Swimming Actor's Olympic victories John Weissmuller became the first athlete to swim the 100m freestyle in under a minute. Then he was 18 years old. Later, Weissmuller won 5 gold medals at the games of two Olympiads. Installed world

13.2. Swimming Swimming is of great health and practical importance. It contributes to the harmonious development of the body and strengthening the muscular, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, has a good hardening effect. When swimming, they form vital

Swimming Tip 24 Warm up for 15-25 minutes before starting. I usually get into the water 15 minutes before the cannon starts, and do a 10-minute warm-up (with slight accelerations), and then 5 minutes on the starting line I clear a place around me. I do not run before

Topic “What floats - what drowns? Repetition and reinforcement

Lesson type: research lesson

Objective: to review the main assumptions made in the previous sessions

Tasks:

prove the correctness of all assumptions through refutation;

fill out the work form "This is what we have discovered"

Formation of UUD:

R - the ability to independently formulate the topic of the lesson, set the goal of the lesson, preserve it in the lesson, independently navigate in the new educational material.

P - the ability to conduct an experiment, analyze the results obtained, generalize, develop the ability to draw conclusions based on the results of experimental research, the ability to work with a table.

К - the ability to work in a group to achieve common results.

Equipment: 1 metal plate, 1 piece of wax 500 g, 1 wooden button, 1 metal button, 1 foam plate with holes, 1 piece of pumice stone, 1 cube of ebony, 1 container for water, work blank, "This is what we discovered", napkin, 1 pin, 1 piece of wood.

A scientist without work is like a cloud without rain.

We will also be scientists today, who is ready to get down to business?

A scientist needs to be engaged in business, otherwise he cannot be called a scientist, for example, a cloud cannot live without rain and a scientist cannot do nothing, etc.

We will do something

2. Actualization of ZUN and mental operations sufficient to build new knowledge.

Listen to the riddle:

What's that floating on the river there?

There is not a splinter floating on the river

It is tied tightly from logs,

Not a ship, not a ferry,
There is no sail, no oars,
And if he swims, he does not sink.

Why do you need a raft? Which hero are we going to help?

What knowledge do we need to make a raft?

Raft

Pete Perlenklau

3.Fixing difficulties in independent activity

I suggest looking at the statements of children from other classes. Do you agree with them?

Anything heavy drowns.

Anything small floats.

Everything that is flat floats.

Everything that is metal sinks.

Everything that is foam floats.

Everything that is wax floats.

Everything that is made of wood floats.

Everything that is stone drowns.

Why did we get different answers?

What is the topic of the lesson?

The teacher writes the topic of the lesson on the chalkboard.

Work in a group of 4 people: children discuss assumptions and confirm them or refute them, mark: true, false,V - require clarification.

We don't know exactly which materials sink and which don't?

What floats, what drowns?

Pupils writing down the topic of the lesson in the form.

4. Research stage.

5. Stage of work with information.

5. Stage of information exchange.

6.The Information Linking Stage - Discovering the General Idea

If you think the assumption is not true, can you prove it? How?

– Do you know of any heavy object that still floats?

So what is this statement?

– Do you know of any small object that sinks in spite of this?

What is this saying?

– Do you know of any flat objects that, in spite of this, sink?

What is this saying?

What is the next statement? Prove.

Physical minute. We checked 4 statements, how many more are left?

Let's get some rest. To the music, children perform exercises.

What is this saying? Who will prove it?

Do you know wax items that sink?

What is this saying?

Working with information. Working in groups.

You already know that researchers must be good at working with information. Where can we read reliable information?

I offer you this job. The first group works with an encyclopedia.

1. Read the text.

3. Answer the questions

4. Make a conclusion.

1. Ebony Wood belongsto the most valuable.Ebony is used in furniture making,musical instruments. This wood sinks in water.

Questions:

What is the name of a tree with black valuable wood? ______________________

Output: _____________________________________

The second group works with ___________.

