Archive for Basics
Author: Brenton Ford
Power words are words which if thought about while performing an action, can improve that action dramatically.
For example, imagine a golfer lining up to sink a 6 yard putt on the 18th hole. He needs to sink this shot for the win. The pressure on him to perform is enormous. Now pause for a moment. What do you think a professional golfer would be saying to himself? “HARD AND FAST…HARD AND FAST” or “STEADY…STEADY…”. The latter of course.
In swimming it is no different. There are two power words which if thought about and repeated while swimming, your swimming will immediately improve. Not only in the way it feels, but in speed, in ease and in smoothness. These two words are “LONG” and “RELAXED”. Repeat them when you’re swimming. “LONG” and “RELAXED”.
When I use this technique with swimmers who are starting out or have little experience, the results are dramatic. It’s common to have swimmers tell me they ‘finally get it’ once they experience swimming long and relaxed. What do I mean by ‘long’? Swimming ‘long’ means to be as torpedo like as possible. You should imagine yourself reaching for the wall in each stroke and pulling right back past your hip. The longer you can make your body the less resistance you will create and the faster you will go. What do I mean by ‘relaxed’?
To go faster in swimming, you need to relax your body. Contrary to what comes natural when we attempt to speed up, you must relax your arms, your shoulders and your legs to increase your speed. Rather than swimming ‘tense’, relax your muscles and allow yourself to power through the water without fighting it. This is absolute key to swimming fast. During your next workout, imagine yourself swimming ‘long’ and ‘relaxed’ and instantly see the benefits.
How do elite swimmers get so good? Find out at http://effortless-swimming.com
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/water-sports-articles/how-to-swim-the-2-killer-secrets-to-a-smoother-freestyle-868104.html
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Summer is a time for kids in traditional schools to have fun. But you don’t want them to sit at home, inside playing video games or watching shows all day on the TV. For those who have community pools, it’s not that hard for kids to get physical activity by romping around in the water. However, many people do not have pools that are accessible without paid memberships so they can’t frequent the pool.
By joining a summer swim team, you are giving your child a healthy activity which is fun and healthy.
Generally, summer sporting activities are expensive and don’t last very long. The summer swimming season kicks in right when area schools get out and is completed right before school starts back so you don’t have to worry about what to do with the kids on off weeks. It is an activity that is fun, social and healthy. It can introduce your child to competing in a sport without the pressure of a club team.
If your child has expressed interest in year round swimming, this is the perfect way to ‘test the waters’. In fact, my son started on a summer swim team and started year round swimming as a result. He has swum year-round ever since.
- Swimming is an excellent form of exercise
- The cost of participation in a summer swim team is very reasonable
- A summer swim team introduces young people to swimming in a non-threatening way
- Allows for a great deal of social interaction
- All swimming skill levels can participate
- Builds self esteem
For more information about summer swim teams in your area, you can check out local community recreation centers, the area YMCA or some year round teams offer summer swimming clinics and/or teams.
For swimming equipment or gear, I would recommend checking eBay for NEW items or ordering online somewhere like SwimOutlet where there are always great deals. Many stores are expensive and have a lot of impulse items you have to maneuver through to get to what you need.
Filed under: Age Group, Basics, Health, Uncategorized | |1 Comment
You swim your heart out in an event you have not dropped time in for several meets and you get your best time by shaving 3 seconds! This great swim can instantaneously become a heartache when your name is at the bottom of the event results and marked with a DQ (disqualification).
Disappointment over a DQ is natural and walking away from the DQ with a positive attitude is difficult, but necessary, in the development of a swimmer.
A few points to ponder:
- You can still be proud of your effort in spite of a DQ. A disqualification in an event at a swim meet along with poor effort will always be a double failure; a DQ with max effort is something you can be proud of. Mistakes are inevitable…effort is a decision.
- The technical issue(s) that caused you to be DQ’d in the first place can be addressed at practice and should be put aside until after any upcoming events have been swum.
- If you take a DQ as merely a failure, you are overlooking the lesson(s) to be learned. After you address the technical issues in practice and you make the conscious decision to give maximum effort, you are more likely to succeed and have it count the next time you swim the event.
If you got DQ’d on a backstroke turn, work on it in practice until you execute the flip turn legally and consistently. Continue practicing because repetition is key.
