Swimming Obsession

How far can YOU go ?

2011-04-01T18:34:00.001-07:00

Its almost been a year now I haven't blogged about swimming. Had a changing event . I have moved to Singapore from Canada. Its pretty disruptive to your daily routine I would say and lifestyle here in Singapore is completely different from that of Canada. Needless to say, I have gained a whole lot of weight, nevertheless,I still try to swim as much as I can :)

So how far can one go ? I recently had a chance to attend a talk by an inspirational/motivational speaker organised by my company I worked for. His name is Chris Moon. One thing that strikes me the most is when he said that the greatest limitation is the one that you imposed on yourself.

How true is that. Time and time again, when we want to set a target and want to fulfill a dream, there will be something at the back of your mind that says "No, that wouldn't work, I wouldn't be able to do it, I don't think I can swim that distance" etc etc. These are the limitation you set on yourself !

Chris Moon did set an example . He is not just talking about it , He did it. He is an ultra marathon finisher ( badwater ultra marathon distance is 135 miles , yes you read it right) and he completed this a few times. That is just not yet, he is challenged ( Lost one arm and one leg due to his work at clearing land minds at Mozambique, also survived the Khmer Rouge kidnap , now that is really a life changing event ! ) .

This is a video about him.

So, if he , doesn't have an arm and a leg ( pardon me ) can do it, why cant we do it ? This prove one point, its all in the mind.

So , in swimming context , what was the furthest you have ever swum ? For me, it was 10 years ago when I did a 10 km swim . Did it in 3 hours and it was pretty tiring but rewarding. I remembered I slept for 10 hours straight after that swim.

A week before attending his talk, I actually did a 3 km swim . It's been a long time I haven't done that and I should challenge myself to do a 4km swim .

So I challenge you to go beyond your comfort zone and do something extra! Be it start a business, take up a new interest or add some distances ( 100,200, 1000m) to your daily swim routine ! Let me know ! and we never swim alone !

Remember, just keep swimming, just keep swimming !

Cheers to Hui Lay for adding 200m to your daily routine !

Swimming Paddles Review

2010-05-21T21:19:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks,

Recently I bought some swimming toys since I got rewarded a gift card valued at about 200 bucks :) . Everyone thinks I am crazy. I could have spent it on an expensive dinner, some electronic gadgets or just buy some nice fashionable shirts. Instead I went to buy some worhtless piece of plastics ? :) Yeah I am crazy about swimming! After swimming and testing with all of the paddles, I decided to do a review. Note that these are just my personal opinion/views and I am not endorsed by any company.

So the test objects are:

From left to right :

Strokemaker, TYR Catalyst, Speedo Training Paddles and Finis finger paddles.

Test subject :)

Results :

StrokeMaker paddles:

Opinion : This paddles are extremely light , which I think it is good because during the recovery , it doesn't strain so much of your shoulders, and also I can have a better feel of my arms and better control. It is like using a thinner glove compare to a thicker glove during dishwashing ( sigh, i hate dishwashing) . The many tiny holes in the paddles also let you "feel" the water through the palms. The design(shape) of the paddles allows you to 'grab' the water for an early vertical forearm(EVF) catch. I can totally feel my forearm straining which is good!

Pros : Light weight, good feel of water , assist in vertical forearm , emphasize catch phase if properly done.

Cons : Tubes easily come off

Notes: Center tube holds 1 finger.

TYR Catalyst Paddles:

Opinion : Stylish looking paddles but this is a heavy paddles which in my opinion is not very good the recovery. Recovery phase of the freestlye is supposed to be relaxed but because of the weight of the paddles, i have to use a little bit more to lift the paddles. Since it is heavier, during the pull phase, it is harder to feel the water as well ( as if you are holding some paper weights ) One good thing is the tubes fits nicely to your hands and it doesn't come out.

Pros : Stylish looking , hands fits nicely and the tubes make sure your hands doesnt slip out of the paddles

Cons : Heavy , lack of water feel , the pinky finger out of the way when fitting to hands

Notes: Center tube holds 3 fingers.

Speedo Paddles

Opinions: These are classic Speedo paddles, probably the first paddles I have used since 20 years ago. They are light weight and the design is simple( A square shape). Feels a little bit rigid though during the catch and pull phase but I would recommend this for beginners who are first timers in trying paddles. It doesn't strain as much as the TYR and Strokemaker paddles cause the paddles is smaller and it is good for beginners to try out.