1. Read the text.

2. Underline important information.

3. Answer the questions

4. Make a conclusion.

2. Pumice isporous and hard stone rock thatformed as a result of the rapid solidification of acidic lavas saturated with gases.Used in construction... It gives the impression of a dense rock, although, in fact, the pumice stone is pierced through with pores, and is often so light that it does not sink in water.

Questions:

Output:

The third group works with reliable information from the Internet.

1. Read the text.

2. Underline important information.

3. Answer the questions

4. Make a conclusion.

3. Archimedes - ancient greekscientist. He was engaged in mathematics, mechanics, physics and astronomy. He owns the basic law of hydrostatics - Archimedes' Law. Law

Archimedes Questions:

What was the name of the ancient Greek scientist? _________

What helps explain this law?

Output:

The person in charge in the group introduces everyone to the questions and the conclusion.

Other groups record the output of the group in the table:

The law (whose?) __________: _________________ force acts on the body immersed in ______________.

After the performance of the third group:

- I suggest watching the cartoon. 9m22 s - 11.50. and then do the task after the table.

Read the following statement, what can you say about it? Let's prove it.

What did you see? How to clarify a statement?

What's the last statement? Let's prove.

How do we clarify this statement?

Experiment

Children prove empirically that

a heavy piece of wax will not sink.

Wrong.

Pin, pebble, metal button, etc. sinks

Wrong

The metal plate sinks

Wrong

True

Children recall the experience from the previous lesson.

True

Not

True

True

Conclusion: ebony is wood that sinks.

Conclusion: pumice is a light stone that floats.

Students share new information

Conclusion: Archimedes' laws still apply today.

The student drops an ebony cube into a container of water

True

All that is of wood floats except ebony

The student drops a large piece of pumice stone into a container of water.

Everything that is stone sinks except pumice.

5. Evaluative and reflective stage

Compare your suggestions for the statements that you performed at the beginning of the lesson with the statements that we proved empirically.

I suggest in the form "This is what we discovered!" write down what was new in the lesson. Put the emoji at a depth that matches the depth of your immersion in today's lesson?

Where and when will this knowledge be useful to us? Do you now know what materials can be used to build a raft? Make a plan for the construction of the raft and a list of materials at home.

Children write

Children put emoticons

Build a raft, etc.

Check+

Check+ each statement in the corresponding column:

Check+ each statement in the corresponding column:

2. Underline important information.

3. Answer the questions

4. Make a conclusion.

Ebony , is the black of some tropical trees.Wood belongsto the most valuable.Ebony is used in the manufacture of furniture,musical instruments. This wood sinks in water.

Questions:

What is the name of a tree with black valuable wood? ________________

Is ebony wood? _______

Does this wood float? _________

Output:We read the text about __________________________________.

It turns out that this wood is _________________________.

1. Read the text.

2. Underline important information.

3. Answer the questions

4. Make a conclusion.

Pumice Is a porous and hard rock of the rock, which was formed as a result of the rapid solidification of acidic lavas saturated with gases. It is used in construction. The pumice stone is pierced through with pores, and is often so light that it does not sink in water.

Questions:

What is the name of the hard rock of the rock? ________________

Is pumice stone? _______________

Is this stone sinking? _____________

Output: We read the text about __________________________________ and learned that _____________ is a stone that is ______________________.

1. Read the text.

2. Underline important information.

3. Answer the questions

4. Make a conclusion.

Questions:

What was the name of the ancient Greek scientist? ______________

What is the name of the law? ___________

What helps explain this law? ______________________________________________ _____________________________________________

Output: We read the text about ___________________________ and found out that ________________ is an ancient Greek scientist, and his law is used by _________________________________________.

Archimedeshelps to explain the navigation of submarines, animals and humans, helps to raise sunken ships.

Here's what we discovered!

Subject: ____________________________

Our assumptions

Table 1.

