ducking the head while swimming the crawl

"Pat" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

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x-no-archive:yes

Today as I was getting out of the pool, a woman arrived loaded down with

all

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sorts of training aids. I mean, she had ALL the gear one could hope to buy and bring to train in a
public pool! Then, she started to swim the crawl and it was the oddest stroke I have seen. Her
butt was wiggling with

every

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stroke, and I do mean wiggling! I got back in the water and pretended to

be

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doing stretching exercises so that I could watch her swim by. After each breath, when she turned
her face back toward the bottom of the pool, she also ducked her head entirely under the water in
an arc. This made her

butt

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kind of flip up, but since she was kicking steadily, it made her rear go

up

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and wiggle jerkily at the same time.

Strangely enough, this is the second person I have seen with this stroke

in

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the last 6 months. Is it possible that this was actually taught at some time? The first person I
saw doing this several months ago seemed to be shaking her head "no" as she swept it back and
forth underwater during the stroke. It sure seemed to be self-defeating and wasteful of energy.

Pat in TX

perhaps she was doing some sort of a stroke drill? I haven't seen what you;re talking about, and I
haven't seen out coaches show what you're describing to anyone.

Actually, a correction, now that I re-read what you're describing, it sort of sounds like one of the
butterfly stroke drills. There is a video out that can be rented from USMS, or bought that has a
series of fly stroke drills on it, and the video came out relatively recently. I can't remember the
name of it at the moment.

Pat said:

x-no-archive:yes

Today as I was getting out of the pool, a woman arrived loaded down with all sorts of training
aids. I mean, she had ALL the gear one could hope to buy and bring to train in a public pool!
Then, she started to swim the crawl and it was the oddest stroke I have seen. Her butt was
wiggling with every stroke, and I do mean wiggling! I got back in the water and pretended to be
doing stretching exercises so that I could watch her swim by. After each breath, when she turned
her face back toward the bottom of the pool, she also ducked her head entirely under the water in
an arc. This made her butt kind of flip up, but since she was kicking steadily, it made her rear
go up and wiggle jerkily at the same time.

Strangely enough, this is the second person I have seen with this stroke in the last 6 months. Is
it possible that this was actually taught at some time? The first person I saw doing this several
months ago seemed to be shaking her head "no" as she swept it back and forth underwater during the
stroke. It sure seemed to be self-defeating and wasteful of energy.

It doesn't sound at all like something that would have been taught. Some people, myself included,
have all the equipment mainly because we love the sport, but also because once upon a time we hoped
buying all the equipment and learning to use it would solve some quirky problem like the one you
describe. In my case, it was a kick that makes me go nowhere, but, when I slap on the fins, I'm a
real swimmer, at least in the sense that I can go fast. The people you saw may be in the samew
situation. Maybe they can swim well with fins, or maybe they can keep their butt from wiggling when
they use a buoy, but having a lot of equipment doesn't mean we know what we are doing.

On the other hand, some of us, who have only been swimming for three months, give advice like we are
old hands. It takes all kinds, I guess.

martin

--
Clark for President clark04.comclark04.comOpen ↗

Martin Smith

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x-no-archive:yes

It doesn't sound at all like something that would have been taught. Some people, myself
included, have all the equipment mainly because we love the sport, but also because once upon a
time we hoped buying all the equipment and learning to use it would solve some quirky problem
like the one you describe. In my case, it was a kick that makes me go nowhere, but, when I slap
on the fins, I'm a real swimmer, at least in the sense that I can go fast. The people you saw
may be in the samew situation. Maybe they can swim well with fins, or maybe they can keep their
butt from wiggling when they use a buoy, but having a lot of equipment doesn't mean we know what
we are doing.

On the other hand, some of us, who have only been swimming for three months, give advice like we
are old hands. It takes all kinds, I guess.

martin

I guess I just assumed that if she had all that gear she also had a lot of training with a coach
(something which I have never had). So, I thought maybe I had missed out on some instruction.

