Made Easy DVD. Here's a quick set of efficient-swimming tips for when you do try those other strokes:
Fishlike Backstroke
As in free, swim backstroke mainly on your side. Your power is limited when you swim "upside down and backwards," so it's even more important to be "slippery."
Body/Head Position
• Hide your head, keeping it completely still and your chin slightly tucked.
• Lean on your upper back as you roll from side to side.
Legs
• Kick compactly with a long, supple leg, with no knee bend and with your feet toed in slightly.
• Your kick rotates as your body rolls; the beat is generally more steady than in freestyle.
Arms
• Stretch your bodyline as your hand slices cleanly and deeply (pinkie first) into the water.
• Keep arms exactly opposite each other and linked to body-roll rhythms.
• Fistgloves® can be even more valuable in backstroke than in freestyle.
Fishlike Butterfly
Never practice "butterstruggle." Don't fight gravity; hug the surface at all times. Keep your head in a neutral position during and after breathing.
Body/Head Position
• Swim as close to the surface — both above and below — as possible; channel your energy forward, not up and down.
• Keep your head as close as possible to a neutral position at all times; use a "sneaky breath."
• Keep legs relaxed and let them follow core-body undulation.
Arms
• Land forward; don't crash or dive down after recovery.
• To stroke, sweep your hands in toward your chin, then immediately flare them out to a "karate-chop" exit.
• Recover with a relaxed, sweeping motion.
Breathing
• Breathe early in the pull, without raising or jutting your chin.
• Look down slightly ("sneaky" breath).
Fishlike Breaststroke
The keys to efficiency are to streamline your entire body as you finish each stroke and to keep your head in a neutral position at all times.
Body/Head Position
• Look down slightly as you breathe, and keep your head in line with your spine — as if wearing a neck brace.
• Stretch and streamline your body fully at the end of each stroke.
Legs
• "Sneak" the legs up, inside the "hole" your body travels through.
• "Grab" water at top of kick, then push it back with feet wider than hips
• Finish by pointing your toes, and squeezing the water from between your feet and legs.
Arms
• Keep pull compact and quick; better too small than too big.
• Always keep hands where you can see them — as far forward as possible during entire pull.
• After outsweep, spin your hands directly back to meet far in front of your face.
Timing
• Initiate recovery by kicking your hands forward.
• Your hands should reach full extension as your face lays back on the water.
• Change your rhythm in the core, not in your arms and legs. Rock your chest and hips slowly when swimming slowly. Rock them faster to swim faster.
Sample All-Stroke Training Session
Warmup
400 Mixed Strokes (25FR+25BK+25BR...)
4 x 50 short-axis pulsing with fins
(25 Head Lead—25 Hand Lead)
Swimming Golf Set (all with fistgloves®)
Descend golf score on each round.
4 x 50 BK
4 x 50 (25BK+25FR)
4 x 50 FR
Stroke-Counting Set
5 x 100, maintaining same total stroke count on all five 100s
1st 100: BK
2nd 100: 75BK+25FR
3rd 100: 50BK+50FR
4th 100: 25BK+75FR
5th 100: 100 FR
Main Set
4 rounds of 3 x 100
1st 100 of each Round: BK Slide & Glide drill
2nd 100 of each Round: IM Silent and count strokes
3rd 100 of each Round: FR Brisk and count strokes
Use 100 BK and 100 IM as active recover}', allowing stronger, faster swims on the four repeats of 100 FR.
Cooldown
/> 6 x 50 Long-Axis Combo (1st 25: 4BK/3FR, 2nd 25: 3BK/4FR)
Total Yardage: 3200
The drills mentioned in this practice and throughout this book are described and illustrated in the Four Strokes Made Easy DVD. For more sample training sets, see the "Train with Terry" column published in Total Swim on our website.
There you have it, all the forms of training you could possibly need to do. But you're wondering when we'll tell you how to use your buoys and paddles. Well, turn to Chapter 18 to find out.
Chapter 18
Pool Tools: Less Is More
As I mention adding "tools" to your skill set, you may be wondering where does all that seemingly essential stuff — kickboards, pull buoys, and hand paddles — fit in the Total Immersion program? They don't, actually, except in specialized cases. It's true that virtually everyone uses them, but this is one of those cases where most folks just have the wrong idea about what these training aids really do. So let's take a critical look at training tools.