Check+ each statement in the corresponding column:

Table 2.

tree

wood

swims

drowning

Pumice

a rock

swims

drowning

Insert the missing words:

Law (whose?) _________________: on a body immersed in __________

________________________ force acts.

What's new opened: ____________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Emoticons

"Like a fish in water" - now it's about you. People who have mastered Terry Laughlin's Total Immersion technique are able to swim tirelessly for hours, enjoying their every move. Throughout this book, you will find explanations and exercises that will lead you step by step to good technique, on which, according to the author, 70 percent of swimming results depend. This book is essential for everyone who wants to learn how to swim freely and correctly, and especially for those who are preparing for long and ultra-long distance competitions.

From the series:Sport drive

* * *

company liters.

New movements. Independent swimming training in a new way

Swimming from side to side: the road to nowhere

Most people fail to learn how to swim faster, farther and better, with all their might. The reason for this is obvious: they start moving towards their goal from the wrong end. “Don't worry about technique,” \u200b\u200bswimming coaches and instructors assure us. “Just train harder and you’ll end up with a smooth and strong stroke.” Although it is necessary to start with technology.

I will tell you how I came to new methods of teaching swimming.

First of all, I must confess to the readers that I am truly passionate about swimming. I visit the pool almost every morning, getting up at 5:30 for it. I take part in many competitions, including open water. In addition, I also earn my living by instilling such an addiction in adults.

I teach with passion because, from my point of view, swimming is a rare pleasure. Despite the fatigue after training, I feel energized throughout the next day.

Compare swimming to any other sport. Muscles ache for a day or two after running. Cycling is a great exercise when the weather is fine. Classes in gym - great workout, but after it you can hardly move your legs.

And after swimming, I always feel better. Therefore, I easily leave my favorite sofa at the dawn of a frosty morning or at sunset on a hot summer evening and rush to the pool.

It's probably an exaggeration to call swimming the ideal sport, but there is hardly a better candidate for this title. The heart and lungs work rationally, muscle endurance and strength increase, flexibility improves, and stress resistance increases. At the same time, swimming does not put a strong stress on the joints compared to other types of physical activity. Against the backdrop of other sports, with the exception of cross-country skiing, more muscles are involved in swimming. And only swimming can create a feeling of weightlessness and freedom.

Tired of multiple aerobic training injuries? The undoubted advantage of swimming is its relatively low trauma and the absence of vibration loads on the musculoskeletal system, from which many runners and cyclists suffer. Water spares the muscles. Relaxation and even resistance help relieve muscle tension and pain caused by training on the ground.

Overheating while swimming is almost impossible. Water conducts heat 20 times better than air, so you can train with increased loads. This is especially important in summer, in hot weather: it is possible to avoid dehydration and severe overheating, so noticeable when training "on the shore".

Swimming is an equal opportunity sport. If you are overweight, disabled, or injured - factors that interfere with active movement - you can swim. It is well known that many athletes, after being injured, go in for swimming in order to quickly restore strength and endurance.

Have your joints become inactive with age? Increasing the mobility of the joint apparatus is one of the most important reasons why adults should swim. A 1988 study by cardiologists and sports physiologists at the University of Texas Dallas Medical Center found that adults leading sedentary image life, three months later regular classes swimming markedly improved heart condition. The heartbeat slowed down, and the blood began to circulate more intensively. Systematic swimming also lowers blood pressure and increases endurance when comparing performance in the same age group. In addition, in terms of energy costs, a 1.5 km swim is equal to a 6.5 km run.

The knowledge in this book was unknown when I was swimming in college. The swimming instructions were very simple: to achieve results, you have to clench your teeth and endure, and then you will win the competition. It must be painful, otherwise you're not an athlete. And before questions was it then, with the heart jumping out of the chest, and aching muscles?

But the time for questions was approaching inexorably. I started asking them when I left college, where I had worked for more than thirty years, for another, purely coaching job. Finally, I could watch other swimmers from the side. What discoveries I have made! I found that some gifted swimmers could swim very well without panting at all. During individual training sessions, I was impressed with the ease and efficiency of their movements in the water. They won because of this, not the ability to endure grueling training.

