Winter 2011 Newsletter

Happy New Year and Welcome to the Inaugural Issue of Sole Swim Solutions Newsletter!

January is here. With that benchmark (protruding like a speed bump on the calendar) comes a determined and focused approach to a New Year of training. “This is the year that I……………….” - you fill in the blank. As the month joyfully proclaims, it’s a new year and with that comes all kinds of promises and proclamations. Just step foot in any gym or health club. You will be exposed to a world of maybe, could be and want to be. My hope is that we will all stay on track, creating the habits of a healthy lifestyle.

Contrary to popular belief, there is no pill or “5-minute workout a day” to a slimmer and faster you. There is only hard work and a wax-on/wax-off mentality to a more efficient and productive swim stroke. Einstein summed it up best when stating the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
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In this inaugural newsletter I want to urge you to back away from the endless yardage in the pool and create a paradigm shift in your training regimen. Consider slowing down your swimming and focusing on your technique. This is a great time of the year to create a plan to finally fix that cross over, dropped elbow, poor balance, body positioning and a plethora of other inefficient swimming habits. You must identify technical issues that could be hampering your ability to achieve successful results.

The following points come from an article at Effortless Swimming entitled “The 7 Biggest Mistakes 95% of Swimmers Make.” Each mistake is followed by corrective action to improve your technique and finally fix those inefficient habits:

1. Training harder instead of smarter – swimming is a unique sport because the biggest improvement comes from reducing drag and not increasing strength or stamina. Train to improve your technique not your strength or endurance.
2. Stroking faster not longer – the greatest improvement in speed will come from travelling further each stroke but still holding the same stroke rate thus swimming faster with less effort.
3. Pulling through too early – once your hand enters the water allow it to stay high near the surface as you glide forward and once you feel yourself losing forward momentum begin your pull through.
4. Looking forward and not down – for the body to be balanced in the water, the head needs to be looking towards the bottom of the pool which brings the hips and legs closer to the surface reducing drag and allowing for a smoother more efficient stroke.
5. Swimming flat and not rotating from side to side – swimming is not performed on the stomach. It is done by rotating from side to side (beginning with the hips and following through all the way to the shoulders) to reduce drag and generate speed and power
6. Pulling through with a dropped elbow – a proper pull through will start with bringing the fingertips to point at the bottom of the pull while keeping the elbow high then pulling through using your entire forearm.
7. Leading the arm recovery with the hand - this is achieved by leading with the elbow and not the hand staying relaxed, keeping a high elbow and entering the hand early in the water just past the head.
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Paddles for Specific Training

Though not the only paddle you will use and carry in your swim bag, the Finis Freestyler Hand Paddle is designed to create an efficient stroke in your freestyle. Contrary to other paddles, the Finis paddle is perfect for improving technique by encouraging high elbows, maximizing one’s extension to reach out in front of the stroke and defining proper hand entry. The unique property of the paddle revolves around two distinct features: 1) the fin that runs down the underside of the paddle prevents the hand from skirting in or out which then encourages the hand to extend directly forward; and 2) the cutout design to the rear of the paddle. This helps the catch phase of the stroke by encouraging a slight bend in the wrist with fingers turned downwards. This paddle does a wonderful job of teaching the hand how to enter the water with proper extension along with the catch.

Make the most of your New Year swim goals by applying improved techniques in your stroke. I look forward to seeing you in the water!

www.soleswimsolutions.com
fsole@soleswimsolutions.com
480-252-3552