Easy way to Rotate your Body in Freestyle

5/26/11 Edit: OK, I am going to be the big man (never wasn't) and admit the advice I posted near the bottom of this post - on how to rotate - is wrong. It's been a while, so I'm not certain, but I want to believe my idea was to get novice swimmers to see what rotation felt like. I guess I overstepped and implied that one should do this as "proper" technique. They should NOT. Thank you to those who commented that the advice is poor - I respect your years of tenure. Note to readers, if you read the post below, please read the comments(aside from my first reply) and you'll see how wrong my advice apparently was.

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One secret to swimming faster freestyle is to rotate your body. Rotation can be a challenge for some but after reading this tip, you'll see that it was never supposed to be hard. The tip is quite easy to understand and do.

First, what is body rotation and why rotate in the first place? Optimally, when not in a rotation, the swimmer's body should be straight and parallel to the surface of the water and the bottom of the pool so it can stream through the water with less resistance. Rotation is when the body (maintaining the parallel) turns to the side, giving the body even less resistance.

I've used the pencil analogy in previous posts, but for this example I'm going to suggest using a ruler. Hold the ruler by either end with the length of the parallel to the floor and with the scale so it is facing the floor. Now turn the ruler so the scale faces the wall. Now turn it down to the floor again and make the scale face the opposite wall. Now imagine doing that with your body in the pool. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. That is rotation.

So why should you rotate? Rotation puts your body in position to have less resistance as it passes through the water. Notice from the ruler demonstration that when the scale is facing the wall, the shape of the ruler is more like a knife (or a fish). This position also puts you in position to have a more powerful pull stroke.

So, how can you guarantee you'll rotate? This is the easy part. Standing, put your arms over your head extended straight out, fingers pointing up. Now cross your arms at the wrist so the cross is directly over your head (keep arms fully extended). Note how each hand is extended beyond the center point. Now put one arm to your side and leave the other where it is. Now switch them.

Now just do this in the pool. When you extend each arm ahead, be sure to reach beyond the center point where the wrists would cross if they were there together.

What this does. The extended reach past the center point will force your body automatically into the rotation you are wanting to achieve. If you don't find yourself rotating enough, extend your reach further (i.e. hyper-extend). Enjoy!

Mini-Goal Achievement Update and a Reality Check

One of the reasons I started tracking my swimming progress (see left hand column of this blog) was the eureka moment that I had when I realized that I could achieve one million meters by just doing my regular routine. It sounded so cool.

Well I hit that milestone today. Pat, pat, pat. That's me patting myself on the back. Hee hee. One million is a cool number.

Reality interrupting here: This "achievement" took a little over a year and a half to complete. Olympic swimmers' workout routines pull off this "achievement" a few times a year, at least.

Oh, really? Hmmm .... Reality sucks. I guess I'll ignore it. Pat, pat, pat.

Baywatch in the Next Lane - My Surprise

Swimming next to a fast swimmer can make you swim faster. It works for me. I've proven it to myself by keeping a daily log and noting disparities from day to day. If I swim next to a fast swimmer, my times are nearly always better. But this AM was different.

Today, I had a pair of swimmers next to me that were clearly of a different caliber. I started out thinking I'd keep up. Then I realized that wasn't going to happen when I got passed twice in six lengths. Much to my dismay, this continued throughout my entire workout. Since I didn't feel under the weather at all I came to the conclusion that the pair were faster than any that had ever swam in the lane next to me before.

When I was done with 2000 meters, I paused and a regular pulled up in the other lane next to me. I mentioned that I was getting a little bit of wake-zone activity in my lane. My neighbor's reply? "Well you should, that's Ashley Tappin. She was an Olympic Gold medalist in the Sydney games' 4X100 freestyle relay (alternate)."

I got home and looked it up. She sure was gold. She was also asked to be on Baywatch, as a celebrity walk-on. My friend didn't mention that. I couldn't decide which was better! :)

I don't feel so bad now, but I sure feel slow! I expect I'll remember today for a long time.

Here are two other references (ref 1 ref 2).