I wondered if it was an innate quality or an acquired skill. I still doubted my guesses, although there were some signs. For example, average swimmers sometimes suddenly improved their performance when I freed them from endless tedious workouts for a while and switched to sequential strength-building exercises.

In 1988, a picture began to form in my head, in which all the secrets of the correct swimming technique fell into place. This year I met Bill Boomer and left college to coach only adult swimmers. Bill was a swimming coach at the University of Rochester. Although Bill is not well known in the wider swimming community, he was a cult figure among varsity coaches. His ideas were considered radical and sometimes even revolutionary.

One day Boomer gave a talk at an experience exchange seminar among coaches, which I also attended. The speakers followed each other. Everyone said that it was necessary to train swimmers, figuratively speaking, "strengthening the engine and giving more fuel", that is, developing endurance.

Then Boomer took the floor, and his speech had the effect of an exploding bomb. He asked a question that no one dared to ask in the two decades of history of these seminars: “How can we teach to swim faster with less effort? ". His answer to himself, ingenious in its simplicity, disarmed the audience: "By changing the shape of the body." As a naval engineer, Boomer knew how to improve the streamlining of a ship's hull, and therefore a swimmer.

In Detroit, the auto industry did a lot of similar experiments, fueled by a spike in fuel prices in the 1970s, but only Boomer suggested a similar approach to sailing. He was creative, he had a fresh perspective on the problem. Boomer was not a professional swimmer, but studied biomechanics before becoming a coach. In other words, he came to sail in an unconventional way, but at the same time he had a deep understanding of the peculiarities of the movement of the human body.

I embraced his approach, my work with adult swimmers provided a unique opportunity to experiment, develop and complement his ideas. My seminars focused the audience's attention on technique swimming instead of doing tedious workouts.

The adult swimmers I trained were the perfect subjects to develop my approach. My training program gradually became more complicated and eventually transformed into a training program for a completely new swimming technique. I had to break it down into stages, determine the sequence of exercises suitable for adults who did not play sports seriously and had no idea about the mechanisms of swimming.

The work did not bring the expected result until I figured out how to simplify complex tasks. I've broken them down into a series of simple, logical exercises that everyone can use. My goal was to create a program that is understandable and easy to understand and easy to follow after my departure.

Since then, thousands of students have passed through my hands. In recent years, some of them have become my training partners. They evaluate my instructions for accessibility and ease of understanding, discarding the unnecessary and leaving the most valuable. We are in constant creative search, experimenting with movement techniques that make swimming easier.

Over time, I realized that the old approach to training was not only ineffective, but also caused a lot of harm. Reinforcing irrational skills over time forms a habit that is difficult to break.

Today it is obvious that swimming needs to be taught in the same way as tennis or alpine skiing, because technique plays a decisive role in them, as opposed to, for example, running or cycling, which are more focused on endurance.

Lou Fiorina, an outstanding mentor with whom we conduct joint workshops, once watched American swimming legends Rowdy Gaines and Tracy Colkins demonstrate their skills to children. Looking at their technique, he thought, "Such light and easy movements are an extraordinary gift." Some time later, he got to a seminar where Bill Boomer was teaching a group of intermediate swimmers, and was shocked by their results.

“As I watched them, I noticed that the swimmers began to show the same grace and lightness as my idols Gaines and Colkins. I suddenly realized that this can be taught... Ordinary swimmers can learn to swim just as beautifully and can achieve amazing results in a relatively short time. ”

Today they are learning this using the principles in this book that are available to people of all ages. Every minute of Total Immersion workout is dedicated to developing rational skills, so you don't have to waste time on tedious endurance and speed training. By the end of the course, most swimmers feel more confident and progress quickly. I hope I convinced you to give it a try.