Of all the elements that make up the inexact gift known as "swimming talent," the most considerable is extraordinary kinesthetic awareness — gifted swimmers just know how to work with the water better than anyone else to achieve less resistance and fluid movement. But, as I've tried to make clear, a surprising amount of what coaches call "talent" is learnable. "Average" swimmers can unquestionably heighten their own kinesthetic awareness (with drills, SSPs, stroke counting, fistgloves®, etc.) and doing so will always produce more improvement, more quickly, than anything under the heading of "work." Most training tools have two drawbacks: (1) they encourage you to focus on effort, rather than efficiency; or (2) they actively interfere with your ability to improve your kinesthetic awareness. Finally, for developing swimmers and triathletes (athletes who have a large set of skills to acquire and a limited amount of pool time to
do so), there is also the issue of prioritizing precious time for activities that have the largest value. TI methods help you swim better immediately. Buoys, boards, and paddles simply don't.
Just Say No to Kickboards
Let's cover the shortcomings of each, starting with kickboards. Earlier, I wrote that the ideal kick for a triathlete, or anyone swimming longer distances, is one that is non-overt and nearly effortless. But the main idea of kickboard training is to get your legs in shape for working harder. And they don't even do that. The flutter used on a kickboard — with arms, torso and hips rigidly locked in place — is so different from the kick swimmers use when swimming that kickboard sets have zero value for developing a synergistic, non-overt kick. Ditto for "conditioning your legs."
Because your legs move so differently when kicking on a board than while swimming, the only thing a kickboard really trains you for is pushing a kickboard. If someone held a bizarre triathlon that required the swim leg to be done on a kickboard, then training with one would make sense; otherwise, it's a total waste of time! If you want your legs to be "in shape" for swimming, the relaxed kicking you do while practicing TI drills conditions your legs to do exactly what they need to do when you race: stay relaxed. You are dispensed from using a kickboard ever again.
Lose the Buoy
Pull buoys have one central drawback: They fool you into thinking you've solved balance. They're so popular with triathletes—and thousands of other swimmers — because poor balance is such a common problem. So long as you have a buoy on, it supports your hips and legs. You feel better and swim faster. Naturally you want to use it more and more. The problem is that using it never seems to teach you how to stay balanced after you take the buoy off. As soon as you remove the buoy, that sinking feeling is right back and you're no better off than you were before. Want to feel better without the buoy — permanently? Balance drills, SSPs such as Hiding Your Head and Swimming Downhill, and swimming with fistgloves® produce lasting lessons in how to stay balanced while you swim.
And forget the idea that training with a buoy strengthens your pull by overloading and isolating your arms. In fact, if anything, it does just the opposite. Because the artificial buoyancy of the buoy raises your body in the water, it underloads your arms — no training benefit at all. That would be bad enough, but using a buoy can actually hurt your stroking power. That's because power doesn't come from the arms; it comes from core-body rotation. Buoys can easily inhibit your body roll, interfering with your rhythm and power. Fortunately, once you do learn balance, putting on a buoy should feel all wrong, which will soon discourage you from using one.
The sole circumstance in which there might be some value in using a buoy is this: If you are one of those extremely lean and/or densely muscled athletes who seems permanently balance-challenged.. .if you experience what feels like terminal struggle while doing balance drills.. .if you have a "frantic" kick.. .you may be able to selectively use a buoy as an alternate way to learn balance. Using a fairly small, light buoy, swim a relaxed 25. Keep your head hidden and swim as silently as you can. As you do, tune in to how it feels to be supported, to be able to float an unhurried arm forward and swim a little "taller," to be able to let go of your kick. Can't feel it after one length? Do a few more 25s that way. When those sensations come, just capture and imprint them. Then remove the buoy and swim 2 x 25s without it. Hide your head and swim downhill. Swim as gently and quietly as possible. You have just one goal: to get your no-buoy laps to feel as much like the buoy lap as possible. Patiently repeat this pattern for 10 or 15 minutes. As your no-buoy laps begin to feel as relaxed as the buoyed laps, add more unbuoyed 25s.
