Quoted message said:I swim pretty fast considering I was never a swimmer-type.
Ditto (IMHO, of course)
Quoted message said:
I've just really learned to swim a proper freestyle. Any
prior swimming, years ago, was as a lifeguard who spent
most of his time swimming heads up or pulling some heavy
lug through the water.
I think that bad form and heavy weight taught me to depend
on my legs. Now, learning to swim head down and turning to
breathe, I have realized that I need to alter my (likely
6:1) kick.
My kick is either a 4:1 or a 6:1 - I can't manage to count
it myself, as soon as I try to think about it the timing all
goes out. It's most likely 6:1 , I think (that's what my
coach told me), but I consciously keep the amplitude small
unless I am sprinting, for the very reasons we are
discussing here.
Quoted message said:Anyway, I too can swim for eternity with the pull buoy but
have a much more difficult time when kicking.
I think the theory is valid and supported by the fact that
both cycling and running require more energy than
swimming. I suspect a lot of that is because you are using
those larger muscles.
Add those larger muscles to your regular stroke and energy
is eaten up much more quickly.
At least in my uneducated opinion.
a.
I agree that it's a somewhat puzzling phenomenon.
I can swim with much less expenditure of energy with a pull
buoy - ditto a full-leg wetsuit when I remember to think of
it like a pull buoy and not try to kick (too much - I find
it hard to stop kicking altogether). Which definitely
implcates the leg muscles in being the major energy drain.
But cycling and running surely use the large leg muscles to
a much greater degree than the small amplitude kicks in
swimming (even a "big kicker" like Ian Thorpe is only going
to be making movements of a few inches with his legs), yet
can be maintained at a higher intensity for longer than
swimming with a big, strong kick. And in running, there is
also a very small component of arm muscle usage as well.
So it would seem to be the combination of a large energy
requirement on the arms PLUS some amount of energy
requirement from the legs, however small, which fatigues the
most quickly as experienced in swimming. Or maybe because it
is by necessity a fast movement of the legs (especially if
swimming 6:1), even if relatively small, that it is
therefore more anaerobic in nature and cannot be maintained
for so long.
Any other ideas/explanations?
Liz D