How to Watch the Mens 10K Swim - You'll be Glad You Read This

I just got around to watching NBC's webcast video of the Olympics Mens 10K Swim. Yes, you can watch it all, and here is the link to the launch page ... Click on the first video to the right of the article. If you haven't visited nbcolympics.com and tried to stream any video, you may be prompted to install a special video component (if you are hesitant to do that, think again, you are missing a ton of great stuff!).

Before you go there, here are some highlight moments and thoughts about the race that may make your viewing more fun:
1. The start is especially exciting. Don't skip this part. There is no commentary, so you get the feel for being with the swimmers. You can here them being told about the number of minutes to go and see them lining up on the floating dock. Once the race starts, there is the mass of humanity struggling for the lead. This ain't no 50 meter lane pool.
2. Race starts about three minutes into the video
3. You can scroll ahead (you can scroll as far ahead as you like almost right away ... I have broadband, slower speeds may not have this capability).
4. The excitement of the finish can be watched at about 1:54 on the video clock.
5. Awards ceremony at 1:54 - 1:56.

Spoiler Alert - Results Follow:

Winner was Maren van der Welden of the Netherlands in 1:51.61.6 (yes, thats over 6 miles in that time .... aaaaakkkk!). He won by only about a body length!!!

If Swimmers Have Brighter Teeth are they Doping?

This article from the Daily Mail cites claims that ordinary baking soda can boost swimming performance. The article references performance boosts of 1.5 seconds on 200 meter swims.

I'm not suggesting baking-soda doping is a good idea, but I just might start brushing my teeth with the stuff. It whitens teeth, you know.

The Phelpian Eight

Nothing to say here but, WOW! and thanks Michael, for bringing swimming to the forefront of the public's attention for a few thrilling nights.

Michael Phelps Freestyle - What exactly is going on?

If you've watched Michael Phelps with any sort of discerning eye this week as he cracks one world record after another, you'll notice that his freestyle is a bit unorthodox from the rest of his fellow competitors. Even the most untrained eye will notice that he comes up higher out of the water than everyone else (link has an embedded picture of what I mean).

What is it about this that gives him an edge over his competitors? Is this giving him an edge?

This has gotten me thinking a little bit outside of the box, so forgive this post if I am way off base, but I tried out the stroke and noticed something peculiar. If you pull yourself out of the water high enough, you can actually throw your hips into the stroke, much like one does in butterfly. If you add the hip action, you get the benefit of more body and leg power in the stroke.

Now I'm not saying Michael is doing what I describe above. I'm not sure it would even be legal, and there are countless judges and people more versed in stroke technique watching all over the earth this week and I haven't heard any complaints or protests.

All I'm suggesting is, that this extra lift up and out of the water before going into the reach may add to one's power in the stroke. Try it for yourself. It takes a little bit of coordination to pull it off, but I think you may be pleasantly surprised. Let me know what you find.

Olympic Swimmer Who Can Barely Swim 100 Meters

So you think you're a fast swimmer but you know you aren't exactly up to speed with Michael Phelps? Check this video out. It starts out kind of funny, but before you're through watching, you may say, yes, I'm Olympic caliber too.

Yes, this really is the Olympics (from Sydney).

172 Foot World Record High Dive

This link is to the video. Watch carefully between 1:20 and 1:30 and see how high this is! Makes me think the Olympians are a bunch of wussies.

Now can I dive off the pool side edge?

How Big Should My Pool Be?

This past 4th of July, I went to workout. Apparently only people competing in fun-runs - and me - work out in the early hours on the 4th of July, for I found I was the only person in the 50 meter pool for an entire hour. It was nice, but I sort of considered it all a bit more than I needed.

Now jump forward to the next week. I'm on vacation at my usual summer spot on a lake in Wisconsin. My routine is to get up early before everyone else and do my swim and then enjoy an early morning relaxation period on the pier watching the wildlife (birds, fish, children) wake up around the lake. I'm usually the only person out until about 8am, save a random fisherman from time to time. But this year was different. I was joined on the lake by a man who daily rowed around the lake in a streamlined rowboat.

One might think that a 1,500,000 square yard (310 acre) lake would be large enough for two people. One would be wrong.

