How do you actually go faster??

70% of swimming is drag so they say. Make sure your legs are even with the rest of your body. Push
your chest down to lift your legs. Take full strokes and make sure you finish. Don't lift your head
when breathing, just turn it. Make your body as long as you can in the water. Reach as far as you
can. You hands should not move faster than the water, if they do you are slipping. Over time you
will gain speed and once you master the above you will be flying.

Enjoy, Curt

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

Quoted message said:

Hey,

Ive just started relaxing my freestyle pull a lot more and find Im not as out of breath when I was
tense, I also feel that I am pulling with my lats a lot more, I guess this is good.

My question is how do atually swim faster??

Do I move my arms quicker or do I pull harder?? Seems a silly question but I am really need some
speed, especially in backstroke!

Later,

Picky

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

Quoted message said:

Hey,

Ive just started relaxing my freestyle pull a lot more and find Im not as out of breath when I was
tense, I also feel that I am pulling with my lats a lot more, I guess this is good.

My question is how do atually swim faster??

Do I move my arms quicker or do I pull harder?? Seems a silly question but I am really need some
speed, especially in backstroke!

Someone else answered this question beautifully. I just can't remember who it was. I recall the
explanation eluding to exploiting one's biomechanical swimming abilities that work the best with
one's physical structure and makeup.

I love to make comparisons to other sports. One particular sporting event that I've not gotten
around to comparing that I think is extremely relevant when looking for best muscle groups to
employ, for swim stroke, are sail boat crews in charge of "grinding" or trimming the jib on big
boats. You've seen these guys on ESPN working the "winches" on America's Cup boats. I've had some
experiences with those things and have come to an overwhelming conclusion that concentrating on the
pull (lats) is much better than the push (pecks, chest). The lats will sustain RPMs at a much
quicker rate while actually being able to make a stronger pull than the chest is able to push. I've
been opposite of some very big crew types (two to a winch) and literally "pulled" the handles out of
their hands during the high RPM moments. As soon as the skipper tells us to "get on the rail" (edge
of the boat) my winch partner (a 250lb football lineman) is asking me how I'm able to pull him along
like that. I explain that although I'm 15 years older and only 5'9" my combination of fast twitch
and slow twitch muscle fibers are allowing me to better exploit the task of circular motion at high
RPMs and sustain such performance right on through exhaustion. (Hmmm, maybe that's too self
serving.) So I asked him how much he bench presses. At that time I could bench 315, so when he said
390 I immediately replied 392! Of course he knew I was a stinking liar. But when I told him the
truth, he still did not believe me. Then I explained that the bench press subject was just a smoke
screen to prove how overly important he thought the chest muscles were. Once I had convinced him to
concentrate on the pull phase (the lats) of the winch mechanism I was no longer able to out spin him
or pull the handles from his hands.

My suspicion for swimming is that higher stroke rates are faster for most people, if the right
muscles are engaged. However, only if a proper "catch" is used, but that employs more chest muscles.
Too much water grab at the front and you are spent by the time you get to the end of the stroke
where the more powerful and sustainable quicker back muscles (lats) can give you the most speed. One
of the ways coaches teach their swimmers to learn a proper "catch" is by slower drilling methods
that emphasize a big frontal grab of water. Hopefully, this frontal emphasis will not impair a
swimmers ability to exploit the quicker power phase at the end of the stroke. Kayakers (big time lat
users) constantly perform similar searches with how deep or shallow to place their paddle in the
water. Paddle sizes can also differ. They usually experiment going deeper and eventually compensate
somewhere that allows them to move the most water backwards with the optimum amount of high stroke
rates that gives them the most speed. Swimmers should certainly perform the same task either
consciously or sub,,,,,

Rick Swanger

My advise is that you pull harder. This is one way to visualize it: Imagine that you are rock
climbing. there is a ledge that you try to reach. It is almost out of reach. You reach with your
shoulder and try to push it past your ear. You catch the ledge and then you pull hard to get your
body to pass over the ledge while your arm passes below you.

Andres

[email hidden] (Picky) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Hey,

Ive just started relaxing my freestyle pull a lot more and find Im not as out of breath when I was
tense, I also feel that I am pulling with my lats a lot more, I guess this is good.

My question is how do atually swim faster??

Do I move my arms quicker or do I pull harder?? Seems a silly question but I am really need some
speed, especially in backstroke!

Later,

Picky

Picky left this mess on 16 Feb 2004 06:44:44 -0800 for The Way to clean up:

Quoted message said:

Hey,

Ive just started relaxing my freestyle pull a lot more and find Im not as out of breath when I was
tense, I also feel that I am pulling with my lats a lot more, I guess this is good.

My question is how do atually swim faster??

Do I move my arms quicker or do I pull harder?? Seems a silly question but I am really need some
speed, especially in backstroke!

If you have a coach, ask him/her. From where I sit, most people don't get enough pull in their
strokes, so that would be my recommendation.

Tao te Carl "It takes a village to have an idiot." - Carl (c) 2003

(Kudos to Cap'n Jim Wyatt for this link) BEFORE you ask a dumb-ass question
here...http://www.speakeasy.org/~neilco/bart.gif

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

Quoted message said:

Hey,

Ive just started relaxing my freestyle pull a lot more and find Im not as out of breath when I was
tense, I also feel that I am pulling with my lats a lot more, I guess this is good.

My question is how do atually swim faster??

Do I move my arms quicker or do I pull harder?? Seems a silly question but I am really need some
speed, especially in backstroke!

Later,

Picky

Improve your technique and stroke efficiency. Comes from a lot of practice, and practicing it
correctly. Learn the basics first, learn them very well, then you can start making slight
adaptations to the basics to better fit your body style.

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

Quoted message said:

Someone else answered this question beautifully. I just can't remember

who

Quoted message said:

it was. I recall the explanation eluding to exploiting one's

biomechanical

Quoted message said:

swimming abilities that work the best with one's physical structure and makeup.

I think he was from Texas.....

"Bill Geiser" <wpgeiser(no.spam)@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

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

Quoted message said:

Someone else answered this question beautifully. I just can't remember

who

Quoted message said:

it was. I recall the explanation eluding to exploiting one's

biomechanical

Quoted message said:

swimming abilities that work the best with one's physical structure and makeup.

I think he was from Texas.....

LOL,,,you got me good there!