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The Path to the perfect pulldown...

Posted by Jemma Lowe · March 07, 2016

The Breaststroke pulldown (or the underwater phase as its otherwise called) has been subject to several rule changes over the past couple of years. It used to be that no butterfly leg kick was permitted - only a pull down with the arms followed by a breastwork kick and arm recovery before initiating the first stroke - however with plenty of underwater footage of the pro's sneaking in a cheeky kick it was eventually permitted.

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Training & Technique

Bang for Your Buck Training?

Posted by Jemma Lowe · January 28, 2016

There has been much debate recently regarding principles of training, with short, high intensity intervals gaining lots of momentum as the modality of choice for fitness enthusiasts around the globe. Safe to say the debate reaches far in to the swimming world also with the publicity surrounding USRPT (Ultra Short Race Pace Training) and its scientific standing within the realms of performance enhancement.

Its back drop is based on the notion of specificity - that is training the specific demands required for a racing situation and not entertaining metres for metres sake.

As advocates of all training parameters that herald a minimum dose response and subsequent performance enhancing effect, or in other words, training that will give you the most bang for your buck - we believe that there are intelligent training methodologies out there that are all too often untapped. Certainly in lite of historic and contemporary trends regarding the manipulation of volume above all else as a pre-requisite for improved performance, there is everyday an evolving plethora of scientific evidence for training efforts that can be termed - to use a current buzz phrase - as Ultra Short.

The premise of ultra short work is by no means a new one and its very foundations lay in the popular form of training known as intervals. This is where a bulk of work is divided into manageable sections with a manipulated work:rest relationship to yield desired results.

A traditional example of this might be that if an aerobic result is required, the coach may want a group of swimmers to swim for 1 hour with their heart rates between 130 and 150 beats per minute. One way is to just swim for an hour - although tedium could play its part here and if the swimmer disengages then their heart rate may drop to 120 or below and the desired outcome at the end of the hour may not be achieved. So an interval set is created, that may look like:

30x100 fs @ 1.30 (45 minutes) followed by 15x50 @ 60 (15 minutes; total 1 hour!)

And within this set the coach may ask for different intensities (every 4th 100 the middle 50 is fast etc) in order to make sure the heart rate doesn't become too static or again start to fall.

In essence this is fine, but in terms of swim training for competitive reasons, the argument against this type of interval training is that it has zero relation (except 1 repetition is the same distance as a 100m race!!!!!!!) to the specific demands of racing. So instead of using intervals to break up a timescale, ultra short work focuses on breaking up a race swim and dictates that all repetitions be swum at race intensity. It is therefore termed ultra short because at those speeds it is difficult to swim much further than 25 metres over multiple repetitions at 100 metre pace.

The very essence of ultra short work is, as previously mentioned, not a new one and coaches and athletes for many years have been prescribing multiple repetitions of 12.5 metre sprints, 25s at 100m pace or even 100s at 8/1500m pace.

More recently however, the evolution of the process into a structured format known as Ultra Short Race Pace Training (USRPT) has been made available to the world of swimming via its creator Dr Brent Rushall at San Diego State University in the USA. His research, findings and subsequent moulding into the USRPT format are supported by compelling scientific evidence as to the absolute benefit of this training modality and its requirement as a methodology for performance enhancement.

Within this format a set that might last only 10-15 minutes allows the athlete to swim over 4 times his or her race distance at the specific race velocity, thus training the body and the brain to adapt to endure the techniques required to maintain this speed. The premise of this, as with any type of interval training, is that the excess volume overloads the body's systems and makes it more efficient at performing the reduced amount come race day. However, compared to traditional work that would prescribe an hour of aerobic work, then a 30 minute anaerobic set to cover all bases, with USRPT we cover them all in just 15 minutes!!!

That is what we call bang for your buck training and some!!!!!

Well be looking a bit more in depth at Ultra Short training techniques in future posts - including USRPT; its wider foundations in the fitness world with regard to training phenomenons such as Tabata protocol and other HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) modalities - so keep an eye out for some programming tips that could revolutionise the swimming world!!