Pros : Right size for beginners. They are smaller Speedo paddles than this one shown in this blog

Cons : No holes in the paddles, water feel is less.

Notes: Center tube holds 1 finger

Finis Sculling Finger Paddles

Opinions : For a start , this is a different category of paddles, it is called finger paddles and for sculling purposes and also you can use it to swim in all four strokes ! It is one of the breakthrough me thinks. It heighten your senses/feel of the water when it comes to the catch and pull phase. It is extremely light so you won't feel like there are paddles sticking to your hands. Recommended for all levels of swimmers (from beginners to season swimmers )Try it with all of the strokes and you can really feel your arm 'catching' the water right at the beginning of the entry phase to the catch and pull phase. For me , this really improves my back stroke arm entry

Backstroke with Finis Finger Paddles

Butterfly with Finis Finger Paddles ( My fly is my worst stroke :( )

Breaststroke with Finis Finger Paddles
(Extremely good training for the underwater pull out ! )

Pros : Light weight, good for sculling and all strokes. Improves catch phase.

Cons : Easily come off , It came off during my breaststroke swim (in the video)

Notes: Center tubes holds two fingers. Also, Since this is a different category of paddles, this paddles does not improve your strength but rather improve your 'catch' phase of the water in all strokes.

Conclusion:

- Best paddle for strength : StrokeMakers
- Best paddle for strokes : Finis Sculling Finger Paddles
- Best paddle for beginners : Speedo ( Strengh ) , Finger Paddles (Feel)

One last point, please note that one shall not solely train with paddles all the time, you will lose your natural water feel of your arms , I think one should only use it maximum 30% of the time during your workout. Same goes with pull buoy. I seen many swimmers who runs a lot uses pull buoy all the time and they completely lose their kicking . They become very slow once they take out their pull buoy and this is not good, not good :)

Finally, have a great swim !

My Swim Race

2010-04-21T21:38:00.000-07:00

I went to a swim meet in Okotoks a few days ago, it was the Alberta Provincial Masters. In order to be look professional and to make up for my lack of training , I did put on my jammers, well , did try. Haven't used it for a couple of years and I feared that I could not fit in. True enough, it took me awhile to fit in and the fish logo stiched on my jammers has expanded twice fold .

Well , I did get 2nd overall though with a time of 35.70 . Gosh , this was the time I clocked when I was 14 years old. My best was 32.1 when I was 17. I actually regressed. :)
Here is the video of my race.

and here is the video of current world record holder Cameron Van Der Burgh 50m short course race.

(sorry , user didnt allow me to show the video here , please click link)
50m Breaststroke World Record Race

Difference ?

Time
Cameron Van Der Burgh : 25.25
Darren Lim : 35.70 ( freaking 10 seconds behind him)

Stroke Count
Cameron Van Der Burgh : 1st 25m ( 6 ) , last 25m (9) , total : 15
Darren Lim : 1st 25m ( 9 ) , last 25m (12) , total : 21

sigh , Cameron Van Der Burgh breaststroke is even faster than my freestlye !

A boy from a secret tribe in Malaysia breaks swimming world record

2010-04-01T15:27:00.001-07:00

1st April 2010 - A secret tribe in the deep forest of Malaysia has been discovered recently. Scientist in Malaysia were astonished to discover that their livelihood evolve around the waters and they have tiny gills on the back of their necks. Chief Scientist Mohammed Bakaria said, : " They basically lived in the water and thus day to day activities were done in the water. Naturally , they were good swimmers and come no surprise to me that they can naturally swim faster than anyone else on the planet. "
This has been proven true after a swimming community in Malaysia got curious and managed to convince a boy from the tribe to try a 50m swim in an Olympic pool . The result is an amazing 13.54 seconds , way ahead of the current world record by Brazilian Cesar Cielo of 20.91 seconds. Please watch the video below of a day of the tribe in the river.

Cesar Cielo 50m world record video

Finally, gotcha ! Happy April's Fools day ! :)

Why am I slower than the guy next to me ?

2010-03-05T14:58:00.000-08:00

Don't you sometimes wonder when you push off the wall at the same time as the dude next to you , he/she is just way ahead of you ?