Smart Hands Are Better than Dumb Plastic
The rap on hand paddles is pretty simple. You put them on and suddenly feel as if you can really grab and hold the water and move it where you want to. If only they'd let you wear them while racing. But.. .they don't, so at some point you have to figure out how to feel that way without them. Unfortunately, after you do take them off, you feel like you're trying to row with popsicle sticks. What could be good about that?
Now consider what happens when you wear fistgloves®. You feel, at first, as if you can't do anything with the water, but you gradually regain a good deal of your control. Then, when you take them off, your own hands suddenly feel like dinner plates and they magically know how to work with the water. So which tool produces the more desirable learning effect? I rest my case.
As with pull buoys, however, there is one small exception. Paddles are usually emphasized as a power tool (and the bigger the paddle, the better — or so the theory goes). You use the extra surface area to muscle the water. Unless you have a perfect stroke, muscling the water with paddles is mainly a good way to improve your chances of shoulder injury. Instead, you might occasionally don small paddles for a few superslow laps with a narrow focus on how they may help your hand learn to pierce the water.. .or slide weightlessly forward a looong way.. .or anchor for the catch. Then remove them and, as suggested above for buoy use, try to recreate that sensation without the paddles. Unless you can subtract at least two strokes with the paddles on, they're not helping you at all.
Fins as a Learning Aid, Not for Temporary Speed
The most common use of fins among triathletes, it seems, is by those who have been stuck in the 1:40 lane on 100-yard repeats at Masters practice and just know they'd swim much better if they could only join the party in the 1:30 lane. So they put on Zoomers and instantly can swim much faster repeats. But those race directors stubbornly refuse to let you wear them when it counts. And, as with buoys and paddles, that's just the problem with the way most people use fins. They are a temporary and artificial aid that helps you swim easier or faster while you have them on — but the effect disappears as soon as you take them off. No learning happens. None. Wearing fins to be faster is like wearing platform shoes to be taller.
What fins might do, when used this way, is interfere with your ability to develop a fluent, relaxed, efficient stroke into a reliable habit. Cut-off fins, in particular, are specifically designed to help you kick faster than you could with full-bla
de fins. And the faster your legs move, the faster your arms have to move to keep up. Isn't faster turnover (i.e., higher SR) precisely what we're trying to avoid? Short fins were designed originally to help sprint swimmers achieve high stroke rates while swimming with fin-aided speed — and to condition a swimmer's legs for the bard kicking that is typical when sprinting. Again, that's precisely the kind of thing a smart triathlete wants to avoid.
There are exceptions with fins as well. I've already described the ways in which they can be useful as an aid to mastering drills, if you have a nonpropulsive kick. And they can also be useful in helping you expand your range of swimming skills, by working on Short Axis skills from the Four Strokes Made Easy DVD.
So, besides helping you avoid wasted time and energy by using useless tools, we've also helped you lighten your swim bag considerably.
Chapter 19
Taking Care of Your Body
This book is not intended to be the last word on all aspects of swimming, so I won't attempt exhaustive detail on what coaches call "dryland training." But as a relatively new swimmer, you deserve at least a "quick-start guide" of the sort that comes with a new computer. The essentials include "prehab" exercises to keep your shoulders healthy and pain-free, plus basic guidance on sensible strength training that will help your body perform optimally. Let's begin with shoulder exercises.
Preventing Shoulder Injury: A Quick and Simple Plan .
Swimming deserves its reputation for being both vigorous and gentle. But "gentle" doesn't guarantee "injury-free," particularly when it comes to your shoulder, which is almost ideally built for trouble. Shoulder anatomy looks like a racquetball (the head of your upper arm bone) balanced on a bottle cap (the socket of the scapula.) The ball is held on the bottle cap by a network of 17 muscles. This is great for mobility, but terrible for accelerating your arm rearwards against resistance. "Swimmer's shoulder" is common among swimmers because "human swimmers" instinctively try to muscle the water — rather than anchor the hand and let the kinetic chain do the work. The resulting over-stretched rotator-cuff muscles allow the arm bone (a.k.a. the humerus) to wobble in its socket. This pinches the muscles and tendons that stabilize your shoulder, causing inflammation and pain.
Triathlon swimming made easy Page 16