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Any swimmers?


Vincent Stoyas
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Vincent Stoyas

Just started to get into swimming to rehab my knee and I think I may keep with it.

I was just wondering if anyone knowsa reputable swimming forum like this one? Thanks in advance!

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Klemen Bobnar

I don't know about forums, but I'm training swimming for entrance exams for university and a few hours with a good coach who can correct your technique can make a MASSIVE difference. If you can find someone, I highly recommend you pay for 4-5 hours as proper technique makes all the difference in swimming. I guess you can learn from videos and by filming yourself, but the whole process will take much more time.

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Bryan Wheelock

I swam competitively until I was 18 so I'm a decent swimmer. 

Avoid breast stroke as that will most likely aggravate your knee issues.

 

I found out about Total Immersion a few years ago and it changed my swimming dramatically.

 

The videos are worth buying, but this is a good primer.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjUY2rFu2Mw

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James Price

Before I discovered the joy of contact sports, I was a competitive swimmer - nothing special, 24.9 short course 50m free.

 

I've looked for forums a couple times and never really found anything. The best option is probably the slowtwitch forums, which have a number of swimmers on it (some pretty decent, as in ex-olympians), despite being triathlon focussed.

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Vincent Stoyas

Thanks for the input.

I'm definitely considering getting a coach, but I have to figure out my budget. My job is moving a couple States away next month and I'm getting married in just under 4 months.

Interesting drills in that video. I did the first one naturally, I'll have to work on the second one.

I've only really tampered with freestyle. I struggle with finishing even just two laps. My quads catch on fire at the last half of the lap and I struggle hard to complete it. Not sure if you can say without seeing a video or not, but is the quad burning normal or is my form completely off?

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James Price

Hard to tell without video, but it sounds like you're kicking from the knee and not from the hip. When I do long kick sets it's my abs / hip flexors that burn, not my quads. There's a flick from the knee (it's not straight leg) but the primary movement should be hip related.

 

Be wary of over-kicking as well. There's a lot of difference between Phelps-esque sprint style kick and what you may need to do as a beginner. Whereas I think everyone should learn a 6-beat kick, you may find a 2-beat easier. Google and you'll find plenty of info using those terms.

 

This might sound weird, but one of my preferred tools for someone learning to swim good free is using fins. They teach you two things - firstly, how to kick properly (it's hard to quad quick in fins imo), and also it teaches you what it's like to swim fast(er). Moving in a fluid is very different to moving in air, and as you move faster you learn way more about body positions. Don't do all your swimming with fins, but it's definitely a very useful tool.

 

Other that that, youtube is an amazing tool. There's a lot of good info on there. There's a lot of technique in swimming, more than you'd expect. The TI videos are good. Or watch good swimmers swim - not the sprinters, technique tends to be way more idiosyncratic - but people like Sun Yang.

 

Hope that helps.

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  • 5 weeks later...
Jeremy Huston

I have some swimming background.  I bought the Total Immersion book and did the drills.  After just a couple months working on the drills, I swam with a friend who used to be able to kick my butt, but guess who touched the wall first  :) .  I know I have gaps in my stroke and areas to improve (still lots of faster swimmers out there), and I have even signed up for 2 different masters swimming courses but wasn't able to make much progress.  They were geared more towards beginners (might be what you want) not for intermediate swimmers trying to become advanced.  My point is that uncoached TI is sufficient to make you good enough to swim laps...and likely be one of the fastest in the pool.

 

Avoid breast stroke as that will most likely aggravate your knee issues.

 

+1 on this

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