Buoyancy and Balance 04/11/20

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My local district is:

Burlington/Ft Madison

Cedar Falls

Cedar Rapids - Kennedy

Cedar Rapids - Jefferson/Prairie

Cedar Rapids - Linn Mar

Cedar Rapids - Wash

Central/Western Iowa

Iowa City/Coralville

Muscatine

Vinton

My mom/dad swam with Megan, Go Bruins, Go USA

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Moving in Balance

Turning a Paper clip into a House (this is just if you want to watch it, no questions associated with this)

Let's review buoyancy as it relates to our bodies and especially our lungs and body line:

Just to review, what does the air in our lungs, the openness of our armpits, the length of our arms and the tension in our core have to do with creating an "equilibrium" body line that we can slide down the pool?

Now let's apply all this to swimming:

Why is balance so important, what does it affect?

Notice her nice long line as she reaches forward in "Spear."

What is the "Front Float" Drill and why is it beneficial to you?

What does swimming "uphill" mean?

The Teeter-Totter!!!! If your chest presses down your hips will move...

Up, up, I know how a teeter-totter works!

Also your arms have to be extended or else that end of the teeter-totter gets shorter and I remember there was something about "the FARTHER away you get from the fulcrum the easier is it to lift the weight on the other side." So if you keep as arm in front of you or at least get your arms back out there really quickly, it will be easier to keep my hips and legs high and light in the water.

Why might looking forward cause your hips to sink? (Think teeter-totter again...)

Why is it important to enter the water and THEN REACH and THEN LIFT YOUR ELBOW and THEN pull? You can use information from today's video or anything else you remember from before, so many reasons...

How can using a buoy help you understand the benefits of "tipping the teeter-totter" and why does Megan not want you to use a buoy for that?

Also look at this!!!

At the end of the video watch her pivot her elbow up, as shown above, and get that vertical forearm BEFORE she pushes and rotates. On her third stroke she takes a breath to her left. Watch her take this breath and return to her stroke.

Ok, why?

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Because look, a Spear Bow Wave Breath!!!! One goggle in one goggle out!

And also because "HEAD DOWN BEFORE YOU PULL" (This is starting to look an awful lot like 3Count drill)

And also because her right arm still sets her catch and gives her force to climb with, she does not slip her right arm stroke when she took her breath to her left, in fact she didn't really even start until her head was on it's way down and THAT'S when she started lifting her elbow and initiating her early vertical forearm. So she still got a stroke just like her head was down because her head GOT BACK DOWN before she took the stroke. YOU CANNOT PULL WHILE YOU BREATHE, YOU PULL AFTER YOU BREATHE. For the love of all things holy listen to me here.

Swimmers are essentially ice skaters doing all sorts of tricks on a slippery surface. Without balance, we can't do tricks like our catch, recovery, kicking, literally anything we want to do to move forward comes on top of maintaining balance while we do it. Every time we move without balance we "fall" and then FLAIL and we're essentially just flailing about down the pool unless we can create a foundation of balance and control it while we do power and slide moves. New swimmers look like new ice skaters to me.

And yet this 13 year old elite figure skater looks so smooth, light, fluid, graceful

This is actually an interesting video, I chose it because it illustrates her balance and flow through moves and tricks, but listen to her talk about all the things she needs to be good at to be successful. What does she say about what goes through her head when she's out there competing?

What does her mom/coach say it takes to get to the highest level?

Ah! The "Blade" and the "Toe Pick"!! We talked about those! Why does she need each of those? Why do WE need each of those?

Her boots provide her stability on the ice, without it she'd be "flopping all over." What gives you stability in the water?

How did her worst jump become her favorite jump?

Her mom/coach says "You gotta try, what happens happens."

PREACH!

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Let's look at how core stability (that's the answer to the "boots question above, "your core gives you stability in the water") helps you balance through athletic swimming.

Why is core stability important in swimming?

Why might learning how to hold your line, hips at the surface, and being able to tip it from side to side without losing your balance, be beneficial in swimming freestyle?

Is your kick used primarily for maintaining your body line?

No, it's for power but it DOES help you maintain your line and not "fishtail." But it shouldn't be what's rotating you, that's your core's job.

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Time out, what's this I see? The elbow stays close to the surface as the fingers drop to create an early vertical forearm? Not all his strokes are like this but he nailed the first one.

Nice Rotisserie at the end!!!!

Oh yes, thank you, that was very nice!

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