Pretty simple answer actually, STREAMLINING !!

Streamlining is the most basic when it comes to swimming but sometimes we tend to forget this important element ! It is the foundation/ building blocks of all the strokes . Regardless of whether you are swimming backstroke, breaststroke, free or fly , you will have to streamline !

So how to achieve streamlining ?
3 key phrases !

- Arms behind ears ( not beside )
- Stand as tall as you can ( Stretch )
- Imagine yourself squeezing through a small hole

Example 1 : Michael Phelps

Can you picture him going through a small hole ? :)
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Example 2 : Ryan Lochte

Amazing streamlining and control , I think he is a fish .

Example 3 : Swimmer 1 negative example (During the kick off from the wall)

ie : didnt extend his body enough , arms not stretched far out and arms not behind the ears.

Example 4 : Swimmer 2 negative example (During the kick off from the wall)

premature first pull, again arms not stretch out and not behind the ears, head above the water , causing great deal of resistance , common beginners problem

So remember the 3 key phrases !

you can practise this everytime you kick off the wall . In order to see the diff:

- Push off once with your normal push off and see far you go,
- Now push off with the 3 key phrases in mind and see how far you go.

Notice the difference ?
You should be able to glide further now and faster . However , you might feel that you are losing balance ( body swaying left , right ) but thats OK , All you need to do is practise ..

Kyoko Iwasaki youngest Olympian Swimmer to win Gold Medal

2009-12-19T20:52:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Kyoko Iwasaki (岩崎恭子) won the Olympic Gold medal 200m Breaststroke in 1992 Barcelona at the age of 14 years 6 days. OMG, that is a crazy feat. She looked so small and young compare to other competitors and the amazing thing is she only caught up at the final 50 meters to cling on to the gold !

The winning video

I think after that she got popular in Japan and has appeared in some videos and photoshoot. She is really cute.

Iwasaki teaching some old dude how to swim

Iwasaki at the beach, pheeeewit , I dont know what to say :)

Iwasaki travelling !

Olympic male swimmers pull a Britney Madonna

2009-12-19T19:12:00.000-08:00

Hello ,

200m Olympic champ was kissed by swimmer next to him almost mouth to mouth after the race. WTF? The champion Evgueni Sadovyi just missed the world record by 0.01 seconds. Maybe that is how Pychnenko console his teammate , by giving him some love and affection :)

Pause at 6:28 to see the action

Madonna Britney Kiss

2009-12-14T22:17:00.000-08:00

Hello !

After two months of non blogging , I log in to my blog and was surprised that my blog was actually visited by people all over the world, well , almost all . :) Well , guess thats the benefits of having a blog , kinda cool ! or kinda geeky :) I hope my blog in one way or another , is useful , informational and fun to everyone !

Visitors from North America !

Visitors from Europe ,Middle East , Africa

Visitors from Asia and Australia

Btw , here in Calgary is minus 29 degrees celcius, yes MINUS! If there is an outdoor pool , it will turn into a skating ring.

So thanks you guys for visiting ! Stay tune!

How did Paul Biedermann Improve 4 seconds in about a year time ?!

2009-12-14T21:19:00.000-08:00

Hello ,

It is not a question where I can answer , its more like an exclamation ! If you know , Paul Biedermann recently crushed Michael Phelps in the 200m LC freestlye at the Rome World Championship, clocking 1:42:00 , breaking Phelps record set in Beijing . Phelps record was 1:42:96 .

Out of interest ,
I went to search for the 200m Beijing Clip and found Paul to be in the final as well, clocking 1:46:00 , so Paul Biedermann improves 4 seconds in just about a year ?! wtf ? Anyway, in Beijing , Paul did not wear the full suit , in Rome World Champ this year, He wore a full suit , hmmmmmmmmmm ....

Beijing 200m Olympics.

