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Top 3 Tips
to Achieve Rhythm and Flow

Head Coach Message

June 2010

 
Swimming coaches describe the efficiency of great stroke technique by using examples from various walks of life. I have heard coach Bergen in Etobicoke talk about horses when he tried to match stroke length and stroke rate. Later he went on to race them professionally. In the past, Russian coach Gennadi Touretski, used the analogy of a fish to describe the rigidity in Alexander Popov's slippery smoothness through the water. Recently, the renowned physiologist, Dr. Bob Treffene used a cheetah to illustrate the relaxed motion of the paw recovery at 100 mph before he put up his graphs and charts on training design at the Toronto Lecture Series that I attended.

Although swimmers practice to hone their stroke, making it automatic or "relaxed", the cheetah actually increases its stride to go faster. Swimmers should be trying to look bigger in the water, then try to go faster and faster. This is where the kick becomes so important in setting the body position. Swimmers must keep their neck-spine-line straight and then you have horizontal balance. With proper balance, you can actually hydroplane on the water.

When visualizing strokes I related it to music and when visualizing body position, I related it to nautical vessels. Great stokes must have a tempo to flow from one stroke to the next. Kinks or hitches in the stroke compromise continuous movement of the arms around core rotation/undulation, making it look disjointed. The hulls of fast sailing vessels are rounded and are sharp at the bow allowing them to cut through the water efficiently. I often describe a battleship cruiser to illustrate where a swimmer's shoulders need to be: 'perpendicular' to the surface and cutting through the water during freestyle and backstroke execution.

Correct timing is 'leading with the hips so that the limbs follow'. You can't move your arms faster than your core rotation without shortening or 'slipping' - this is the realm of the 12-and- under swimmer, and the older swimmer who has not yet honed their stroke. Touretsky also described wave patterns in the water when he told Popov to "push the wave in front of his head". The physiology talk made me realize that all this great research for training is predicted on the ability to balance tension and relaxation continuously in each stroke cycle. This is the key to rhythm and flow in swimming.
 Top 3 Tips to Achieve Rhythm and Flow
 
  • Have a feel for the water:
    Range of motion is less about applying force on the water and more about positioning your limbs. --ie think about your body moving over your hands not travelling towards your feet. It is more about your body moving over your "pull".

  • Execute strokes that are being pushed, not pulled:
    The kick sets the body position and is the base line of the whole stroke. It is all about timing. You go faster by maintaining your distance per stroke. Next you increase your rate, meaning you don't shorten up your stroke to go faster. This is power! Stroke length x stroke rate divided by time is the formula for power.

  • Balance tension and relaxation:
    All strokes have a recovery phase, so learn to relax without going slow. Breathing is also underestimated for its ability to execute fluid movements. Swimmers usually tense up when nervous energy takes over. Learning how to relax on the recovery part of the stroke and breathing with fluidity are the two main factors to balancing tension and relaxation. So anything that is "over top of the water" is recovery and that is when you need to maximize relaxation. Going back to the cheetah that I mentioned earlier in my message, it's in the recovery that it actually increases its stride to go faster.

Coach Murray
June, 2010

 

 

 


 
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