Comments on: Can Swimmers learn anything from Olympic Speedskaters?

By: Terry Laughlin

Terry Laughlin — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 17:07:05 +0000

Suzanne In fact I do focus on relaxation when I swim. I start every practice and set by establishing a state of relaxation because the absence of tension helps me swim with more grace and freer movement. And I consistently finish practice with a pronounced and enduring sense of well-being. This is produced by experiencing flow states while practicing, which is an outgrowth of my emphasis on self-improvement. So the focus on improvement does result in relaxation, as an outgrowth. Definitely not a binary choice.

By: Terry Laughlin

Terry Laughlin — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 17:02:32 +0000

I think it’s a combination of the failure of coaching education to provide a comprehensive foundation to coaches and the powerful hold that the aerobic conditioning methodology has on the entire community and culture tends to create blind spots with regard to other ways to improve.

By: Suzanne Atkinson

Suzanne Atkinson — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 03:37:17 +0000

Terry, I was struck by this article as well and posted about it on Facebook. Perhaps the answer to your question is a lack of coaching education? Even to this day, I still find myself swimming with leftover techniques from when was 8 years old…when I distinctly recall our swim coach getting in the water and correcting our form…I got yelled at for looking at the bottom of the pool incidentally…so I’ve practiced looking forward for over 30 years!

If there had been agreement in best form 30 years ago…perhaps I’d have had different luck on swim teams.

By: Terry Laughlin

Terry Laughlin — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:49:20 +0000

Lawrence
What an insightful post. Thanks for contributing. I first thought about this when I took up the skating, or freestyle form of x-c skiing some 10 years ago. (You would have seen this in the coverage from Vancouver too – they used this form in both the biathlon and nordic combined yesterday – in which French athletes won both gold medals, and the US finished in the medals in nordic combined for the first time ever.) No discernible variation whatsoever in form among all these athletes. Only a difference in stride rate.
I had previously done the classic style for another 8 years. Skate-skiing involves much more exacting skills and is much harder to learn. I took lessons from 4 or 5 different teachers in as many different ski areas. What struck me was the absolute consistency of the instruction in both methodology and quality. Each instructor worked from a common set of principles and I finished each lesson as an improved skier.
Afterward I thought about the irony of this. At the time I began studying skate-sking, that style was only about 25 years old. Yet in that time the quality of instruction had completely outstripped what you typically find in swimming instruction – a discipline which has been formally taught for some 50 years longer.

By: Lawrence

Lawrence — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 20:44:48 +0000

Well put, Terry. I was myself watching the skating from Vancouver on TV earlier today. More than any other sport, the sight of those long and elegant strides taken by the elite competitors puts me in mind of TI freestyle: glide, catch and switch, glide, catch and switch…

I took up TI a year go and am fascinated by the variety of freestyle stroke patterns you see at the local pool. More than that, I haven’t seen a single person outside TI circles who seems to know what they are aiming at when swimming freestyle, and I include here the members of my local competitive swimming club. When I watch them train, each person’s technique is different to that of all the others, and the emphasis is clearly on physiological as opposed to mental conditioning. The coach stands at one end of the pool and seems uninterested in commenting on technique or form.

I can’t think of another mass participation sport or activity where almost everyone lacks a basic understanding of what they are meant to be doing. Go to your local tennis, football, basketball, etc. club, in contrast, and invariably you’ll find people with great technique who work just as much on developing their skill as they do on fitness.

If I had to guess, I’d say the reason for this is that most of the action in swimming is obscured from view – both the coach’s and the swimmer’s. So without mirrors, video feedback or a coach in the pool and under the water, the only way to progress is by thinking one’s way to correct form, with “eyes shut” so to speak. But for that to work, one needs to understand what one is meant to be doing! (TI provides the answer.)

I would go so far as to say that this issue should be raised as one of public policy. Here in London, UK, there are generous schemes providing free access to pools for a range of age groups. The assumption seems to be that free access is enough for people to learn to become proficient swimmers. The evidence is very much to the contrary, however.

By: pat gallant-charette

pat gallant-charette — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:06:07 +0000

Olympic caliber swimmers and speedskaters have one thing in common — perfect technique. It makes me realize that each day I need to focus more on my technique during my swim training for my next marathon swim. Thank you Terry for such an insightful article.