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Training & Technique

Ultra Short race skills - Underwater phase

Posted by Jemma Lowe · January 14, 2016

In keeping with our favourite tradition of fast stuff first, here's a great little ultra short race skills set to improve the all important underwater phase in order to maintain that speed off the block and wall...
Firstly, apt to reiterate that the purpose of the underwater kick is to maintain speed off the dive and turn, not to develop it! In contrast to a running sprint where speed needs to be built rapidly over the first part of the race, a swimmer is never again travelling as fast in the water as the moment that they first enter after the dive! And never again in the race until the short accelerative burst off the wall...

This is important as it massively dictates the way we should be thinking about how we kick! And without at this point delving too much into the wonderful world of hydrodynamics, or that of Newton's laws of motion - it will probably suffice to say that the larger/wider/bigger an object is travelling through the water, the more the resistance there is slowing it down and that the more we move in the opposite way in which we wish to travel, again the greater the consequence.

Here's a quick snapshot of a swimmer performing underwater kicks with an excessive knee drop and we can see that as the knee bends to store energy ready to kick, the forward momentum off the wall is compromised owing to the thigh pushing water (propelling) in the opposite direction! Not only is frontal resistance increased greatly but the pitched knee then sets the angle for the down kick, which instead of driving water backwards, sends it diagonally down, the hips go up and the snowball continues! This could be mirrored with a horizontal thigh but an excessive heel lift creating the same effect but on the top side. Either way lots of effort here is needed but it just results in more energy being wasted as no speed is maintained and resistance is high = slow break out!!

So in order to maximise the maintenance of speed we want the kick to be small and fast, from the hips and as much as possible remain within the depth of the widest part of the body (usually the rib cage).

The kicks should stab backwards with the ankles plantar flexed and the torso and arms held in a fixed streamline position.

We also want to be able to endure up to 15m of these fast kicks without compromising energy expenditure: this is where the ultra short set comes in...

Try 12x15m underwater kicks @ 35-40 seconds.

The rest will not be quite enough to fully recover and fatigue will start to set in as the set progresses. Aim to fight the fatigue and maintain the fast tempo of the kicks - but remember, if it all breaks down, take a break!

Gradually your endurance to completing the set will improve and from there performing it 2-3 times per week will improve the speed at which you kick further as well as maintain your gains and promote the skill for transfer into race day!

Give it a try, small and fast! And do it first...

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LTAD - the Jedi method?

Posted by Jemma Lowe · December 04, 2015

Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) is a widely discussed element of sports training and whilst it is generally agreed that it is a vital component of any coaching repertoire, there is a lot of discussion and debate over the best model - if indeed there is one - and which factors are actually relevant to the individuals within the sport they partake.

Too often connotations of 'early specialisation' are brought up - particularly in relation to swimming - and there tends to be a desire to pay a large amount of attention to 'building qualities' and teaching and training young athletes 'how to train'. And the answer seems in a lot of cases to be volume. The perception that by giving young athletes a large amount of volume will enhance their potential for long term success is limited owing to the large amount of swimmers who drop out of the sport or who have to retire early due to injury.I know full well that many coaches, managers, parents will disagree with me (and lots will agree) and continually ascertain that he way to become a world champ is to smash the yardage from an early age then refine the athlete later on. Personally I believe this is the backwards approach...

For me Long Term Development needs to be centred around participation, keeping people involved in the sport and not buying into the ideal of 'early specialisation' and 'training' kids too young. We need to look at continually and continually and a bit more continually developing and redeveloping skills, keeping training fun and engaging; paying attention to times of peak growth and adjusting around individuals through these periods. Allowing kids to do what they do best - going fast, and teaching them how they can go faster (generally all you see is kids running everywhere, as fast as they can - put them in a pool and they will race each other, any way which how - let's embrace that and then gradually teach them how to do it properly). The key element here is teaching - I think we need more clarity over the role of a coach as a teacher first and foremost and be looking to add in the 'coaching' elements as the swimmers potential blossoms (N.B I know that some coaches will work age group athletes hard so that they can be the best 12 year old in the country, or win a national medal aged 14 - as nice as that may be at the time, its short term success, not long term development).

