The first week of this training program begins at the ends – the two ends of the “float and paddle – Statue of Liberty continuum”. These two drills mark the outer ranges of the stroke pattern that your arms will ultimately find themselves in when you have developed and tuned your stroke to its optimum level. The contrast offered by these two drills is stark in terms of complexity as well as the basic arm mechanics employed. In the float and paddle, you have the Australian crawl in its most stripped down, elemental form – constant kinetic motion, switching between two basic forms – right arm extended/left arm at your side and left arm extended/right arm at your side – with the only “moving parts” being your torso (and your head, of course, when you need to breath). With the SoL you have a complicated interaction between kicking, pulling, pausing, floating, breathing, and counting. While very different, these two contrasting drills intersect in fast swimming; specifically, F&P will teach you to engage the muscles of your torso in order to propel your arms, this is a fundamental characteristic of optimal swimming propulsion. SoL will help you to develop a sense of body balance and positioning in the water, and it will encourage you to integrate the pull and the kick together in a smooth rhythmic flow – this too is a fundamental for propulsion. When you are doing the “Technical Focus” portion of the workout, explore and exaggerate these contrasts. Make the shoulder joint as rigid as possible when doing the F&P, trying to make torso rotation the only means of moving your arms. Contrast is a powerful tool to increase your awareness. By taking these first steps to developing aquatic body awareness, you will be on your way to knowing where you are, an essential part of getting to where you want to go. Most importantly, however, is to be patient with your execution. Many will find it next to impossible to “turn off” the legs entirely when doing F&P. Others may find it hard to switch from one side to the next rhythmically in SoL. Even if you are a relatively experienced swimmer, your body only “knows what it knows” (not what it doesn’t know) – there will be many motions that are foreign to you. This is a fact of life when building physical vocabulary. When you are developing new vocabulary, remember to treat yourself like you would a child learning new words, if you can even discern the word from the noise, you are headed in the right direction. The supplementary workouts for the first week are geared to allow the swimmer time to digest and refine their understanding of the basic concepts introduced in the primary workouts. Similarly, they are intended to begin the process of fitness building, introduce the concept of speed-play, and the “hybrid” swims – swims in which the athlete performs a mixture of drills and swims during a more fitness oriented set. The drills that are chosen for hybrid swims are often ones that can be performed at a speed that is similar to swimming, enabling the athlete to have options when working out with a group, but still wishing to spend time advancing their own agenda using the techniques in this book. Over the course of the 12-week program, these hybrid sets will continue and become more advanced. As the athlete learns more advanced drills and activities, their ability to integrate hybrid swims into fitness-oriented workouts will increase dramatically. | Drills, Skills and Activities in this Weeks Workout: Show Me: Float and Paddle Statue of Liberty "Finding Freestyle with Passive Technique" is a 12-week course with a different approach to developing the basic techniques for fast swimming. Finding Freestyle is available as an online, self-paced course, and also in a group class in certain areas. Click Here to sign up for Finding Freestyle online - or click here to experience Finding Freestyle in coached group classes. |
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Week #1 |