How is the training going? Of course, some of the time is spent on strength exercises and the development of endurance, but at the beginning of classes your physical training will be the result of technical skill development work. Let's take an example from tennis. If you want to improve your technique, are you wasting time just throwing the ball over the net? Unlikely. You will develop your racket hit for 40–45 minutes and, as it improves, you will acquire the necessary physical shape to play. We do the same in the pool, so I always open my seminars with an optimistic phrase: “ By developing rational technique, you automatically improve your fitness.».

This is not just a publicity stunt, it is a scientifically proven truth. The role of preliminary preparation has always been important: scientists have calculated that 70% of the results of the performance of champions depend on the stroke technique and only 30% are determined physical form athlete. As for ordinary people, in their case the results depend on all 90% of the stroke technique. A beginner swimmer can swim a quarter mile in 10 minutes and can improve time by 5-10 seconds through strength training. And due to the use of more rational technique - for 50-55 seconds.

But getting an efficient stroke is much more difficult than hitting a perfect golf shot or making a perfect tennis serve. Such a technique cannot be developed without the supervision of a competent coach. AND good trainers for adults is always hard to find.

Moreover, the stroke does not affect swimming speed too much. Take the swimmer with the most ineffective stroke, make him the athlete with the perfect stroke, and the difference in speed will be only 5-10%. This is a consequence of the fact that water is 1000 times denser than air and hydraulic resistance slows down everyone who does not know how to deal with it. The ability to overcome water resistance by changing the position of the body will allow you to increase your speed by 20-30% in a couple of days.

Therefore, we teach to swim meaningfully. First, we show how to find balance, change the position of the body to a more streamlined and stable one. Then we work on the forward movement, focusing on the most important.

This approach opens up new possibilities. When the body works in concert, swimming is enjoyable. It is no longer just muscle training, physical activity, or competition. When you focus on perfection of form - the concept behind our program - you build up your strength and endurance, while improving spiritually, just like in yoga or tai chi.

Grace, speed, technique, health and peace of mind. What is this book about - about swimming or about the development of man in his perfection? You will find the answer later in this book. Let's start.

How to swim better effortlessly?

I have already said that I was not always such a "smart" swimmer. I wasted four years in college doing things wrong, dropping myself to exhaustion.

In my freshman year, I was chosen to participate in the mile swim. I swam in 22 minutes. Winners - 4 minutes faster. To get the best results, I had to work hard. I thought, as did others, that the only way to increase speed was to work faster and harder with my arms and legs. And this was its own Jesuit logic. After two hours of daily workouts and 240 pools, the competition seemed like heaven: only 20 minutes and some 66 pools.

And soon this approach worked: after two years I came out on a good result - 18 minutes, it was a record for the championships of colleges from the eastern states. I got a taste of victory. When, after the finish, I barely got out of the pool, the judge remarked: "In my life I have never seen someone rowing so fast and for so long!"

I muttered, "Thank you."

Then I thought it was a compliment, but now I don't think so.

It soon turned out that I was swimming at the limit of my strength and speed. The chosen strategy did not bring results anymore, I exhausted my potential.

At that time, I was not yet aware of what was happening and did not give up, trying to train even more. Thus, I have reached my physical limit, which can be expressed in the equation:

where V (velocity) is the speed of movement;

SL (stroke length) - stroke length;

SR (stroke rate) - the number of strokes per unit of time.

When a swimmer approaches the SR stroke ceiling, he can only increase this value by decreasing the stroke length. But an increase in one indicator at the expense of a decrease in another will not increase their product, in our case the speed of movement. In addition, this way you can simply bring yourself to physical exhaustion.

That all changed after college. I found my first job as a coach and thanks to this I was able to analyze swimming technique from the side. This gave me the opportunity to reevaluate my own experience and identify the factors that affect the speed of swimmers of different training levels. For myself, I made a simple conclusion: the fastest swimmers perform easily and artistically, their efforts are invisible.

Novice swimmers puffed in all directions on the slow lanes; against their background, experienced swimmers seemed to glide on the water. And I tried to analyze the style of the best.

