Slowtwitch Forums: Triathlon Forum: The off-strokes: Who swims 'em?

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Slowtwitch Forums: Triathlon Forum:
The off-strokes: Who swims 'em?

vitus979

Mar 25, 04 10:52

Post #1 of 13 (340 views)

The off-strokes: Who swims 'em?	Can't Post

I know we all freestyle. How many people swim other strokes on a regular basis? Which ones, and how much, relative to free?

"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

efernand

Mar 25, 04 10:58

Post #2 of 13 (335 views)

Re: The off-strokes: Who swims 'em? [vitus979] [In reply to]	Can't Post

I usually do a set of 5 x 100 IMs after warmup, as a pre-set to my main set. The other strokes, butterfly in particular, forces me to up my effort level before heading into my main set.

I swam as a youth, and all through high school and college, so I am fairly adept at all the strokes.

frogonawire

Mar 25, 04 11:19

Post #3 of 13 (312 views)

Re: The off-strokes: Who swims 'em? [vitus979] [In reply to]	Can't Post

I have always hated backstroke. I sometimes throw in 50s - butterfly/breast but my shoulders ache

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sawyer

Mar 25, 04 11:48

Post #4 of 13 (275 views)

Re: The off-strokes: Who swims 'em? [vitus979] [In reply to]	Can't Post

I do around 75% freestyle (crawl), 10% each breaststroke and butterfly. Those were my events when I swam in HS and I remain pretty competent. The last 5% I save for things like the trudgeon, which is a scissor kick head up variant on the breatstroke and very good in choppy water, and backstroke that I use for rest and getting my breath back.

sawyer

tri_bri2

Mar 25, 04 12:00

Post #5 of 13 (258 views)

Re: The off-strokes: Who swims 'em? [vitus979] [In reply to]	Can't Post

You should work some in for several reasons: (1) It will reduce some of the stress on your shoulders from swimming only freestyle; (2) It will strengthen complementary muscles; (3) It will improve your feel for the water; and, (4) It will decrease boredom.

Having said that, I must admit I am not practicing what I preach. www.USMS.org has some workouts you may want to try with mixes of drills and other strokes.

Reddy

Mar 25, 04 12:00

Post #6 of 13 (256 views)

Re: The off-strokes: Who swims 'em? [vitus979] [In reply to]	Can't Post

As a basis to my answer - I come from a pretty good swimming background.

Probably do 30 to 35% of training in off strokes. Adds variety, but more so requires different muscle group work. Personally I think that working all muscles in the H20 only makes a person a better freestyle swimmer. Also adds confidence. I can chug a huge gulp of lake/sea water and still maintain my presence and forward mothion while recovering.

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FLA Jill

Mar 25, 04 12:02

Post #7 of 13 (254 views)

Re: The off-strokes: Who swims 'em? [vitus979] [In reply to]	Can't Post

I do a decent amount of backstroke- it knocks back the boredom a bit, and also helps me work through the odd freestyle problem.

I used to throw in IM sets on a regular basis, but had some issues with a shoulder last year that kept me from doing fly so I stopped them. (and I've always loathed breaststroke- lacked the coordination to make the kick work)

vitus979

Mar 25, 04 12:17

Post #8 of 13 (236 views)

Re: The off-strokes: Who swims 'em? [tri_bri2] [In reply to]	Can't Post

Thanks, tri_bri2. I agree with you on all counts- and I do work in a good amount of other strokes myself. I usually swim five days/week, with one day devoted to strokes other than free, and one day for drills, fin work, and fun stuff. I'm just curious to see how much other people do- my feeling is that a lot of triathletes do almost all free.

"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

olddude

Mar 25, 04 12:37

Post #9 of 13 (212 views)

Re: The off-strokes: Who swims 'em? [vitus979] [In reply to]	Can't Post

Your last comment describes me and the reason is that I didn't swim in highschool or college so didn't develop those strokes. But I think what everyone has said is true but those people are the ones that developed the different strokes in HS and college which is why they do them which is a good thing.

deechee

Mar 25, 04 12:55

Post #10 of 13 (191 views)

Re: The off-strokes: Who swims 'em? [vitus979] [In reply to]	Can't Post

lately, say 10%+ backstroke, maybe 5% breast, 1% fly (if the coach says so). Like most people say, doing the backstroke relieves a lot of the stress on the shoulders especially during speed/pace sets. I like to do the backstroke as the "50/100 easy" before I repeat the 5x 300m @ pace that we do etc.

I definitely think the other strokes are important - we do a lot of kick, no board, on our backs which for a while were painfully tiring but now I'm starting to "feel" how I should kick away the water with my feet... hence, it helps me front crawl.

as for fly & breast... well, they're still a disaster. ok, no breast is ok, I just don't go anywhere. I can't get that damn kick.

HowlinKatTribe

Mar 25, 04 13:01

Post #11 of 13 (185 views)

Re: The off-strokes: Who swims 'em? [vitus979] [In reply to]	Can't Post

I am learning/refining a few of the other strokes. Masters swim coach also has me doing back stroke (which I hate) to balance out the muscles of the chest, back, and delts..seems to be helping alot..makes for tough swim sessions. We are just starting a bit of butterfly..I suck at it and working on the leg kick..have no clue what I'm doing with the kick yet. Coach is getting me straight..
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WebSwim

Mar 25, 04 14:23

Post #12 of 13 (117 views)

Re: The off-strokes: Who swims 'em? [vitus979] [In reply to]	Can't Post

Only doing freestyle at the moment as I just got back in the pool last week. Once I get some semblance of feel for the water I'll swim everything except breaststroke. Knees & ankles aren't flexible enough you see, so I cheat and do breaststroke arms with fly kick.... much better!

Swim On, Donncha

cmetri

Mar 25, 04 14:50

Post #13 of 13 (106 views)

Re: The off-strokes: Who swims 'em? [vitus979] [In reply to]	Can't Post

Our coach at USF has a rather standard rotation:
Monday: sets of 100s or less, one third IM/stroke

Tuesday: 150s or less, two thirds IM/stroke

Wednesday: we go long (200-500s), mostly/all freestyle

Thur: sets of 200s or less 50/50 stroke

Friday: we go long or really short, depends on weekends meet/lake swim schedule.

Summer months the pool is set up long course on Wed/Fri morning and Tue/Thu eve for some wonderfully meaty 4,500 yd workouts. Main set will be something like 5x (500 cruise on 6:30, 100 fast on 1:10)

Favorite mix set goes back to high school when we were horsing around too much we had to do the "Bannon" set named after a guy on the team. 10x100 fly free fly free. If everyone in the lane didn't make the interval, it didn't count and we had to do-over.