In competitive swimming there are a few things that can help you swim better such as your swimwear. Often it can be distracting if you have goggles, or other swimwear that is uncomfortable. One of the most important accessories is going to be your goggles. There are several styles of goggles that you can choose from as well as brand. For goggles you can choose from Kiefer, Speedo, TYR, Aqua, Nike and Optical to find a comfortable set. The construction of the goggles changes little, but the comfort will vary depending on your facial structure. You may find it is more comfortable to have a little more padding around your eyes than some of the goggles offer. It may also be a matter of the nose piece. With Speedo and TYR you are going to find that nose piece is a thicker rubber and therefore doesn’t bend like the Nike or Kiefer brands. You may also want to invest in anti- fog spray or gel to keep the lens clear while you are swimming. It’s also best if you have at least one spare strap just in case.
There are several factors to speed and breathing that are important. You want to make sure you know how many strokes it will take per length or per second during training to help you have a better pace during a meet. Most often a swimmer will be able to tell you exactly how many strokes it will take to reach one length of the pool. Keep in mind that this will vary depending on the swimmer. Generally someone who is a little taller and has longer arms can move through the pool with less strokes as they are carried a little further just by shear height. So it is really important to understand your stroke rate in order to get your speed up. You also need to know how much training you need during the week. In other words there are a few different workouts that your coach will have you do, and you can always add to that training. You will want to make sure you have a complete training cycle to make sure your entire body is getting the work out to increase your speed. Sometimes competitive swimmers like to work on the stroke that gives them the most difficulty, to get a better work out.
We have discussed in other articles breathing techniques and its importance, in this article we are going to look at other areas of technique training. First speed is very important to swimming in a meet. You will find that in order to win you have to have the fastest time, by finishing the laps first. However, how can you tell your speed and if it is going to be the best? Swimmers obviously know the distance they must go. During training the coach is going to be timing the swimmers to let them know just how fast they were going, but there are ways to increase speed during training. When competitive swimming you will want to establish a pace for yourself; this pace should be a smooth movement.
In other words when you are trying to establish a pace you need to make sure your movements are still fluid and that you keep a constant pace or increase the pace as you near the finish. You do not want to start out strong, moving ahead of the other swimmers unless you can keep that same pace up or increase it towards the end.
There are a few technical rule violations that we will go over per stroke. These are usually not going to change as some of the other rules can vary. First for freestyle walking on the bottom, pulling on the lane rope, not touching the wall on a turn, or not completing the required distance will all result in disqualification. The backstroke rules are as follows: you cannot pull or kick into the wall once you have passed the vertical onto the breast, and you cannot turn onto the breast before touching the wall with a hand at the finish of the race.
The breaststroke states an illegal kick such as the dolphin or scissor cannot be used, you must be on your breast, there should be no altering of the arm movements, you cannot have two arm kicks or leg kicks while the head is underwater, and you must touch with both hands at a turn or the finish or you will be disqualified. The butterfly states no alternate arm or leg movements, you cannot push the arms forward under the water, no breaststroke kick can be used, and you must use to hands to turn or finish.