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4:51pm
but even though i think kicking is really important, i still think being able to feel water and get a good catch with your pull is probably a little more important. we have guys here that are ok at kicking but when it comes to sprinting (swimming) they are the best in the world.
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4:48pm
ya kicking is very important!
i do consider myself a good kicker, at least in the top three here at az. albert subirats is another really good kicker here too! we are always going at it at practice.
if you think about it, when your swimming (free and back) your legs are constantly or at least they should be propelling you forwards, whereas there are "dead spots" in your arm cycles where you are not pulling or pushing water to make you go forward.
we do some pretty big kick sets here at az. every Tuesday and Thursday we lift weigthts and then come on deck to do our kick set.
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4:30pm
Great topic! Being a swimmer my entire life I have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a perfect stroke and that no two strokes are the same. Grant Hackett, Cesar Ceilo and Micheal Phelps all have a completely different way of swimming freestyle, yet all have been relatively succesful with their own method. The only obvious commmon denominator between these guys is superior god given ability. I would also assume that all three of them swim year round, train 5-6 hours per day with a positive attitude and enjoy what they do.
If you were to create a human robot and upload Micheal Phelps freestyle technique onto that robot you would also have to make sure that robot has the same shoulder flexibility, same hand size, same ability to repeat a stroke and so on. Any inforior feature of that robot to Phelps and the robot would not be able to output the same results as Phelps. Apply this to human beings and the same thing is true. Some people will blow their shoulders out if they try to repeat what Phelps does. That does not mean this person can not be succesful relative to their own god given ability with their own stroke that they can repeat without injury.
Modeling is good in the sense that we as humans learn new things that apply to all people such as the streamline kick under water being faster than swimming on top or that having a faster stroke rate with a longer stroke = a faster time. These new things can help the swimming body as a whole get faster, as incomming 8 and unders are tought more efficient ways to swim, but its not going to turn your kid into Micheal Phelps. Most individual improvements come from growth spurts, or some kind of improvement in strength and conditioning. It is very difficult to change the mussle memory of an experienced swimmer. This might mean hitting a plateau and putting in 10x the effort for a tenth a second drop in a 100 free. There really is no magic pill or model out there to turn Johnny into an olympian.
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2:36pm
Hey, since this blog is about taper and not suits...(although I think I might try the suit in the oven idea! lol)

Could anybody tell me what the standard taper time is? I feel like my coach doesn't rest us enough/ or soon enough and my taper hits late...like when do most swimmer get the most "benefit" out of resting? I heard 1st and 3rd week, but I don't know if that is true or not. Three days before Summer Sectionals our coach had us swimming 5,500 yards with a good portion of that being aerobic work.
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2:27pm
Gotcha. I should have made the presumption we were talking pool swimming. Thanks!
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1:18pm
Darian, do you consider yourself as a good kicker?
I saw you swimming in Stockholm and I think that your kick was awesome :)
And do you think that kick is the most important part in fast swimming?
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1:10pm
yea i remember putting and fs2 in the dryer and when i pulled it out it was more shiny(the "scales" and what not), from what i understand about waterproof coatings, you need to heat up the fabric in order to get it to stick, otherwise you just spray it on and it washed off when you put it in water, im betting that when they initially coat the suit they heat it up, so if you did heat up the suit im guessing the coating some how collects better on the surface? I would throw the suit in the dryer before i put it in the oven though, sounds like it could start a fire, you could also possibly buy the teflon spray and spray it on after you put it in the dryer

unfortunately for my situation even getting one blue seventy seems to be out of budget, thinking about starting a school swim club to get funding from recreation department not provided by athletic department
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12:38pm
no i don't get them lazer fitted, i guess you need to be phelps or thorpe to get this done :)
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12:25pm
The urban legend is that the fs1 and possibly fs2s were coated with teflon to be more hydrodynamic. This teflon coating wears out quickly which is why these suits lose their effectiveness even when the integrity of the material is still present.

The idea is that by putting it in the oven at 350 you will somehow heat it up enough to create a new teflon layer. Sounds like total BS. If you want my advice, buy as many blueseventy's as you can and just trade them among your swimmers. They can be taken off and put on in about 2 minutes and the exterior drys instantly with a rub of a towel.
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11:40am
i also believe the suits will really help in fly and breast, but i thought it was weird that the 100 fly record set by crocker (not in new suit) was not broken at the olympics, maby people didn't practice with them enough?
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11:26am
lol no, but i might whats the theory behind that, ( you obviously understand im part of low funded mid-major team trying to get the most bang for my buck), and maby laser-fitted is just a rumor, but ive heard of phelps having it done
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11:15am
Laser fitted...it starts to sound more like star trek than swimming:)
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11:14am
I own a blueseventy but not a 5 lb weight. I am pretty sure the 5 lb weight would drown it.

Have you ever tried putting your old fastskin in the oven to reactivate the teflon?
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11:12am
come on! will no one comment on the 5 pound weight rumor(see below post). I haven't gotten my hands on the suit yet but would like to try the experiment. Also Darian do you get your suits laser fitted, from what i heard in the previous model suits you really had to get the laser fit to get maximum benefit, but not in the new suits(because they are like floaties)
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10:53am
95% is the perfect strategy for 95% of the population. Elite athletes work long and hard to fine tune the ability to hit pace and effort without blowing up, in either a race or training over time. plus, that description of what goes on in your head is hilarious!
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10:46am
@Jimmy: You aren't older than me. Get back in the pool and train and you can race in one of these suits.
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10:34am
I wish I could wear of these new "tech" suits. I was on the start of the FS2 era and I only wore legs because one my chest wasn't big enough for the full body and two as a distance swimmer I felt like I would get too hot. When I swam with the legs though I felt they made a huge difference because my style of freestyle didn't involve a lot of kicking and the suit somewhat helped me keep correct body position. I've heard and read great things about the blue seventy and I'm thinking about getting a blue seventy suit for my open water adventures.

