Len-5: Practiced the backstroke but I still get water in nose. I could inhale while stroking but the pain is felt after the lap (half of length). It may be easier to gauge straightness by looking at trees at the side - lengthwise. Mang Ruben saw me do the backstroke and then he proceeded to do 1 length of fly - 2 kicks per stroke/ breath. He also did short and slow breaststroke which didn't look strong. Dante and another pool cleaner were scouring/ removing hard scum at pool sides so there was some scum floating. Yuck! I didn't resume after the break.
No Cranes Please
Len-6: Used the bow wave side-looking breath and noticed that this was more relaxed than the previous head rise shown in video. there is less straining/ craning of the neck which was more tensed. Leftside breathing using the bow wave need to be practiced MORE. Was still sinking when I started to stroke in the backstroke. Need to focus on keeping waterline on the ears while on back. Use a consistent strong kick. Was able to do sighting once to go to the pool ladder. Was okay.
Use the Bow Wave, Luke
Len-5, Halfbrst-4:
Backstroke - Has little rotation. If head goes higher, the legs sink.
Free - Don't look out. Use the bow wave and look more TO THE SIDE rather than to the heaven. This should improve streamlining and correct the mistake of head rising in the video.
Starts - Need to undulate more with the dolphins. Use the chest, abs and hips more. Hand leads should dictate direction, up or down. I noticed that I lose air and then find it slow to rise to surface. Keep the legs close together.
Backstroke drill - Try 1-arm stroke. Rotate! Shrug/ pop the shoulder. Try the head lead frequently.
Sighting - From freestyle, try a breaststroke sighting.
Freestyle drill - Try 1-arm stroke to avoid pushing for air, just turning. Another on the 2-stroke is to stick the ear or cheek with the lead arm.
Backstroke - Has little rotation. If head goes higher, the legs sink.
Free - Don't look out. Use the bow wave and look more TO THE SIDE rather than to the heaven. This should improve streamlining and correct the mistake of head rising in the video.
Starts - Need to undulate more with the dolphins. Use the chest, abs and hips more. Hand leads should dictate direction, up or down. I noticed that I lose air and then find it slow to rise to surface. Keep the legs close together.
Backstroke drill - Try 1-arm stroke. Rotate! Shrug/ pop the shoulder. Try the head lead frequently.
Sighting - From freestyle, try a breaststroke sighting.
Freestyle drill - Try 1-arm stroke to avoid pushing for air, just turning. Another on the 2-stroke is to stick the ear or cheek with the lead arm.
Comment on Self
Family swim, 10am to 2pm: We had a family swim and that's the family at the left. I had Irene video me on freestyle and breaststroke. This is the first video taken of me. My comments upon seeing them:
Freestyle - Head is rising too high to breath. Head does not "just return for air" and it breaks streamline too much. There seem to be too little rotation on the left side coz the left arm hardly clears the water in the recovery. The left arm stroke looks flat and not high enough. Legs do not seem to kick vigourously.
Freestyle - Head is rising too high to breath. Head does not "just return for air" and it breaks streamline too much. There seem to be too little rotation on the left side coz the left arm hardly clears the water in the recovery. The left arm stroke looks flat and not high enough. Legs do not seem to kick vigourously.
Breaststroke - The streamline position of the glide isn't maintained long enough. The stroke looks relaxed but doesn't look explosive enough.
Some Drills
Length-4, Halfbreast-3: To complete the length, begin by alternate breathing. When bilateral breathing becomes hard, switch to right side.
Details of freestyle going out:
Details of freestyle going out:
- From deep end, kick off from wall and dolphin kick.
- Pulsate from the chest with hand lead directing the body. Not so deep coz you'll slow down too much and need time to resurface.
- After resurfacing (at 5m?) stroke with the right arm and breath (count 3) and then:
- Count 1 - Stroke left, exhale
- Count 2 - Stroke right, exhale
- Count 3 - Stroke left AND breath
- Do bilateral breathing towards the end.
- Go to rightside breathing when bilateral becomes hard. Maintain speed !!!
Details of backstroke coming back:
- From shallow end, after touching the wall, walk back (active rest) until the middle half of the pool at the lamp post.
- Do breaststroke with long stramline until deep end.
- Long rest.
Milestone: Able to do the one-arm lead for back streamline. Able to do the head lead for back streamline. Able to continuous two-arm stroking - but limited. Just notice that legs were swaying side-to-side while kicking.
Short laps only. Leftside breathing. A milestone today. Attempted the backstroke today. TERRIBLE! I was sinking on the leftarm stroke but had not problem with the other arm. Drills to do? Back streamline with one arm only. Another drill is a head lead back streamline. Preliminaries to flip turn? Do turtle floats and tumble over?