The particular morning of this story, I stepped out on the pier and prepared to jump in for my swim. I like to swim straight out across the lake - something that one can't comfortably do in the middle of the day when there is lots of watercraft. Looking out, I saw the rower skimming across the lake. I took comfort in knowing from prior days that his routine was to row parallel to the shore. With my routine crossing his routine path only once as I would swim out to a float and then across to the lake's center where there is an island. He wouldn't come near me. Just before jumping in, I looked out and saw that the rower was turning the corner and headed my way. He was still hundreds of meters away so I didn't give it much more thought and adjusted my goggles and braced myself to jump into the chilly water.

Upon jumping in I immediately proceeded into a freestyle toward the float and beyond, breathing only on my left (for the moment). I got out just past the float when what did I see not 10 feet off my left side and towering over my head but the rower, pausing to let me pass - his oars up out of the water. He looked out over his shoulder and directly down at me, but said nothing. I can only imagine he felt a little bit of fortune - as did I - for not sending me to the bottom of the lake.

How he got to my spot so fast from across the lake is beyond me - he must really go fast. How we happened to come to the same spot in a 310 acre lake is also a little too weird to comprehend.

I am just glad he saw me - or rather heard me. Had there been any wind, he might not have and plowed right into me.

This past Saturday - back home again, the weather was inclement and again no one else was swimming at the 50 meter pool. This time, I was glad to have it all to myself. I knew it could never be too big.

New Goal Added to Monster List

I've added a new goal to my list of lap swimming goals (scroll down left panel) that should have been there all along - swim the Great Lakes. I went into Google Maps and traced the USA/Canadian border with their measuring tool - from Kingston to Thunder Bay. That distance reports in at 1,134 miles or 1,814,400 meters (if you look at it like I do, that's 36,288 circular laps in a 25 meter pool).

35-Foot Swan Dive into 12-inches of Water

I once dove off a 3-meter board and scraped my stomach on the 10-foot bottom when I was pulling out to go to the surface. It stung for a while. Know one really cares when I tell this story. Snff snff. Maybe this guy would listen.

Should You Sprint or Swim for Distance?

For as long as I've been a lap swimmer, I've always had a bad taste in my mouth for wall hangers - people who take up a valuable pool lane lying against the wall, usually chatting, when they could either get out or use the lane as it was intended. I am one to get in, swim and get out. I'm not much for chit chat. Now, today I read, that maybe I ought to join in. What's that about?!!!

I found this article about running on abcnew.go.com. Upon reading it, I wondered how it could not but also apply to swimming. In a nutshell, it quotes a university study that says that "30-second all-out sprints improved their (runners) cardiovascular fitness and muscle endurance as much as those who did 40 to 60 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise."

So does this mean, that I could just do a few sprints and get in the same value that I get in my 50-60 minute daily workout? I don't want to think that, but it appears to have some academic validity. I'm too addicted to the long laps thing to give that up. I guess I could do both. Looks like I'll be joining in with the wall-hangers for at least a few minutes now.

Can the Weather Impact Your Swimming?

"It's going to rain. I can feel it in my bones." That oft repeated phrase, usually attributed to old people is coming home to roost for me. As I've aged (I'm a middle-40's guy), I'm noting more and more that when the weather changes, I can feel my joints and bones aching. This is particularly true when a front is coming through and the weather goes from hot to cool, or the other way around - even on the nicest of days. These fronts bring pressure changes with them. How does this have anything to do with swimming? I don't know (yet), but today I took steps to find out.

I installed a gadget on my home page that tracks the barometric pressure in my geographic area. I'll be tracking that pressure over time and seeing how it impacts my efforting. I expect I'll find something. Check back on this blog over the next six months. I should have a beginning base line to report.

PS As a side note, I'd like to apologize for my lack of recent posts. No 'scuses. I just hope to do better going forward. Thanks for reading!

How Deep is the Deepest Lake?

One of the coolest things about swimming is that you can swim in the deepest water and if you have any skill at all there is absolutely no difference than if you were swimming in water that is just over your nose.

I absolutely flipped when I saw what the deepest was. So do you have a guess before I tell you?

1000 feet - Wrong. 2000 feet - Wrong. 3000 feet - Wrong. 4000 feet - Wrong. 5000 feet - OK, you're getting warmer. Try 5369 feet deep!