If you are interested to see how far has Paul improved , pause the video at 4:22 and you will see over the year , he has improved about 3 and a half body length for 200meters , (Paul is in lane 2 )

200m World Champ Rome (Paul Biedermann beats Phelps )
2008 World Champ (Click link to see the video )

I am very interested to see the next race between Phelps and Biedermann. Btw, these ultra fast suits will be banned next year.

cheers,
Darren

I am a handicapped butterfly

2009-09-23T23:05:00.000-07:00

Hi ,
I thought I did pretty good butterfly, but I was wrong again ! , now I got a chance to film myself, I realised that I do swim some weird butterfly. Things that I noticed myself doing wrong :

= Quick arm Exit before I even touch my thigh
= Arm Entry creating lots of splashes, not clean entry !
= L shape wrist/palm when exiting , why am I doing that , I wonder hmm

Please let me know other mistakes as well if you spot them :)

Eric the Eel

2009-09-14T23:01:00.000-07:00

Hi all ,

When I was taking my Singapore swimming instructor certification back in 2003/4 , the lecturer then, (think his name is Wong Sooi Kut ) told us a true story about an African guy who participated in the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Since my lecturer then happened to be the starter of that particular 100m freestyle heats , he has first hand encounter of what happened then.

The African dude, Eric Moussambani apparently just learnt how to swim 8 months prior to the Olympics and expectedly , didnt perform up to Olympic standard and my then lecturer almost wanted to stop the race , fearing that he could not even swim.

He did finished the race at the end through sheer determination and he was well received with standing ovation albeit his 100m time was 1:52 (worst in Olympic history, I guess) , which is slower than the current 200m (100m X 2 ) world record of 1:42:00

Subsequently, he was given a swimming scholarship to refine his stroke and after some years of training , he managed to do a 57 secs !, according to wikipedia :)

Moral of the story ? you got to have determination ! If Eric can do it , so can you !

Enjoy the video .

Water treading video lessons

2009-09-13T00:00:00.000-07:00

Hi , This is my first time filming myself teaching , not in the water though , but on land. :) I will attempt to teach water treading (standing afloat in the water). Ideally , if you know how to swim breaststroke, this is very easy . (It is sort of like a vertical breaststroke ) , if you dont, suggest you learn breaststroke first. :)

points to note :

Arms sweeping in and away
Legs lift up to 90 degrees and kick downwards
practice near the edge of the pool so you can grab on the wall.
Stay vertical , dont bend your back like a prawn (I like to use the word prawn :) )

Another good and more professional version ( not mine :) )

Suggest not to try the flutter kick one , cause that is tough !

I am swimming breaststroke

2009-09-12T22:21:00.000-07:00

Hi ,

I always wanted to film myself swimming , and since today is a saturday , I did that exactly. I did a couple of video on all my strokes and was quite disappointed with my self . I swam horribly in freestyle . My butterfly looks weird and my backstroke is kinda going left and right. The only satisfactory stroke is breaststroke, and that too needs lots of improvement.

Anyway , attached my video on my breaststroke (25m pool). I think I need to train more on my kick. I need to whip/kick downwards more ( Insweep) . My recovery is not narrow enough and I think my kick doesnt produce enough thrust. The timing of my arm pull and kick needs to be adjusted as well.

Trick your kids to teach your kids !

2009-09-08T23:56:00.000-07:00

How to trick your kid (Age 3 - 10 ) ? :)

Submerging head into water

Many parents do struggle to get their kids head submerge into the water . So how do you do that?

I have always find this method to work .
1) get your kid to pretend to wash his/her face in the pool . Stating that while doing that , he/she is already holding her breath naturally.
2) ask him/her to hold her breath and submerge only him/her mouth in the water. If she is able to do that just a while. Quiclkly reward him/her with a high five !
3) ask her to submerge but hold her breath longer ( ask him/her to count silently in the head 1 to 5 , 1 to 10 )
4) When he/she is very comfortable. Then now you ask her to submerge her mouth and nose as well . Repeat (Step 2 and 3 )
5) Finally when she is comfortable with his/her nose being submerge, Now you may try to ask him/her to submerge his/her eyes as well ( with goggles or eyes closed ) .( REpeat Step 2 and 3)
6) now drop his/her goggles in to a shallow floorbed of the swimming pool and challenge her/him to pick it up , not forgetting to reward him/her of course !

Blowing bubbles

In the meantime, you can also teach him/her how to blow bubble .

