The MAP Swimming and H2O conditioning thread

Awesome. This thread is getting some traffic. Yes I can concur with what most people posted. Swimming did seem easier as a kid. It might be a few things... first off you're a kid... so you don't have the same mindset or fears as an adult. HUGE difference that. Now I have to actively work to not envision great white sharks when I open water swim. I also have to work hard to ignore the fact that the shark nets in Hong Kong don't go all the way down to the ocean floor. Surely some clever shark is going to figure that out.

I always considered myself negatively buoyant. I sank like a rock most times... but now I'm convinced that most people can remedy this with some practice on form. I've got my hands on every single DVD available for swimming and there is a whole lot to good technique that is not at first apparent. Consciously pushing your chest and head under the water will help to raise the hips and reduce drag. Or so it says on one of the DVD's I've been following. I have played around with this and it does seem to help. A good mate of my mine is an Aussie (they seem born for the water) and an ex water polo player and currently a swim coach said that swimming well is about 75-80% body alignment in the water. Once you get that... the rest can be worked on and improved.

Today I was at the pool for two hours. Amazed at how different pool work is versus open salt-water. Your hips drag a whole lot more... but because it's no current and a controlled environment you can work on specific bits of your technique. Very interesting.

At the end of my workout I watched a coach working with two young kids a boy and a girl the boy about 9 and chubby and the girl like a twig and about 5 or 6. Man they were awesome. They just moved like fish. It was truly crazy. Their form was perfect the little girl kept lapping the old, stronger boy... her form was so good she never came above the water except when she had her mouth of for a breath. Hydrodynamics in action. So very little drag. Compared to my splash fest it was amazing. She would stroke and then glide... she'd ride her glide till the last possible moment. It was truly an amazing bit of coordination. Both the kick from the boy and the girl were powerful and continuous compared to mine. lol... which seemingly comes and goes when it pleases during my lengths.

Ok today was definitely an ass kicking in the pool - on top of constantly being called a pussy by my Slovakian friend/coach who is an amazing Ironman level triathlete and swims like he runs or rides... which is to say seemingly effortlessly. Wait till he comes down to the boxing ring... just wait.

I threw in some press ups and pigs but was wrecked to be honest. Wow. It puts a whole new light on combat swimmers. Huge respect. As for swimming laps prior to BJJ... hahah if you can manage that you're a bigger man than me. I could think of no way to properly wreck yourself before BJJ than to swim laps. I wouldn't even do it.

Though that being said.... I did do a workout this evening in the park with tons of bodyweight stuff and some new experiments in running barefoot. Just on the grass pitch to start to accustom my feet to landing on the ball of the foot instead of the heel.

Will swim again tomorrow morning after a.m. PT's. Let's see. I can feel my lats like never before... like I'm spreading wings lol! Not even chin ups in all their amazing variations ever hit my lats like this. Triceps get hammered as well.

 

ok apparently 48 seconds for the 50m length is crap. lol.

This means I'm way below average.

 

I dunno how anyone does Swimming before something else physical.
One thing swiming always did to me was make me feel tired/sleepy.

 

Yeah swimming makes me tired and hungry. I just can't even imagine swimming before training martial arts. Then again just a few weeks ago I would have bet money that I could never swim 250 meters and then jump out and right into my shoes and run 2.5 kilometers either.

Ok I wanted to also post up some inspiring swim pics in this thread. I'm always amazed by the mentality of man... and it's embodied in many ways in open water swimming:

 

I can't enter water because my bionic implants will rust. :cyborg:

 

Try doing sets of pull-ups in between your laps. You want to talk about lat DOMS, that'll show you like never before.

 

They had problems finding one that would fit.

 

Well, Slip, I'm working on the barefoot running now (about six weeks into it). The swimming will have to wait another month, though, as it is the beginning of the semester (grad school) and I'm swamped. Inspiring thread, though.

paz,

dormindo

 

So why does swimming make people tired and hungry (compared to other things)?
I remember as kids we basically emptied the vending machines after swimming. Bag of crisps and mars bar at the least. Something to do with the act of floating on digestion?

And...a few years ago I did an adventure race that involved running/cycling/kayaking/obstacles/playing silly buggers.
To prepare I did a split run then cycle and as Slip says about swimming and then running the transition can be a real killer.
Just as your muscles get in the groove of one thing they have to get used to another.
Good training.

 

Interestingly, swimmers tend to have higher body fat levels compared to other athletes.

http://www.sportsci.org/news/compeat/fat.html

 

I much prefer a flat bottom

 

Yep the transition is one of the hardest things, it's even worse when you go from knee boarding or surfskiing to running, your upper body is doing all the work, then it changes to lower body. It's an absolute killer.

After watching the Australia's Greatest Athlete show, I tried doing something like this. Man it absolutely killed me.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07e0c1YrHe8&feature=channel"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07e0c1YrHe8&feature=channel[/ame]

 

Great thread!

Swimming is fantastic, but I can't stand to swim in water that I can't see well in. I don't know why, but it just freaks me out to not know what is near my legs like that. The water here is full of oil (more then usual, that is) and trash. Blackish green...

 

Perfect time for this thread to pop up

 

I had a great swim in the sea the other day. Not a serious endeavour, just a few times across the river half of the sandbar and a quick muck about on the beach, but it was good times. I wish I lived next to the sea. The beach is the best place in the world!

 

We could call it Bob