I was reading my "Swimming Fastest" book the other night (Let's see, couple sections a night, I'll
finish it by the time I get Social Security)
Read the section on "Two-Beat Crossover Kick" starting on page 122. In that kicking style, the
swimmer inserts two half beats in between the main beats. The illustrations are fairly poor for
illustrating this technique in the book. The swimmer looks like he has rubber legs like Gumby.
I haven't seen too much of this kind of thing in the pool where I swim, so I went trolling on
Donal's site (donalfagan.comcrawlvideos.htmlOpen ↗)
And I'll be darned, I struck pay-dirt! Look at either of the following videos:
Crawl-Thorpe_Rosolino200mSemi14Sydney2000.mpg Crawl-Thorpe_Rosolino200mSemi57Sydney2000.mpg
The closest swimmer is Rosolino, the second swimmer needs no introduction, but the third man is
doing a two-beat crossover right out of Maglischo's book - legs cross over and lightly hit during
catch, and then come apart right away for the main downbeat on the pulling side.
Anybody have any comments on this style? It hardly seems like the middle beats can add much
propulsion, looks more like it's for balance. Seems awkward but I'm going to try it.
Incidentally, look in donalfagan.comimvideos.htmlOpen ↗ at
IMCrawl-TomDolan400mHeat6Sydney2000.mpg
During the cycles Dolan doesn't kick, he crosses his right leg over his left during his right hand
catch. I thought that portion of his kicking quite odd - but it's simply my ignorance. That's the
middle of a two-beat crossover. I feel like an archeologist when I see something like that. Maybe he
used to have a classic two-beat crossover kick before becoming a loper, and that's the only remnant.
-Eric
PS I think there's a ton of money to be made in a swim book which incorporates a CD with it. I
guess the person who has come the closest to that is Terry Laughlin and his TI material.
What if Maglischo's book CAME on a CD? And there were hot-links to small video clips illustrating
the various points. So instead of "Gumby" illustrations on the two-beat crossover, you hit a hot
link and see an Olympic class swimmer using the technique. I'd give him another $40 for that.