RRC Archives

Corey - We may be talking about the same thing but, as you said, it's hard to explain in text. In my example I guess I should've said that when the hip moves so does the corresponding shoulder. I.e., so as the left shoulder rolls to extend the left arm forward and your hand digs into the water, so is the left hip pushing down in the water (is this the body roll you're speaking of?). This also aids in lifting your head out of the water on the right side to breath without having to move your head.

Sita - I occasionally crash the UK pool so if you ever want to splash around I'd be up for showing you what I've learned by pestering UGA swimmers. I'm not the best swimmer in the world by a long shot but when I do swim it feels controlled, powerful, and fun and to me that's what it's all about anyway. All the controlled breathing makes it kinda meditative too. Swimming is great. If I could ever afford that pool Lynne put a link up to I think I'd never leave the house.

I had my first swim lesson last night and loved it. The instructor said that front crawl and freestyle are similar except that front crawl requires keeping your head out of the water facing straight ahead. Is she wrong? Good thing is that I was only one of 4 people in the class and the other 3 can't swim at all. After class the instructor said she will teach me whatever I like and I can have a lane to myself to practice. I think I'm gonna love it. One thing I noticed was the strain on my calves. She taught us proper kicking (i never realized how high your legs need to be) and as I was practicing I pulled my calf muscle slightly (not hard enough to hurt for long but hard enough to make me stop). Should I focus on strengthening any particular muscle group?
Artsay - I'd love to hit the pool sometime. I work at UK so the Lancaster Aquatic Center is very accessible to me. I also belong to the High Street Y and have free guest passes so that's an option as well. THanks

It sounds to me like you - Corey and Artsay - are talking about the same thing. I totally agree that swimming is meditative. I love it, too, especially when you're "on" - moving well, feeling strong. It's a high!

Sita the "crawl" with your head up out of the water is the way I was trained to swim for rescues when I was a lifeguard. In competitive swimming, freestyle and front crawl are used interchangeably. I think your instructor may be in error with that description. You may want to clarify that with the Coast Guard.

Hey Horatio,
try drinking a sports drink during and after you work out. Maybe try eating some kind of high carb power bar beforehand too. If you don't eat anything before you work out, your blood sugar is probably starting to drop and that's why you feel nauseated. People with high metabolisms tend to have that problem (I sure as hell do).

As far as the swimming thing goes, my body composition makes swimming too much work for me. I have to work WAY too hard to stay afloat. Don't get me wrong, I have been swimming since I was young (so I can swim), but after I started lifting I noticed I started sinking like a rock when I got in the water. I will just stick to land sports.

Mj

My swim teacher is a lifeguard so I think she is describing the front crawl based on lifeguard training. I would assume since the Coast Guard also focuses on water rescue they mean that too. My attitude is that if I can do freestyle well then front crawl (with head out of water) should be cake.

Okay all swimmers - How many days a week should I swim to reasonably build speed and endurance. I am up for working out 7 seven days a week but I do like to vary things. I lift four days a week and do misc. cardio 5-6 days a week. So, would swimming twice a week be sufficient?

Sita I can't imagine being timed doing a crawl with head up. No way. You just can't go as fast. The reason for keeping your head up out of the water during a rescue is so that you never take your eyes off your victim (or last known location) of course.

As to how many days to swim, personally, if I go more than 2 days in a row without swimming I feel as if I've lost some ground. So I would aim for swimming every 3rd day minimum, alternating 2 days/week and 3 days/week. I am doing 3-5 days per week. I'd do more if I could work out the scheduling.

Swimming is funny. Most people either LOVE it or HATE it. I've met very few people where there is an in-between.

The part of the test that requires front crawl isn't timed. The basic swim test is 25 meters front crawl and 75 meters any stroke. The 12 minute timed swim is any stroke.

Sita do you know if any of your testing will be done in open water? Or is it all in a pool? Open water swimming is a whole other ball game and would require you to set higher goals in the pool IMHO.

Make sure you perfect your breast stroke, too, with your instructor. It's very powerful and energy conserving. I can go much longer distances with breast stroke when I'm tired than I can with crawl. That may help you in your tests.

Can we come watch you and cheer you on?

Sita, your calf muscle probably cramped, not pulled, it's common. If I was tight, or lacking potassium, or whatever, sometimes I'd get a calf cramp and they hurt like a SOB. HOWEVER, if you're swimming long enough you WILL notice an increased level of strength. When I was in HS, before I started weight lifting, people would ask me about my calves. Genetics aside, and even to this day I attribute a healthy portion of my calf developement to swimming, because the foot is in the flexed position for so long. You will need to strengthen every group for swimming, chest/back/bi/tri/sholder for the stroke and quad/ham/calf for the flutter kick, there's no cheating muscles in swimming.

Sik - that whole "I'm to lean/heavy to swim" bit doesn't fly (We don't know each other, so please note the big smiley face). My nickname on my college swim team was "Meat", like the guy from Porky's, because I was so big for a swimmer (like I said, 6'2, 225, though I was only 205 at the time) and I sink like a rock...always have, it's just one more challenge to overcome. I have this sick "drive" in that I pick sports I am worst suited for. Swimming, rock climbing, running (hmm..triathlons, how 'bout that).

Lynne - you are right about the Breast stroke, though, I believe the Coast Guard will have her focus on side-stroke, as it is the stroke of choice for water rescue (or pulling gear, etc. along behind you). Basically, the only two strokes you won't need to "worry" about are 'fly' and 'back', lol.

Corey,
you may be right. I am merely proposing a theory as to why I can't even do a backfloat without sinking. Even when I fill my lungs with air, I still sink. I just think that my overall body density went way up when my body fat got down around 10%. I could just very well be crazy though. I would be interested in seeing some numbers on competitive and non competitive swimmers regarding their physical makeup (if that kind of thing is even available). Height, weight, body fat %, etc.

Mj