For the first twelve years, I acted purely on instinct. In 1984, the first scientific studies appeared. On qualifying tournament In anticipation of the Los Angeles Olympics, Bill Boomer and sports experts from the University of Rochester filmed all swims in all 26 disciplines for men and women. In total, more than 700 swims were recorded, including those with the participation of the fastest swimmers in the world.

In 80% of cases the fastest swimmers took fewer strokes than their competitors... Four years later, similar results were obtained by specialists from the University of Penn at the 1988 Olympics. The fast swimmers were the most economical in terms of movement.

How do you learn to swim faster and better? By that time, we already had an answer: we need to perform longer, and not more frequent strokes. Thirty years separates me from my first bad training experience in college, and now I'm more interested in the length of each individual stroke, rather than how much distance in total I have time to swim in the allotted time. I don't judge my pace by timing alone, trying to swim faster. Rather, I am wondering how many extra strokes I need to add to achieve the desired speed. In other words, I estimate how much effort I need to put in.

So, the first priority for any swimmer who wants to learn to swim better and faster is to achieve a longer stroke. This can be achieved in two ways:

By increasing the power: "bite" into the water with the hands and feet, giving each stroke the maximum power;

By reducing drag: take the most streamlined position in the water, moving as far as possible with each stroke at the same stroke power.

Naturally, your instincts in the water tell you the first way: row harder and more often. But this is a dead end. After all, the speed in the water is determined primarily by the streamlined position, the achievement of the least resistance and the uniformity of movement. And it only partially depends on how fast the arms and legs will move.

In freestyle swimming at world record speeds, the swimmer expends more than a thousand watts of energy while slicing through the water at a miserable speed of 8 kilometers per hour. For comparison, some fish reach speeds of up to 110 kilometers per hour - that's the speed of a cheetah during a chase - with surprisingly low energy expenditure. A hundred-ton blue whale swimming at a speed of 30-32 kilometers per hour, in theory, would have to spend about 448 horsepower per hour. But in fact, it consumes only 70. The dolphin also costs only one-eighth of the energy, which, based on theoretical calculations, is necessary for its movement in water.

A person who has adapted to life in the air for millions of years looks awkward in water. For each stroke, he expends an enormous amount of energy. To double the speed in water, a person needs to spend eight times more energy. In water, hydraulic resistance decides everything. Streamlined shapes and correct position bodies in the water are the secret of marine mammals. Based on this, in order to swim like a fish, you should give your body the most stretched position and streamlined shape, and not try to row more powerfully. As proof, kinesiologists calculated that 70% of the sports performance of a swimmer depends on the position of the body and the streamlining of its forms, and only 30% is determined by the physical form and fitness of the athlete.

Let's define a new understanding of the swimming formula V \u003d SL × SR, where, as a reminder, V (velocity) is the speed of movement, SL (stroke length) is the stroke length, SR (stroke rate) is the number of strokes per unit of time.

First, you need to learn how to position your body in the water so as to move as far as possible with each stroke, and only then work out physical strengthto row fast enough, but not too much.

Virtually every swimmer I have met already had the physical fitness to maintain a high stroke rate. However, swimmers' speed increased significantly if they slightly decreased their frequency while increasing their stroke length. Therefore, I always require swimmers to work on stroke length first. In addition, the rate of energy consumption increases in proportion to the cube of the body's speed, that is, if you double your stroke rate, you expend eight times more strength. This is ineffective.

The stroke length increases as you begin to comprehend what is happening. A brief increase in swimming speed by increasing stroke power can be achieved by persistent muscle training, but these results are short-lived. If you want not only to swim well, but also to do it with pleasure throughout your life, analyze the above formula again. And then decide which metric you'd better work on.

The best - the smartest - athletes try to increase their speed with the least amount of effort and at the same time distribute it among the indicators. For example, if the stroke gets longer and the stroke rate remains the same, then the speed increases. If the stroke length remains the same and the frequency increases, then the speed also increases. But the main trick is to slightly increase the frequency and slightly increase the stroke length - then the speed will increase noticeably. Experienced swimmers first set the desired stroke length, then gradually increase the stroke rate and re-adjust the stroke length. This is a delicate balance that is achieved through constant practice.