Some Goals
Free-4, Brst-1, Len-2: The Len is the number of pool lengths. After warmup of 2/2. This is a resume swim after a sick leave yesterday. Still feel the slight congestion in the sinus. But after the swim, after blowing/ clearing the nose, it felt really good. Although still recovering from illness, the length was just too inviting so did 2 lengths. Last 1 incomplete. Breathing to the left is still not natural. Really need to practice more. How about goals?
| Goals | Term |
|---|---|
| Left side breathing | short |
| Bilateral breathing | short |
| 50m (2 lengths) | medium |
| Flip turn | long |
| Backstroke | long |
| Fly | long/ never |
| Dive start | long/ never |
| Treading | depends on availability of a deep pool |
Squat Time
No swim. Too much muscle pain in the quads and hams. Friday's squats were the first after a looooooooong time. See my weights setup for the squats. You basically lift the barbell off the stands on your traps. You squat. The safety supports are there should your knees buckle. Simple. The height of the stands can be adjusted. It is presently set at level 3. For other pics in my home gym, click here. Yup, other than the plates and the bars, everything else was built by myself. Weather hasn't been nice and I have a sore throat.
Counting Technique for Bilateral
No count: Continued the benefits of the milestone. Warmup laps consisted of only 2 free leftside. Did the rest of the free at the length. For the dolphin kick at starts and turns, I've been toying with the idea of turning IN the toes just so to achieve ankle hyperextension during the downbeat. Might be promising. Although the knees/ shins are slightly apart, the toes are close to one another and so are the insteps of both feet.
Did alternate breathing on the 1 length free. Still having a little trouble with left. Sometimes I feel I'm raising the head too much and then the legs seem to sink. If I don't raise it high enough, I don't get enough air. Maybe the trick is to really twist the head and roll the shoulder more. Also felt that I don't streamline the head when in the middle of the stroke. Streamline head with the body! For bilateral breathing, do the 1-2-3 count. Stroke 1 (breathout), 2 (breathout), 3 (as hand pulls away, say "three-e-e-e" or "free-e-e-e"). Practice this drill on dryland. 1-2-3 counts.
The 25m Length
No count: Milestone Alert! I did 3 non-consecutive lengths of the full 25m with freestyle. So what, you say? Well 3 months ago, I could have died attempting a single length! First length was leftside breathing. Second and third were rightside. I need to relax legs if I'm to swim relaxed. There might be too much tension. Next time, also try alternate breathing. It might improve speed. I think warmup width laps can be reduced to just 2 free and 2 brst. I felt a burn on the quads in the morning. I guess this is from the brisk kicks for back streamline. There's left knee soreness. Was it the dolphin kicks? To do a starfish float, try putting arms above head in a "Y" to achieve balance. Be sure to raise the legs.
The Speedo Man
Free-7, Brst-4: Felt a little tired today. Aquaboy was here today with dad. Dad did the coaching. I wonder if HE could swim. Back streamline was worse today. Legs weren't just strong enough for brisk kicks. I wore the briefs style swimming trunks today. The present sun tan lines from the normal trunks look awful but hopefully they will go away in due time. The brief style trunks look like what the hefty guy at the right is wearing but mine are colored dark blue. Awesome, huh? And no, that cool dude in the red Speedos ain't me. I'm raring to do the whole 25m. What are the options:
- Really rest - 10 mins? after warmup
- Do a long streamline. Dolphin at the slowing end of streamline.
- Breath left, going. Breath right coming back.
- Visualize completing the length.
- Relax and deep breath before firing.
- Be patient.
- Roll the hips!
- Start stroking when you FEEL to be at the surface already.
- Avoid tension in legs.
Dolphins
Free-3, Brst-2: Heavy traffic jam at SLEX past Splash Island. Did dolphin kicks for all starts and turns. Dolphins are really very effective underwater. Above, there is too much "plop" on the surface. Next time do dolphin sesssions to widths of pool as drills. Back streamline today wasn't too clean. Need to focus more, eyes above. In the afternoon, feel a little soreness at hip/ glutes area. Must be all the dolphin kicking. Maybe the skill here may spillover to learning the butterfly. It also feels a little sore at the lower back. Uh-oh.
Weights Day
Weights day today. Went back to deadlift. Revised the sked to Mon to Thurs-Swim and then Fri-Weigths. The old sked with weigths in Wednesday made me too tired the rest of Thurs and Friday. Just found it too hard/ difficult to swim. For stretching at the pool, follow this sequence: Neck, Upper Traps, Tris, Biceps, Torso, Quads, Hams and Hurdle. For every stretch, do 3 long deep breaths and this is almost 10-15 seconds.
Here's my weights set pictured at the left. The entire footprint as it is stored is only a compact 3ft by 4 ft. I built the wooden rack for the plates and dumbbells and the bench for lying exercises like the benches (close grip, normal grip), lying tricep extensions, etc. I also built the metal stands with built-in safety supports. I just love to build stuff with my own hands. Corz I had a power hand to help but that's about the only power tool I used! This weight setup is what I use for a gazillion of exercises, namely squats and bench. But hey, together with deads, these are the biggies. To see how the racks are set for the exercises, click on here. The pics also show details on how I created (yup, they're homemade!) these beauties.
Here's my weights set pictured at the left. The entire footprint as it is stored is only a compact 3ft by 4 ft. I built the wooden rack for the plates and dumbbells and the bench for lying exercises like the benches (close grip, normal grip), lying tricep extensions, etc. I also built the metal stands with built-in safety supports. I just love to build stuff with my own hands. Corz I had a power hand to help but that's about the only power tool I used! This weight setup is what I use for a gazillion of exercises, namely squats and bench. But hey, together with deads, these are the biggies. To see how the racks are set for the exercises, click on here. The pics also show details on how I created (yup, they're homemade!) these beauties.