If we need any more convincing about the downside of early specialisation and getting kids to do too much too soon we need to look no further than the very sad but true story of the Jedi order. Anakin was too young to be trained as a Jedi - he was 9 years old (first stage of LTAD starts at 6 so there's a comparison there) - and despite a small tinkling with the Dark Side he proved to be the chosen one, finally ridding the Galaxy of the Emperor... No formal training, a few (ok, a few years) 1 on 1 sessions with a master teacher and he was pretty well attuned with the ways of the force to become arguably the most powerful Jedi ever! And as for the Jedi method of training them young? None were as powerful as Anakin (though maybe a tad more subservient!!)

Roll on a few episodes and we have the guy who actually beats the most powerful form of Anakin, Darth Vader, after only commencing his specialist training as a Jedi at the tender age of 21!! Piloting, check; shooting a laser gun, check; working hard on multitude of skills and having instilled a great work ethic after years of exposure to varied activities on the moisture farm, check; huge volumes of Jedi specific training from an early age, you get my point... Yes Im a Star Wars fan, yes the connection is a tad tongue in cheek (although I do quite often find myself paralleling my coaching ideals to the Star Wars films - maybe there's a blog series to begin) but I am convinced that early training should be wide and varied; teaching a broad range of movement patterns and motor skills; giving young athletes the tools they need to go fast and the technique to be able to sustain speed - and then develop those qualities continually and with purpose and intent and not being afraid to teach them again how to perform an underwater kick...

Swimmers, or athletes in any sport for that matter, will at times stop taking part in that sport - if they have a broad range of skills to turn their hands to than it is hoped they may pursue a different activity and at least you know you have given these youngsters an ability to choose their next path. That I can cope with, its the giving up of all activity and becoming lost to the sport because of being 'burnt out' before their 18th birthday that is a harder fate to swallow...

May the force be with you.... always!

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Training & Technique

Defining Backstroke

Posted by Jemma Lowe · September 10, 2015

So it seems Mr Lochte caused a bit of controversy at the Worlds this summer by performing his fly kicks (on the freestyle leg of the I.M) on his back!!

But it's freestyle right so that's ok?

According to FINA, probably not....

Despite not being DQ'd in Kazan, Lochte's kick exploits have caused swimming's governing body to re-look at the laws within IM - and as a recent article on Swimswam states - by adding further clarification to what constitutes the freestyle leg...

The basis of the current rules is that the freestyle leg on an IM can be anything other than back, breast or fly - and thus most of time folk will swim front crawl! However, the concern over Lochte's front crawl leg is that he did 15m of it on his back, which means he was swimming backstroke of a portion of the leg and so contravening the rule of not being allowed to swim one of the 3 other strokes...

Current perception therefore is that the rules will be changed so that on embarking on the freestyle leg of an IM the swimmer must be on his or her front...

Here's the interesting bit...

So if Lochte turns breast to free to come off the wall on his front (as we would see in a breast to breast or fly to fly turn) and performs 15m of fly kick underwater before swimming front crawl - has he not completed a portion of the leg swimming butterfly??

It raises the question whether therefore the freestyle leg will not be allowed to contain any fly kicks...

Or can they only be done on the side? (thats not a stroke right?!)

Or is the can of worms opened even further by looking at the technical laws of backstroke that state the entire swim must be completed on the back for it to be legal. And so if a swimmer kicked 15m underwater on the back, came up and turned onto the front then he/she would be DQ'd - and vis a vis therefore the 15m underwater on the freestyle leg if done on the back does not constitute backstroke because the swimmer comes up on the front thus rendering the lap NOT backstroke...

There's quite a few forums and chat on this subject already and it has been debated ever since he did it!

For my mind I don't accept that 15m underwater fly kick on the back is backstroke. It is an element of backstroke swimming that has come into the sport as swimmers have become more adept at fast kicking underwater - and rules, such as 15m distance, have been introduced to embrace and regulate its use.

Without a severe overhaul of all regulations of what constitutes strokes and allowable underwater phases I'm not convinced there is an issue...

After all, his winning time of 1:55.81 was nearly a second slower than the time he won the same event in 2 years previous (1:54.98) and nearly 2 seconds slower than his own World Record (1:54.00)!

So in conclusion kids, don't kick on your back on the freestyle leg of the 200 IM. Not because its illegal, but because it makes you slower :)

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Training & Technique