Let's go back to the speed statistics I mentioned above. 70% of the ability to increase the stroke length is due to the ability to reduce hydraulic resistance. This is the key to the success of the "easy" swimming of great swimmers.

This is not an illusion. In a sense, they really don't put in the effort. Gliding on the water as far as possible with each stroke is a skillful technique that brings them victory.

We intend to devote aboutmost of the time and effort to develop just such a technique.

Look at fig. one... The curved line shows how the speed changes when moving in the water. You may not be aware of this, but she is impermanent. With each cycle of movements, you increase or decrease the speed, like a driver pressing and releasing the accelerator pedal. When you start the movement, the position of the hand does not allow for a powerful stroke. Bring your hand up to your thigh and your forearm will be in a more effective position, allowing the powerful core muscles to kick in and start helping you propel yourself forward. The speed will increase. Then, when you have finished the stroke and the arm is out of the water, the speed will slow down and decrease until a new stroke cycle begins.

Figure: one

Most swimmers have a hard time achieving acceleration by working their arms and legs faster. Usually their efforts are in vain because the load is unevenly distributed. Swimmers try to slightly raise the top of the curve on the graph, which is very ineffective. Whereas if they focused on the bottom of the curve, the result would come faster and with less loss.

The actual swim speed is of course not the peak values \u200b\u200bof the graph, but rather the average between the fastest and slowest stroke rate. The water resistance to the body is partly determined by the speed of movement. The higher the speed, the higher the resistance. Thus, if you try to pick up speed at the peak of the curve, then, figuratively speaking, you will hit a wall.

I emphasize that this is why movement between strokes affects speed more than the stroke itself... Look at fig. 2... In what position is your body moving at a slower speed, where you can increase speed without effort? It is quite clear during the sweep of the hand. Get into an extended, balanced, streamlined position and your speed will increase much sooner than any other hand action. This is the secret of great swimmers.

Figure: 2

This skill can be developed regardless of your goals - whether you are training for the Olympics or just for yourself. You can have a perfect stroke, but you can still row too often, as your body slows down too quickly after each stroke. You have no choice but to work with your hands even faster. You are not keeping the momentum you create.

There are a few tricks you need to learn to help streamline your body. Pisces are born to swim, and humans must learn their skills.

Streamlined body shape

Resistance contributes to performance in the gym, but interferes with other sports. If you have tried to overcome the headwind while riding a bicycle, then you can understand why streamlined helmets, "loungers" (aerodynamic rudders) and even water flasks were tried to give the most compact and streamlined shape. The lower the frontal air resistance, the easier and faster the movement.

Let me remind you: while sailing, we move in an environment that is almost a thousand times denser than air! Despite the relatively low speeds in water, the creation streamlined extremely important. All effective swimmers (usually the fastest) instinctively feel how to position their bodies in the water in order to glide over it with the least effort.

I spoke with Dr. Rick Sharp, Director of the International Research Center aquatic species sports in Colorado Springs, and he reported interesting results from one study, unexpected even to experts.

“We found that the strongest swimmers produce less propulsive power than second-tier swimmers. It is quite obvious that their body is capable of producing more energy, but for fast swimming they don't need it. "

In other words, they win with a streamlined body shape rather than a more powerful stroke. The strongest swimmers have gone through a long journey of trial and error. The irony is that the secret of their success has always been on the surface.

This fact amazes many students who come to my classes hoping to improve their technique, with the words: "I learned to swim in the fifties, and since then all styles have changed a lot." They are surprised when I explain to them that good swimming technique is not ruffles and frills that will go out of fashion tomorrow and be replaced by something new. These are the principles effective swimmingbased on the eternal laws of physics and biomechanics.

