OP what is your current time?
Quote: (01-22-2018 04:18 AM)Akwesi Wrote:
Crawl is obviously faster than breast stroke, but it does take more out of you over long distances. The world's best swimmers would swim 500 meters in just under 5 minutes (400 record is 3:40), so your speed would have to be about half of world-class.
Theres levels to this shit though. People who are good at the 500yd/400m freestyle tend to be distance swimmers and are not even at a max effort for the majority of the race AND they have been doing this their entire life.
The key is pacing/decending your effort.
a sub 10min 500m should be under 2:00 per 100m. The first one should be as easy as you can make it; as you get more tired you will begin to slow down. You must increase your effort as you get tired to maintain the pace. Technique and shit can help make your energy expenditure more efficient as can becoming more efficient in your breathing patterns--most swim and hold their breath until they have to breathe sending their body into oxygen debt and shooting your lactate levels way up. Breathing every 3 strokes or every other or a combination of the two is advised. Start with one 100 on 2 minutes and see if you can make it with 15-20 seconds rest (more is better). Once you get to that goal add a second 100. when you get to 5 100s that will be mission accomplished.
As you get more efficient shorten the interval:
instead of 5x100's on 2 minutes try 1:55, 1:50, 1:45, etc.
OR give the 500 straight with flip turns a try--holding 1:45/100m is on pace for 8:45.
Quote: (01-22-2018 05:44 AM)Suits Wrote:
The trick to success here is having 0.02% bodyfat year round.
Not necessarily--fat floats easier than muscle.
It is more about how you build muscle.
efficient swimmers tend to have long-lean muscle, not short-lean muscle. Building mass is fine, but if you are "bulky" you will make buoyancy an issue (stretching and rolling out will also help prevent bulking up) then you have to exert energy to float and propel forward. I'm 240 lbs and don't look it because my muscle mass is long-lean-muscle. Think of it like skipping two rocks. They both are 10g--one is long round a flat. One is a sphere. Which one is easier to skip.
Technique:
theres two forces at work in swimming propulsion and frontal drag. The first you should seek to master is eliminating as much drag as possible and getting step 1 or propulsion (the kick).
Drills:
-Shark fin drill
-zipper drill
When kicking make sure you are bending your knees. Start out floating on your stomach and bending your knees a lot. As you move down the pool make your knee bend smaller until you find an optimal kick for your body.
Beware of kicking on your side--YOU SHOULD be kicking on your side most unexperienced swimmers (probably you) don't as well as when you are on your belly. make sure you are continuing your knee bends when on your side.
-6 beat kick
When you add your kicking to your repeat 100's remember that it shouldn't be max effort but a fast effort that you can sustain for multiple tries.
Tips:
Flip turns vs touch turns--flip turns are faster
Streamlines and strong push offs save time and energy
Distance per stroke matters
Fitness:
-Max efforts burn sugars first then, carbs, then fats--usually you end up with so much lactate that you cannot effectively burn fats because you can't move lol
-To burn fats your body will first burn through all of your cals from carbs before accessing fats. the more you train the more effective you body gets at this--why most swimmers are ripped. Cutting carbs from your diet will force you body to become more efficient
-heart range 60-85% of your max heart rate is where you should be training to improve your fitness as a swimmer.
Quote:Quote:
https://swimswam.com/26562/
Why is checking your heart rate crucial in swimming?
Heart rate is something that is important to monitor for athletes, especially competitive athletes. Not only is it good for people to know heart rates for their health, the human heart rate is a fantastic indicator of fitness level. For someone who wants to know the whole spectrum of their heart rate, start with the maximum heart rate. This is said to be the greatest rate at which your heart can work. Then there is your resting rate, which is the rate your heart works at zero activity. So you have your max and your resting rate, the goal now is to train somewhere in between there.
There are ways to calculating all of these rates. For resting rate, take a pulse when you are relaxed for six seconds, and then multiply that by ten. For max there are several ways to find this. The most common is to subtract your age from 220, so a 19 year olds max heart rate would be around 201. According to Web MD, this is less accurate for people over 40, so here is another formula to play with. Try: 208 – (0.7 X AGE), so a 40 year old would have a max of 180 beats per minute. There are a few things to realize before you take your heart rate and start comparing it to everyone else you know. The biggest one is that everyone’s heart rate is different; it can be higher or lower even for people with identical fitness levels, as well as these calculations are more accurate as generalizations but still can give a good idea of where your max is. For the purpose of exercise, 60 – 75% is going to be a good exercise for your body, while 75 – 85% is considered the aerobic intensity level where people actually lose weight.
Now that we have a good understanding of heart rates we can look at how to measure it. The most conventional way is to place your index and middle fingers over your wrist or neck and count the beats for six or ten seconds. Most of the time doing this manually isn’t exactly practical, so there are many devices out on the market. From chest straps to watches, there are dozens of monitors on the market. Although some of them work for swimmers, basically every single one of them just is not practical. It is difficult to check watches during a workout, and at that point you might as well just use your fingers.
I was top 40 in the world when I used to compete so if you want to DM me I'd be happy to help.