Here's a link to a cool article that describes that lake and four other of the deepest lakes in the world.

What you bet that if that lake were in the USA there would be a "No Diving" sign?!

Is that Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis or are you just stupid?

I've always thought the ponds and lakes of the deep south looked inviting. Factor out the snakes and gators and you've got a year round natural open-water swimming. Then I read about PAM (see title) last year.

PAM is a brain eating amoeba. Yes, you read that right, campers. It sounds horrible and it can kill.

I thought I'd link to this since I'm guessing some of my readers are open-water afficienados (sp?). PAM is found in warm waters of a number of southern and some east coast states. It can live in ill-maintained pools and is also found in ponds and lakes (not sure about running water such as streams and rivers).

Among the recommendations of ways to avoid PAM are to avoid getting water in your orifaces. Apparently when you jump into the water and it goes up your nose, you can get the bug. Then it's just a short jump to the brain. One of the work arounds goes against my principals (nose plugs - ewww!). I guess this is one case of me thinking a nice clean pool is better than a natural.

Could Olympics Double Amputee Decision Impact Swimming One Day?

In my mind, the Olympics has done a grave injustice to itself this week by granting, upon appeal, the right for a double amputee to compete. Am I being heartless? If this were just a few years back, I might agree that I was. But I don't feel that way today. With the rapid advance in technology, we really will have accident victims performing like Steve Austin - The Six Million Dollar Man. This runner will have spring in his step that is technically superior to the life-long developed tendons in an able-bodied person. What's next? Would a sickly person be able to take steroids to "fix" their condition and thus compete? I exaggerate, but seriously, look at swimmers. In a recent post I asked the question about whether a new dolphin prosthetic could be used by a double amputee. I really think that's doable. Now take that a step further. Why couldn't that prosthetic make one swim fast - think butterfly. It certainly could. Just look at all the world records that have fallen with the new swim suits developed this year. If you don't think a trained athlete could make webbed prosthetic work in their favor, think again. I think this was the wrong decision. Feel free to agree, or disagree, but this decision is huge.

Zero-Entry Pools - How to Make Your Kid into a Coward

The first swim club I belonged to (as a kid) was a pond with a sandy beach, a pier, tall slides and high diving boards. No, you couldn't see the bottom. That made it more fun! To this day, I love lake swimming. I have acquaintances who enjoy pools but won't go near a pond or lake because you can't see the bottom. We never thought our swimming area was risky - but given today's litigious society swim clubs like this aren't even considered any more by developers. Why? Insurance premiums.

Now they've gone a step further. New pools are now being promoted to the public as "zero-entry". As I understand it, that means the entire pool has no sides, just a gradual slope. What's wrong with sides? Sure, one can fall in. Duh! But life has some risks. What's Johnny going to do when he slips into a pond? Will it be the first time he's ever fallen into water? If it is, Mom shouldn't be surprised if Johnny doesn't come out.

I think developments like "zero-entry" can only make water more dangerous for people.

Dolphin Posthetic - Can It Work for Man Too?

I first reported about a dolphin with a prosthetic fin about a year ago. Since then I've been wondering whether such a device could be made for those folks who have lost limbs, or have limited or even no leg motion.

Seems to me that the human back's muscles could propel a fin much like Winter here does. If I were an injured vet wanting to get back in shape, this might just be the ticket. Any thoughts?

Glossopharyngeal Insufflation i.e. Lung Packing

The above has to be one of the stranger blog titles you'll see today. In lay-lay (sic) persons terms, glossopharyngeal insufflation refers to the practice of learning to hold one's breath for a very, very long time.

This has been a subject that has been of interest to me ever since I heard that to qualify as a Navy Seal, one must swim underwater for 50 meters (that's been a goal of mine for some time, but to now, I've never gotten much past 35 meters).

In a post dated, May 1, 2008, Time.com has published an article about how David Blaine, the performance artist, held his breath on the Oprah Show (those names are two more firsts for this blog) for seventeen minutes! I figured it was all just a fake stunt, but I may have been mistaken. The article discusses how the body processes and prioritizes the use of oxygen and how the brain can help or hinder the body's natural abilities. Some interesting stuff. I suggest the read.