Swim II - Class 3 - Posture

Tonight we worked on Posture, and a more advanced way of doing what we did in week one. It’s a big advantage to be able to hold your hips, shoulders, and head in alignment. This allows you to produce force most economically in two ways:

1 ) Your arm stroke is pulling a narrow, unbending body, that stays close to the surface. Muscles stretched against an unyielding frame produce force best.
2) Power from your kick can be directed to rotate your hips on demand, in conjunction with your arms vs. randomly twisting your body. A narrow kick becomes more useful. Less power is lost to meaningless motion.

NOTE: Remember that in the main sets this quarter we're doing both poor and perfect for swimming. This way, it is easy to feel the difference between the two and notice when your form is suffering.

Warm-up (200):

4x50 kick/swim

On Deck (Posture):

Jump out and go through the following points face up and down, using several kickboards to lie upon. Do this for 3-5min. Practice narrow kicks we did in class while keeping your back connected to the ground. You should be able to control the curvature of your back while moving your legs and take all the pressure off of it.

Note: This deck work was developed by Olympic coach Richard Quick.

Face up –
Key Points:
Pull your belly button into your spine and flatten your low back to the ground.
Breathe out and push your ribcage down toward your waist.
Tuck your chin back so the back of your neck lines up with your spine.
Imagine you’re being stretched by someone pulling on the top of your head. Lengthen your neck.

Face down –
Key Points:

Pull your belly button into your spine, and take it off the floor. Your ribs and hips should be touching on either side of it.
Breathe out and flatten yourself down to the ground, all the while keeping your stomach from touching.
Tuck your chin back so the back of your neck lines up with your spine. Lift your forehead just a millimeter off the ground.
Imagine you’re being stretched by someone pulling on the top of your head. Lengthen.

Warm-up (300):

12x25 leaving every 50-60sec, focusing on each point above for blocks of three 25s. You’ll finish at the opposite end of the pool each time.

Main Set:

Do the following as a continuous 300yd swim.
Remember, this is very easy swimming. Rests if any are short at 15-20sec after each 300.
100 count strokes
100 loose belly and lots of head movement up and to the sides
100 lower abs in / chin tucked (head very steady as body rotates evenly to both sides
Repeat 3 or more times.


Cool Down:
100 easy swim