DavidJensen

Hi, I'm a 15 year old male from Denmark, my name is David.

I seek tips on how to gain speed in the water my special is Crawl - or freestyle. in a short pool (25m) I'm 1 minute 5 seconds on 100m and 28 seconds on 50m both are in crawl. I'm about 72,3 kg. 1,76m tall and I'm not very muscular ( I mean I don't have a six-pack and any of that ) I'm not skinny, I have a very well-developed upper body when you think of my age.

But, it would help a lot if you guys could give me some tips on perhaps improving my technique and how I can gain speed in the water.

Sorry for using Kg instead of lbs and metres instead of feet, I'm from Denmark so I don't know what one how many lbs there is on a kilo.

Thanks in advance :-)

Typhoons Coach

Do you have the ability to post a video of a recent race or practice? If so, we can try to take a look at your stroke, etc.

DavidJensen

No, not yet. My coach are planning to make a video, to promote our team. I can send a video of me swimming as soon as I get one, I can just contact you on your user directly.

Typhoons Coach

That's not a problem; where do you feel you need the most amount of help??

texasaggies

Those times are not bad as is.

At your next practice, if you can't get a video, try and feel your swim. Feel where you're not getting a lot of pull, where you might fall behind your teammates, where you feel awkward, etc. Let us know what you feel, and we can maybe help.

DavidJensen

In keeping your away from the "line" you know the one straight down the middle of your body when you are swimming freestyle. Also I tend to make some kind of a flick with my arm half way through my freestyle stroke.

DavidJensen

When I feel the most awkward is in my legs when I sprint and when i swim butterfly with my legs in streamline, then there's the problems with my arms, as explained above. other than that I feel like I've got it pretty much under control.

Typhoons Coach

Now that you are saying that stuff I would love to see a video!

With regard to the "flick", it's hard to say what it is, but it is most likely your arm adusting into the proper pulling position (or most effective pulling position). Again, a rough guess at this point...

texasaggies

Dave, halfway through the line, you mean halfway through the pull? Where you're underwater? I actually had a 28ish year old who was getting into swimming that I was teaching, and he had these same problems. It was the strangest thing. I don't know that we ever found a way to correct it, except by having him work on EVF. When he kept his elbow up, it simply made that motion more difficult, in addition to improving his speed.

On your legs while sprinting, remember that you want small fast kicks. Focus on kicking from the hips, rather than the knees. There's a drill that I've been using for a few weeks now (saw it here, or on youtube, or something) where you basically kick in a streamline, and you start by kicking with your feet right on top of the water for a 25, then almost straight down for a 25, then a little below the surface, and a little higher than straight down, and you basically keep going like that until you find the point where you're getting the most power out of your kick. It's hard to coach the ideal kick angle, mostly because of differences in peoples' body design (although I'm sure for a lot of money, there's a scientific way to figure it out). This is the best method I've found.

On your underwater kicks, remember that they should be tight, powerful kicks, not big and rolling like you're swimming fly. Think about having a strong down beat AND upbeat on the kick, and leave a tiny pause in between each kick to get back to clean water where your feet can really grab the water.

DavidJensen

No with the line I mean that line that separates your left side from your right side of your body, so I have problems with keeping my left arm strictly on the left side and the same goes for my right arm.