Competitive swimwear accessories also include caps and your warm up suit. The caps are generally made of lycra to fit uniformly on your head. There are a few different designs when you considered swim caps, in that they have different colour patterns or you can simply go for the standard yellow cap. You just want to make sure the cap fits snuggly and that it is not too tight. While swimming in a competition you don’t need to be distracted by anything not fitting properly. The other accessory we mentioned is the warm up suit. Typically athletes like to have some type of suit that will be loose and comfortable while they warm up and wait for their turn. This type of suit will generally be made of a thin cotton material or a polyester microfibre. The suit should be easy to get out of during a meet as well as warm enough if you are outside. Typically there is a jacket and pants to make up the suit, where the legs will zipper to provide easier removal.
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.
You will find that in competitive swimming there are rules one must follow in order to stay in a meet and stay away from disqualification. In previous articles we have spoken about the strokes, turns, and starts themselves, but not about some of the rules. You will find that the rules can change, as with any sport. Most often in a competition a swimmer must limit the number of events he or she is going to swim each day. This rule tends to depend on the meet you are at. There are technical rules of swimming to help make the competition as fair as possible. The strokes are designed to make sure no swimmer will have an unfair advantage over another.
There is also going to be a referee to check on each swimmer. These referees are trained to observe the swimmers in each event to make sure they are in compliance of the technical rules. Disqualifications can result from not getting to the starting platform on time, a false start, performing strokes in an illegal manner or by having inappropriate behaviour.
During competition there are certain rules that apply to the turns. For the backstroke the swimmer will complete each length, allowing some part of the body to touch the wall. During the turn the shoulders may be turned past the vertical toward the breast. At this point a single or double arm pull can be executed to touch the wall and turn. Once the body has left the back position any kick or arm pull must be part of the turning action and the back position must be returned once the swimmer has left the wall. The rules state that any swimmer, who turns past vertical and in a continuous motion, grabs the wall before pushing off with the feet, is considered to be using a continuous turning action. Always make sure the feet come in to contact with the wall as you complete the turn.
For freestyle the best method of turning is going to be a fluid motion in which at least one hand touches the wall before during a flip. Again with this type of turn the feet need to push off of the wall, and a dolphin kick can be used for no more than 15 feet from the wall before regular leg kicks resume.
Each stroke has a proper turn the swimmer must use in order to successfully complete the meet. If the swimmer fails to complete a proper turn they can be disqualified. For the breaststroke you must touch both hands in sync to the wall, just below the water level. The head must stay submerged after the last arm pull prior to that touch, but can come out of the water at the last complete cycle preceding the touch. Once the hands touch the wall the swimmer can then duck their head and arms to have the legs flip, and push off from the wall. The feet will also have to touch in sync. The swimmer is then allowed to use the dolphin kick for less than fifteen feet to get started again.
For the turn during the butterfly stroke the body must be on the breast. The hands must touch in sync when they reach the wall just above, or below the water surface. When the touch has been made the swimmer will then turn, usually with the feet making contact with the wall in sync. The shoulders must be at or past the vertical toward the breast as the swimmer leaves the wall.
You will find that like any other sport competitive swimming has age groups for the meets. Depending on the area you live and just how far you would like to get in competitive swimming the age groups can vary. For most you will have age groups of 10 and under, 11-12, 13-15, 16-18. This means that during a competition there are usually a few days of swimming and it will depend on your age group as to when you will swim. You will notice that for the Olympics that age groups are combined, but for most swimming competitions to give a fair competitive advantage the age groups have been designed. You will also find that it will be up to your coach as to, which age group you are in during practice. In some smaller towns age groups can be combined to offer better training with a group. You will also find that at the meets you must be in the age group you fit in or your birthday must have come on the day of the competition to move age groups.
In our last article we touched on yoga as a breathing exercise to help better your technique with competitive swimming. When you are a competitive swimmer you know that breathing is just as essential as your form to create the most speed. The four different strokes for competitive swimming are going to offer different ways for you to breathe.
For instance with freestyle you have to time your breathing with your arm movements. Most of us tend to take a breath on our natural side. For right handed individuals this usually means a motion in turning the head to the side with the freestyle. Every time you have an arm revolution that offers you to breath to the side you are not going to need a breath, but you also don’t want to run out of air before the next chance. This means you are usually going to establish a breathing pattern before you get the fluidity of your motion in place. If you know that you can breathe on every third arm cycle then you are going to prepare for that next breath during the next cycle, mentally.