Pat in TX

Pat said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

x-no-archive:yes

It doesn't sound at all like something that would have been taught. Some people, myself
included, have all the equipment mainly because we love the sport, but also because once upon a
time we hoped buying all the equipment and learning to use it would solve some quirky problem
like the one you describe. In my case, it was a kick that makes me go nowhere, but, when I slap
on the fins, I'm a real swimmer, at least in the sense that I can go fast. The people you saw
may be in the samew situation. Maybe they can swim well with fins, or maybe they can keep their
butt from wiggling when they use a buoy, but having a lot of equipment doesn't mean we know what
we are doing.

On the other hand, some of us, who have only been swimming for three months, give advice like we
are old hands. It takes all kinds, I guess.

martin

I guess I just assumed that if she had all that gear she also had a lot of training with a coach
(something which I have never had). So, I thought maybe I had missed out on some instruction.

A good coach is worth the price, plus the social aspect of the swim club makes the training more
fun. Equipment is optional.

mnartin

--
Clark for President clark04.comclark04.comOpen ↗

Martin Smith

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>x-no-archive:yes

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A good coach is worth the price, plus the social aspect of the swim club makes the training more
fun. Equipment is optional.

mnartin

I hear ya, but let's wait for that until I get down to my target weight... Right now, I am
riding my bike and using the swimming as cross training. All that will switch this winter,
probably. I have ridden two centuries (since I started riding July 1) and am thinking about
another one next Saturday. I have also ridden 4 metric centuries. But, according to the BMI, I
am "obese." I also swim a mile or a mile and 1/4 every other day...but maybe we obese people
need to get outside more....

Pat in TX

"Pat" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

>>x-no-archive:yes

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A good coach is worth the price, plus the social aspect of the swim club makes the training more
fun. Equipment is optional.

mnartin

I hear ya, but let's wait for that until I get down to my target weight... Right now, I am riding
my bike and using the swimming as cross training. All that will switch this winter, probably. I
have ridden two centuries (since I started riding July 1) and am thinking about another one next
Saturday. I have also ridden 4 metric centuries. But, according to the BMI, I am "obese." I also
swim a mile or a mile and 1/4 every other day...but maybe we obese people need to get outside
more....

Pat in TX

I would not rely too much on BMI to classify a person as "obese", especially if like you, the person
is very active. I believe a better indicator will be body fat %. Since muscle weighs more than fat,
a heavy person is not necessarily "obese".

"Pat" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I guess I just assumed that if she had all that gear she also had a lot of training with a coach
(something which I have never had). So, I thought maybe I had missed out on some instruction.

I would say it is quite common that some people buy all that equipment just for the looks of it :-)

I just recently moved to Finland, and during my first months I visited different public pools to
find a suitable one for me. In one of these pools a 50+ woman used to come with a LARGE bag with all
kinds of equipment. Fins, paddles, you name it... She used to put as much stuff she could on, at the
same time and then start to swim. I have never seen a more horrible display of technique...or lack
of technique in my whole life. With all this stuff on I would still pass her twice every 125 meters.
Amazing :-)

I have always wondered what a person like that imagines she/he is doing in the water and for
what good :-)

Best regards,

Fedde

"Ed" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Pat" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:<[email hidden]>...

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Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

>>>x-no-archive:yes

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A good coach is worth the price, plus the social aspect of the swim club makes the training
more fun. Equipment is optional.

mnartin

I hear ya, but let's wait for that until I get down to my target

weight...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Right now, I am riding my bike and using the swimming as cross training.

All

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Quoted message said:

that will switch this winter, probably. I have ridden two centuries

(since I

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

started riding July 1) and am thinking about another one next Saturday.

I

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

have also ridden 4 metric centuries. But, according to the BMI, I am "obese." I also swim a mile
or a mile and 1/4 every other day...but

maybe

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

we obese people need to get outside more....

Pat in TX

I would not rely too much on BMI to classify a person as "obese", especially if like you, the
person is very active. I believe a better indicator will be body fat %. Since muscle weighs more
than fat, a heavy person is not necessarily "obese".

BMI was developed with the assumption of a closer to sedentary lifestyle. Not applicable to
athletic training.