Welcome to Part III, our final segment about how amazingly awesome the pinky finger is! This week, we are going to dive even deeper into how your pinky finger affects your lower extremities (not just your Freestyle Pull). Last week we introduced the POS system. (Yes–it’s definitely a better idea to read Part’s I & II if you haven’t before continuing on ) Once again, the POS system is composed of the gluteus maximus, latissimus dori, and
Last week, we touched on why it’s important to engage your Pinky Finger during the Freestyle Pull. I would recommend reading Part I before Part II, as you will have a better understanding of this application. This week, I’d like to dive deeper into this subject and specifically focus on why properly engaging your pinky and ring fingers during the Freestyle Pull–actually makes your Freestyle Pull stronger. Let’s do a test. Stand
A lot of times swimmers have issues with their hand entry at the beginning of their Freestyle pull. As coaches, we see may swimmers crossing-over their body, entering with their thumb, slapping the water up top–a complete spectrum of different entry types. All of these entries, besides the ideal one (we will get to that one in a second) affect how much water a swimmer can pull during Freestyle. Why?
Why yes, in fact, they can. Fun fact: Flamingos can fly up to 40mph, but need a significant amount of momentum before their feet can leave the ground. Have you ever seen a Flamingo start running before they take flight? Enough of that, back to swimming Last week, we covered the Flamingo drill and what muscle strength is needed for a successful Breaststroke kick. If case you missed Part I of this series, click
The Breaststroke kick has an extensive history of being the hardest kick to teach age-groupers. Some kids are born with the ability to point their toes away from their body and some we teach over and over again. The movement required in a Breaststroke kick is not natural and requires repetition after repetition until the swimmer gets it right. I’m sure many of you have heard a Breaststroke kick explained
Excuse my language (it is very inappropriate)–but it got your attention didn’t it? How many times have you heard or said, “I can run for miles, but I can’t kick for one!” On my end, this situation has happened more times than I can count. I’ve worked with many top level triathletes and marathon runners who struggle with Freestyle kicking, even though they spend hours on their legs outside the
Fun and easy are two adjectives that are used synonymously in our culture. Just because something is hard doesn’t mean it won’t be fun or vice versa. In last week’s blog post, we discussed how to increase our plantar flexion (and it most likely wasn’t “fun”). If you need to catch up on Part I, CLICK HERE. If you read Part I and spent last week rolling out the muscles next to your shins—I want to hear from
Every Freestyler has heard the words, “Point your toes when you kick!” But, why? In our next series, we investigate what muscles are required to have a powerful flutter kick, how much ankle flexibility a swimmer needs, and how much a running background affects a swimmer’s ability to efficiently kick? So let’s get back to the business. When a swimmer is kicking Freestyle—they should point their toes. And I don’t mean point their toes
Welcome to Part III, our last and final segment of our Freestyle breathing series. If you have read Part’s I and II, you should now have an understanding of the physiology behind the ideal breathing strategy (when to inhale/exhale) and a plan on when to breath during your Freestyle races (depending on their distance). If you missed Part’s I or II, click the links below to access them:Part I—[CLICK HERE]Part
Welcome to Part II of our breathing series! If you read Part I, you already know the proper timing of inhaling and exhaling while swimming Freestyle and also, why that breathing strategy is important. This week we dive a little deeper into the physiology of why breathing consistently in Freestyle helps us maintain speed and avoid fatigue. And also, when we “hit a wall” and what we should do about