Hi ,

Its me again , Lots of people that I talked to really want to learn how to do flipturns , perphaps it is the coolest thing in swimming after butterfly :) I still remember when I started swimming competitively at 10 , our coach forced us to do flip turns and I would skipped it as much as I can, but only ended up being punished by the coach doing push ups . At that time, I really hated flip turns, I would get disoriented, it was slow and all the water in the swimming pool will somehow miraculously end up in your nose.

Anyway , after much practise, I managed to do a decent flip turn and now it has almost become second nature to me when I swim freestlye , I started to realise the beauty and elegance of it , especially when you overtake the guy next lane to you when you do a flip turn and he does a touch and go. The difference is HUGE! , at least 1 and half to 2 body lengths difference !

Well , I found I did write a short instructions on yahoo answers 2 years ago , and here is the article.

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Asker:

Attention Swimmers! How do you do this!?
when you swimmers are swimming laps, and you get to one end, how do you manage to do that tumble thing and start swimming the other direction? whats it called and how is it done? i tried tumbling but i end up sideways, facing the side pool walls!
2 years ago

Answer
Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Hi ,

It is called flipturn , sommersault , tumbleturn , depends on which country ...

I would break down this flip exercise into 3 parts . If you want to learn this complex flip. you need to break it down to simpler parts and practise and once you familiar with all 3 steps,you can try the flip .

1) the approach to the wall
I am a right hander so my last pull is my right arm . once you make a full pull , head bow down and ready for the turn . ( After my full pull , i would be around half a meter from the wall ) , this stage just practise geting familiar with the distance from the wall

2) the flip
This is the most crucial , If you are not familiar , start practising a tumble turn , sommersault STATIONARY , in the middle of the pool or something . Just look at one point (reference , could be a lane number ), roll yourself into a ball , use your arms to flap forward and remember to breath out from your nose, otherwise u will be f***ed . hopefully after a the turn , you end up looking at the same reference point. it is good if someone can assist you with the sommersault. once you familiar with this STATIONARY flip. You can practise near the wall , Combining step 1 and step 2 . REMEMBER , do not push off first.. just make sure your feet land on the wall and stop.

3) the pushing off
Once you get so familiar with Step 1 and Step 2 until you dont even need to think to flip . Try step 3. the pushing off..
I push off sideways ( belly button face the side ) and while gliding , then only i get back to the original position ( belly button face the pool bed ) , this save times on your flipping ( STEP 2 )

IF you are in a competition , try swimming harder nearing the wall to get a full momentum and transfer tbe momentum while doing the turn so that u can have a fast turn and a fast push off.

cheers
Source(s):
Source(s):
18 years swimming experience , 8 years competitive swimming at state level , 7 years part time coaching ( beginners to advance ) experience
2 years ago


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Anyway , I also found some really good educational video as well on youtube . The key is to break the whole flipturn into smaller steps to enable easier learning.

Step 1



Step 2



Step 3



Step 4



Step 5


Finally, for those advance and seasoned flip turners, You may want to check this out !



Enjoy !

World champion kitajima breaststroke analysis

Hi all ,

This breaststroker from Japan has always been my idol. He is one of the few asians in history that has ever held a swimming world record. His name is Kitajima Kousuke . He is only 178cm tall and weights 71 kg , well below the average of a professional swimmer's physique , yet he managed to do a double double ( Gold Medallist for 2004 and 2008 for 100m and 200m breasstroke )


Here is a video of him breaking the 200m world record back in 200m . This is the top view of his competition




.. and this is the underwater view



Analysis

50 m mark - 28.91 - 28.91 ( 1st 50m ) - 14 strokes - 7.44s per 5 strokes
100 m mark - 1:01.27 - 32.36 ( 2nd 50m ) - 14 strokes - 8.95s per 5 strokes
150 m mark - 1:34.24 - 32.97 ( 3rd 50m ) - 15 strokes - 8.84s per 5 strokes
200 m mark - 2:07:51 - 33.27 ( last 50m ) - 18 strokes - 7.16s per 5 strokes

What the data meant

- First 50m is the fastest in terms of time
- You can see lactic acid building up by the slowing of each subsequent 50m time
- The last 50m has the highest stroke rate and the slowest time (Max lactic build up)
- His best 50m probably is the 2nd 50m , glides the longest but achieves a fast time , disregarding the first 50m because he started off the blocks.