If you get disqualified because you are fatigued and throw in a few breaststroke kicks with the butterfly, work on your stamina. Build up until you are strong enough to swim the stroke without the illegal kicks.
If your error was in the touch turn and you were over vertical, work on that. In any kind of sport, your body will learn from repetition and your race elements will become a habit.
So, the next time you get disqualified at a swim meet, allow yourself to be disappointed, but don’t let it consume you, let it motivate you. Sometimes the bitter sweet moments have the most growth potential…and not just in swimming.
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Members of USA Swimming have a new tool available! Have you ever wondered what you are eating and how it maintains (or not) optimal training nutrition and a healthy body for peak performance on and off season?
With USA Swimming’s nutrition tracker tool, you can create a personal database of specific foods, nuttrition content, menus, recipes and more. A swimmer can evaluate a full day’s nutritional intake, track nutrition habits over a swim season or analyze how your diet is affecting your energy and nutrient intake.
Every serious swimmer knows that a consistently healthy diet is as important to training as regular practice. Your body cannot perform to its potential if it doesn’t have the proper fuel.
Check out the Nutrition Tracker on USA Swimming today. If you don’t have a membership, consider joining, There are many other useful tools available to members.
Benefits of a USA Swimming membership
Nutritional Supplements for Swimmers
Sports Nutrition Guidebook by Nancy Clark
Filed under: Age Group, Basics, Health, Nutrition | |No Comments
Those who have the privilege to be involved in swimming at a competitive or recreational level know first hand of the many benefits of swimming. It’s a low impact, healthy sport for all ages and fitness levels. It builds a strong work ethic because it requires self-discipline.
But, these swimmers can often overlook the fact that simply knowing how to swim can save lives. In our neighborhood a young boy drowned in a fountain only 2 feet deep. Unfortunately, swimming is not economically possible for many people in the United States.
USA Swimming is making a difference. The USA Swimming Foundation’s mission is to make swim lessons accessible to children who otherwise would remain helpless in situations requiring the skills to prevent drowning…USA Swimming Foundation, through it’s supporters and programs, saves lives by making swim lessons available to children of families who do not have the economic means to pay for swimming lessons.
So check out the Foundation’s website and save lives!
There are many opportunities to help. Sponsor lessons for a child, support one of the grassroots learn to swim programs in your area through “Make a Splash”, volunteer to become an instructor…just do something.
Cullen Jones “Making a Splash” and having fun…
Become a member of USA Swimming Foundation on Facebook!
Sponsor a series of swim lessons for a child!
Join Splash Nation! ($10 of membership will go to sponsor swim lessons and Speedo will donate $30 toward swim lessons for a child).
Article about Cullen on ESPN news
Filed under: Age Group, Basics, Health | |1 Comment
Bilateral breathing is a bit contrary to the way most people work. We typically favor one side or the other. Think about handwriting. The majority of people use the right OR left hand. In baseball, switch hitters are the exception and teaching a child to shoot, do a lay-up or dribble with the non-dominant hand is quite an obstacle and takes a great deal of practice.
Bilateral breathing in swimming is the same. As you probably know, the sooner we teach a child something in athletics the better. It becomes increasingly difficult to teach a child to bilateral breathe when they have learned to breathe on only one side.
The next time you are coaching, or teaching a child to breathe while swimming, do them a favor. If they learn it earlier soon than later, they will easily be able to use different patterns based on the type of swimming they are doing (distance, middle-distance, or sprinting). Many swimmers have different patterns of breathing. 2-4-4-2, 1-1-2, etc.
Get the, started early – even if they choose a different pattern when they get older, they will have a solid foundation that will allow them to breathe in both directions and they will ultimately be more comfortable in the water!
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No matter what the occasion, you won’t have any problems finding the perfect gift for a swimmer. Ideas for swimmers include the basics (goggles and caps) as well as swimsuits, towels, equipment bags and instructional DVDs. And for the pickier swimmer, a gift card makes the perfect gift!
Here are a few of our team’s favorites:
Goggles – Cool!
Swimming goggles come in so many styles and colors that you are bound to find a pair that your child will LOVE and good ones start at only $9.95!
Swim Caps – Stylish!