They were discovered a long time ago and were used by naval engineers to build ships, but were not used in the practice of teaching sailing, therefore they seem new. Scientists have already calculated everything for us. We only need to apply their knowledge of the movement of ships in water to the principles of the movement of the human body in the pool. Basic rules fast movement in water (in relation to humans) there are only three:

Balance position in the water;

Stretch the body;

Swim on your side.

Body position in water: greatest energy savings

Every time a swimmer comes to me and asks for advice on how to improve footwork technique, I recall my first experience of rollerblading. In the spirit of the times, I decided to learn to roller skate. I was attracted by the opportunity of an excellent aerobic exercise on air. However, on the first skate, I experienced a severe disappointment.

Within fifteen minutes I had to go home, with such force I was bothered by the pulling pain in my lower back. Very strange, I thought. After all, only my legs were supposed to work.

I set a task to overcome difficulties and build up weak muscles of the lower back, gradually increasing the distance traveled. I believed that they were the ones that carried the greatest load when riding. However, the next time I realized that it was not the muscles, but my uncomfortable posture. Some, I noticed, rolled smoothly, gliding gently from side to side at a decent speed. Others wrote out a pretzel and moved in jerks. Observing from the side, I realized that the difference in skating was determined not by the strength of the muscles of the back and legs, but by the correct position of the body. Experienced skaters knew how to position the center of gravity and when to transfer weight from one leg to the other. Like all beginners, it took me a while to master this technique. With a weight of 90 kilograms, I could not constantly maintain my balance and, in order not to fall, actively loaded the muscles of the lower back. Over time, the muscles would naturally strengthen. From a simple ineptness I would become a strong clumsy. Therefore, learning to roller skate should begin with the correct body position.

Many less successful swimmers make the same mistake. They know their feet are too low below the surface of the water. Sometimes they even realize that this is not only the most common mistake, but also the biggest reason for the "leak" of energy. Then they grab a swim board and grimly begin winding endless circles in the hope that such a workout will strengthen their weak leg muscles. But the legs have nothing to do with it!

Weak blow legs are not the reason they swim slowly. The point is the wrong body position, like rollerblading. The only difference is that the balance in the pool is easy to correct. After that, swimmers happily discover that in order to maintain the correct position in the water, they hardly have to work with their feet.

But the correct position in the water is not an innate skill, it is acquired with practice. The human body is not adapted to its natural existence in the aquatic environment. In the process of evolution, we have adapted to life on land, our long legs and low center of gravity provide us with balance and movement. Above the waist, we, figuratively speaking, have a lot of volume, but little weight, since the lungs, in fact, are cylinders filled with air. Thus, we are floating at the top, and at the bottom are heavy as stones. Naturally, our longer and heavier lower half of the body constantly pulls us to the bottom.

If you quickly move your feet in the water to compensate for the way nature created us, you can quickly get tired. Worse, it’s useless, because it’s the wrong body position in the water that slows you down. Note that this kind of swimming technique leads to bad results and in triathlon, since you hardly want to participate in cycling and running with legs shaking from fatigue.

You need a way to keep your hips higher. There is such a way. I call it “float pressure”.

Imagine what happens when a beach ball is pushed into the water. That's right, the water pushes it back. A person has the same floating "ball" - rib cage... This is your float.

Push your float into the water and the water will push it out. Keep pressing and the water will push your thighs up. This is exactly what you need. Instead of pounding the water with your feet, you simply let the water lift your hips to the surface.

The body in the water can be compared to a child's swing, where the fulcrum is between the waist and the sternum. And you can maintain balance by using your head to counterbalance your hips. The long and heavy part of the body will tend to drown. But use the weight on the opposite side and you will achieve balance. Imagine a metal rod running through the center of your body from the crown of your head to your waist. If you keep it level, your hips will rise to the surface. Bend it, for example, raising your head to inhale instead of turning it with the body, and your legs will be pulled down again.

End of introductory snippet.

* * *

The given introductory fragment of the book Full immersion. How to Swim Better, Faster and Easier (John Delves, 1996,2004) provided by our book partner -