Also, concerning heart rates, they're a true indicator of how hard you're working, because to get your heart rate up to 160 - 180 range you have to put in a good amount of effort. So it's a good way to keep your swimmers/athletes honest on the amount of effort their giving in a workout.
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10:03am
Yes definitely. Thats why I was careful to say "pool" swimming since we don't have races longer than 1500 meters, which takes a little bit longer than the running 5k.
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10:02am
ok here is a small example of what i believe the blueseventy body suit did for me:

i was swimming these world cups in durban, moscow, stockhom and berlin earlier this year. in the IM's my best time going into berlin, which was the last meet of the series, was 52.9 (100 IM) and 1:55.3 (200 IM). i had been swimming all the IM's in only a leg skin (i'l keep the make anonamous). in berlin being th last meet and because they were offering a car for the best overall performance of the meet, i decided why not try wear a blueseventy full body suit in the IM's. Actually Rick DeMont has been trying to get me to wear one since before the Olympics! So I did.
Well I went 51.8 in the 100 IM (ranked 1st in the world this year) and 1:52.5 in the 200 IM (ranked 2nd in the world this year). I can honestly say the blueseventy suit made me feel awesome and I attribute the huge drop in time to both my getting more confident but also to this suit.
I was a little worried about wearing a full body for backstroke, but it felt great. I don't usually go very far underwater with backstroke, but I went 15 m exactly in the 100 IM and came out way in front!
But where I really believe the suit helps is in fly and breast, because it allows you to get your hips out higher of the water, which we all know is really important for those strokes!
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8:59am
Good thoughts on aerobic base, Chris. From the running side of the street, Lydiard was of the opinion that aerobic base was limitless, therefore aerobic base could always be improved.

Now, pardon my ignorance (I'm relatively new to swimming, much the same reasons "Mrs. Coach" came into the sport, result of marathoning/injuries), but would open-water/long-distance swimmers have anything close to the aerobic load in training as long-distance runners (half-marathon to marathon)?
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8:16am
Darian, being as you do a good amount of IM, how do you feel about using the new bodysuits in backstroke, or in your IM events for that matter? Do any of you have any opinions about this?
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6:02am
Lately there's been a lot of unnecessary comments on floswimming, I personaly think it would be cool if actually login in was a must to post a comment. We could probably avoid a lot of trash which doesnt provide any useful info.

On topic...I agree with Jimmy Morris in 100%.
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12:01am
the tyr tracer light legs felt great in my two breaststroke races at the bucknell invite a few weeks ago. although my legs did die out at the end of the 200.

i tried the FSPro bodysuit that meet as well on the 400 medley relay. you can actually watch me fall apart on this site if you choose too. the suit limited my range of motion and i felt terrible wearing it. like darian, i tried to convince myself that these newer suits should be ok. maybe i didn't go new enough. i would love to get my hands on a blueseventy. i've only ever heard great things about that suit.
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Dec 3 10:32pm
ya we do alot of heart rate 160 sets here at az, thery serve as our best sets to get some fitness, we do mostly 100's holding heart rate 160 but sometimes i'll do some 200's as well. i think they are great sets because you don't break yourself down doing them whereas 400's or something a little longer will do that to you
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Dec 3 9:42pm
I'm sure Darian could speak to heart rate training. I know Coach Busch et al were big fans of doing HR 160 work last year.
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Dec 3 9:26pm
@ The Real One,

Please feel free to send me a personal message. I won't hold your insults against you. I think you'll find I'm pretty ego-free. I write a blog for floswimming because I think its a great site and I am a huge nerd for swimming. Many people seem to enjoy it. I'm sorry that you didn't. If you have a good idea for some original thought I would love to hear it.
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Dec 3 9:25pm
about the suits
i have heard a rumor that if you put a blueseventy body suit in the water and place a 5 pound weight on it, it will still float, i say someone should post a video to see if its true, if this is true than obviously the suit adds buoyancy and the debate is over

i also have only liked the legs, but hear the new full body suits are completly different (i mean the fs2 full body was crap)
and i tottally agree that the above training method should be judged on a swimmer by swimmer basis, i too have tried the above scenario, except after a college confrence meet, and had success, i still think however that many coaches still have the mentality that the only way to get better is hard work
one example of this is heart rate sets, racing with the goal of sustaining a heart while good for endurance and something different to do( and something you should do)
i think a another objective worth achieving would be to go as fast as you could trying to keep your heart rate below a certain level, this teaches technique and also prepares a swimmer for the first half of a race (say a 200), if you let your heart rate get to high at the begginning of a race you will probably have difficulty finishing, this is especially true in high intensity races such as relays in which nerves can be a factor, i mean look how bad Bernard tightened up at the end of his 100 in Frances 400 free relay, if he knew how to control his heart rate and stay relaxed, Lezak might not have caught him, just a thought (i mean then again im not a world class swimmer
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Dec 3 9:03pm
typical ivy boy, you simply talk to hear yourself talk, your post really contains nothing that is original, simply put "what works for the individual is best"...see how easy it is when you park your ego...
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Dec 3 7:13pm
I know Mike Boyer because I married his brother a couple of years ago. I too was a swimmer at Webb City High School in the day. Actuallyl, Mike was in grade school when I and my brother Bill Athey were swimming for Coaches like Dee Gaddis, Doss, Miles, and finally Don Mosbaugh. I think my brother's name is still on the wall at WCHS.
I read your article about Mike and agree that there are a lot of stories behind those records. Mike had a lot of fans but non could match that of his mom who I have grown to love and appreciate.
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