Caps aren’t just for girls…some guys want to keep their longer hair, so swim caps are a necessity. The boys can swim fast and look good with so many great styles available. And there are so many choices for girls
Temporary Tattoos – Swim Themed, of course! 
No matter what your swimmer’s favorite event (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle or IM, there is a swim tattoo to go along with it).
Swim Gear Bag – Wear it on your back!
Stylish Equipment Bag by Speedo will keep your wet equipment from getting your dry stuff soggy.
Instructional DVDs – Learn stroke technique from some of the best swimmers in the sport
Check out SwimOutlet.com for loads of gift ideas! Swimmers LOVE that kind of thing!
Filed under: Age Group, Basics, Swim Equipment, Swim Gear, tips | |No Comments
Sharing a lane with another swimmer may seem simple, but it really requires a bit of tact and knowledge of the etiquette involved in order to avoid irritating the other swimmers.
When you are planning on sharing a lane with one swimmer, there are 2 options:
- Circle Swimming
- Splitting the Lane
Circle swimming is the default method for lap swimmers at public pools. Circle swimming is exactly what it says…you swim in a counterclockwise direction. If the circle swimming method is used, more swimmers can blend into the lane and move one behind the other.
Splitting the lane means you swim along the same lane line going in both directions. When you turn, you need to make sure you do not cross into the other lane and get in the other swimmer’s path.
Another point of confusion for swimmers who would like to swim laps when there are no open lanes is how to get the other swimmer’s attention. Many times you can get their attention by standing at the head of the lane. They will usually stop and find out what you want. If they are in the middle of a long set, they may not want to be bothered, so you will need to wait until they pass and slip into the lane behind them and start circle swimming.
If you are able to get the swimmer’s attention, it is important to remember that each swimmer has individual preferences regarding how they want to share a lane with other swimmers. You definitely do not want to offend another swimmer, so when asking to share a lane, ask if they would like to circles swim or split the lane. Then hop in and swim.
Obviously, if there are already 2 or more swimmers in the lane, circle swimming will need to be used and most pools that offer lap swimming lanes promote this type of lane sharing.
Filed under: Basics, Olympics, Swim Equipment, tips | Basics|No Comments
My son (AC) had a swim meet this weekend and we broke the “golden rule” of only taking one pair of goggles. Well, actually, I threw a pair of mine in there just in case. Fortunately, we made it through the meet with no goggle mishaps and without losing them.
But, we DID succeed in losing the goggles somewhere between the meet and home (or maybe they are in car).
Just last week, we realized that AC’s snorkel, pull buoy and streamline kick board were missing…as well as his backup pair of Jr. Vanquisher’s.
At any rate, looks like I’m heading over to SwimOutlet to get replacement goggles (AC’s favs are always on sale). But he may have to wait for the other equipment.
Wonder what the chances are of him paying me back when he’s old enough to work?
MORAL of the story: Even in the midst of the chaos of a swim meet, make sure you have EVERYTHING before you leave the pool deck. And…if you take equipment to the pool, keep it all together versus pulling it out of your swim bag and leaving it on the bench until practice is over. That way, (A) you won’t leave anything behind, and (B) hopefully nobody will walk off with your swimming gear!
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If I were to have to choose the most comprehensive and healthy sport, it would be swimming (hands down).While swimming is challenging, the many benefits are outstanding and unequaled.
MUSCLE GROUP INVOLVEMENT Swimming involves the use of almost all the muscles required for movement, but without the progressive wear and tear on the body experienced by more traditional exercises involving running and jumping.
MUSCLE TONE & STRENGTH
Regular swimming will increase muscle tone and strength because water resistance is greater than air and the muscles have to work continuously to keep the body moving.
CARDIOVASCULAR FITNESS Swimming is great for endurance, and cardiovascular fitness. These benefits are achieved without overworking the heart.
LUNG CAPACITY Swimming improves the body’s use of oxygen and increases lung function which is why swimming can often decrease symptoms in some asthmatic people.
WEIGHT CONTROL Swimming improves the ability to control and maintain a healthy weight.
STRESS REDUCTION Like other sports, swimming decreases stress by releasing endorphins and other relaxing chemicals.
LONGEVITY Swimming is a sport for all ages and fitness levels and a person can start swimming at any age. For many people it is the only form of exercise they can participate in.
CONFIDENCE As with other sports, swimming will improve self esteem and increase mental toughness.
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