1) Ask them whether they had try blowing bubble with a straw into their drinks . Most probably they have done it .
2) Ask them to repeat the same thing in the water with their mouth (submerging their entire body upright and the mouth only ). Quickly reward them with high five once they done it eventhough it is a small and brief bubble
3) Ask them to try to blow a longer bubble , you can challenge them yourself to see who can endure a longer period of blowing bubble ( pretend to lose to them to boost their confidence :) )

Tell me whether it works! :)

Before the swim race

2009-09-03T21:34:00.000-07:00

I recalled my first swimming competition and it was a disaster , I was only 10 years old back then and was very tiny :) I was so nervous that I didnt know what was happening around me . Got to the blocks akwardly , and dived in like a prawn and swam as fast as I could ( barely moving though), first thing that happened, goggle came off ! , So I looked like an idiot with half filled water goggles overflipped over my cheeks.

So ,my instinct was to adjust the goggles but i remembered my coach tell me not to adjust anything and kept on swimming , and I kept on swimming for the whole 50m breaststroke. I think it took me around 50 seconds and it felt forever , I must have pulled like 50 strokes and I was ranked like 45 out of 48 participants at my age group level . Not bad ! I came out 3rd , from the bottom of the list :)

Well , after that , throughout my 7 years of competitive racing , I have gathered much experience and I managed to do a best of 32.xx seconds for 50m breasstroke and I learned a lot . I hope to share it with you all so you all dont dive like a prawn and swim like an idiot.

Before the Race ,

The warm up : Do some drills that you normally do , aim is just to warm yourself up . Do some short sprints , like 25m . Do plunging , turnings and finishing . If possible , time it such that your warm up finishes 30 mins before your event.

The starter : Notice who is the starter, analyse his/her pause between swimmers on the blocks and the start. Say , between 'take your mark' and 'go' , person A takes 1.5 seconds for the previous events and you may get the same starter. So you should anticipate your dive in around that time frame.

The visualisation : Try to visualise the whole race from the start to the finish . Try to feel every moment that you will go through, think through how you will start, swim ,breath, turn and finish. What is your intended stroke rate and how you will glide through the water. Plan your race , if it is a 200m race , maybe do a 80% the first 50m , then 90% 2nd 50m , 3rd 50m 85% and last 50m 100%

The comparison : When I was young , I used to be very much intimidated by bigger more muscular swimmers . These swimmers look so fit and huge but alas , I realised most of them were slower than me because they dont have water feel and their weight causes resistance and inflexibility. So, be positive , try your best and dont let other swimmers intimidate you. Chances are you are better than them ! On the other hand , also dont judge that the fatso beside you will be slower than you because in some race, that proves me wrong.. so wrong..

During the race :

Before the blocks : Do some warming up , swing your arms , jump a few times to get your body warm up to the race. Focus on the race and the pool in front of you , do not be distracted by other things

On the Blocks : To cut down on reaction time , I always anticipate the 'start' horn , I would imagine the horn sound is almost coming and when I actually hear the horn sound , I will dive in right away. Do not dive in or move before the horn , many first timers will do that cause they are too nervous , you will end up being disqualified ( DQ ), if there happen to be someone who dives in in your race , do not follow , you might be DQ as well.

The Race : Unless it is a 50m race or unless you are Alain Bernard and those guys, do not go 100% the first 50m , I have seen many beginners do that and end up drained at the end. Instead, do a control first 50m , this is because the adrenalin that you built up before the race will be sufficient to drive you a fast first 50m . You will also be able to save energy for the rest of the race.

The Finishing : The last 15 m is all mental , mind over matter . Pull as hard as you can , kick as hard as you can , drive yourself to the wall at maximum speed . If you are doing a butterfly or a breaststroke , try to time your last stroke to be a complete stroke ( comes with experience ) and keep your head down when you touch the wall . Famous example is Cavic who lost the race 0.01 seconds to Phelps in the Beijing Olympics because he lifted his head up as he touched the wall . Because of this , he will always be remembered as "the guy who lost to Phelps" , instead of Milorad Cavic :)

The video at 36 secs ( Phelps head down, Cavic head up )

Funny stuff about Phelps and Cavic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxK05rOmOZw

Enjoy your race !

2009-08-31T22:33:00.000-07:00

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.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

2009-08-30T10:58:00.000-07:00

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 !

2009-08-27T23:33:00.000-07:00

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 !

2009-08-26T21:55:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-24T21:42:00.001-07:00

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 )