My comment
- His kick is absolutely amazing , he glides so far with his powerful kick , he can actually lengthen his stroke length without compromising on time . If you check out the underwater video , his kick is actually a "whip" , the recovery is small ( to cut down on resistance ) and the kick is strong and control.
- His breaststroke is extremely streamlined and controlled . His pull is strong and he managed to thrust forward after each pull. The trick here I think is to arch your back and spring forward with your hip ( much like a dolphin kick motion)
- Keep his head down while gliding ( very important to cut resistance )

Anyway , the video below shows a 200m breasstroke competition at a provincial level
This video gives a good picture how fast a professional swimmer(kitajima) is compared to a provincial level swimmer. Bear in mind that the swimmer in this video is also actually very fast already !!



Jon's analysis
2nd 50 m - 36.51 s - 20 strokes - 7.78 per 5 strokes ( kitajima 14 strokes)
3rd 50 m - 36.94 s - 22 strokes - 6.92 per 5 strokes ( kitajima 15 strokes)
last 50 m - 37.42 s - 26 strokes - 5.91 per 5 strokes ( kitajima 18 strokes)

wow look at the stroke rate difference per 50m ! Kitajima is swimming more efficienly than the swimmer above and with a faster time too !

So conclusion is , stroke length is more important than stroke rate ! and also you need to find you ideal stroke length vs stroke rate time !

Be water My friend !

Hi , Total Immersion swim technique has been around for a long time, I first heard of it while I was still swimming competitively back in 1997 , at that time , my friends and I would compete swimming a length of pool with the fastest time at the least stroke rate . At that time , I would kick like mad and pull as hard and as slow as I can , at the end , it was very tiring as I really needed lots of oxygen to maintain that speed and I could only last one lap. Also , my coach from Beijing would also scold me for doing total immersion cause she said you shouldnt use it competitively !



So what do I think of Total Immersion ? To summarise,

- If you are a competitive swimmer, forget about practising it , it will slow down your speed instead.
- It is a good tool for beginner to grasp the concept of body rotation '
- It is a good tool for retired swimmers to get back into shape
- It is a good tool to impress the swimmers swimming next lane to you ( I always get pple asking me whether I am doing TI )
- I find you really need a huge lung capacity to sustain TI
- I can never do TI for more than 100m non stop ( ran out of breath )
- You must master your sidekick (kicking flutter kick sideways )really well first before even think of TI


Anyway, the video below shows a veteren TI coach demonstrating TI , I think he has pretty good stroke technique, just that he enters his arms and stretches too deep under the water surface (perphaps he did this to elevate his legs) , also I think he just picked up swimming not long ago ! He did a 12 strokes on a 25 meters pool in roughly 20 seconds.





However, I think I did BETTER ! I did 11 strokes on a 25 meters pool in roughly 17 seconds :) check out my video below

Swim breaststroke faster !

Hello ,

I was reading my yahoo answer post and found my reply to a asker about swimming breaststroke. It is abit technical but once you grasp the concept you should be able to swim a better breaststroke competitively or leisurely too ( sometimes, you just want to be swimming faster leisurely in breaststroke , than the guy who is struggling/swimming frontcrawl next lane to you, hehehehhe :) )


Asker : How can I get faster in breaststroke?
I am so slow how can i get faster.
2 years ago


My reply :
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

Like most of the answers here , one of the important thing is to glide
thus the timing is important and the optimum glide time is different from person to person , the best way to gauge the optimum glide time is to

time your breast stroke 5 strokes and your overall time to swim one length ( say 25m pool )

say your five stroke is 6.7 seconds and your total one length is 20 s

and the second try, you glide longer , say 7.2 seconds for five stroke and you still do 20s .

so obviously , your 2nd try is better and you should keep that stroke rate .

Also, you can do drills. in fact this is very important

1) two kicks one pull ( remember to glide , focus on power kick )
2) two pulls one kick
3) breast stroke pull dolphin kick
4) back breast stroke ( body faces upward and do breast stroke kick )

Remember when you glide, you should put your arms BEHIND your ears and not beside your ears like most beginners :) , the difference is huge !

cheers
Source(s):
20 years swimming experience , 8 years competitive swimming at state level , 7 years part time coaching ( beginners to advance ) experience

Toast to Alexander Popov - he influenced my swim style

Hi everyone ,


I been contemplating and subsequently procrastinated for a long time to write a blog about my passion , swimming :) It will be some random videos and articles ( some written by myself :) ) that I think is interesting and beneficial .

I want to share this video to all as I think Alexander Popov is still one of the best swimmers . No swim caps, no high tech polyutherane suits , just a simple goggle and a swimming trunk. What stood out is his extra ordinary technic. Enjoy all five videos, hope you are inspired, cause I am !

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3 (Theory on Alex's Technic )




Part 4 ( Drills to become better swimmer )



Part 5 (Competition technic )