Ask the Coach? | Forum profile

Quote: Originally Posted by eaglesrest I'd speak to your coach and see what his/her thoughts are. He might be able to adjust the training if necessary, or it could just be a natural plateau. What are your son's main events? Sprinters can benefit from more land work if introduced at the right time. Does he intend to go to University? For the sake of 2-3 years it might be worthwhile hanging fire and targeting a Uni that is close to a...

Dear all, I have heeded your advice and today was much better. I still found it more tiring to swim without the pull buoy so did alternate lengths of easy breastroke to recover, but over time I am confident that I will get there. Many thanks!

I'd speak to your coach and see what his/her thoughts are. He might be able to adjust the training if necessary, or it could just be a natural plateau. What are your son's main events? Sprinters can benefit from more land work if introduced at the right time. Does he intend to go to University? For the sake of 2-3 years it might be worthwhile hanging fire and targeting a Uni that is close to a preferred club.

Long term, straight solid core and not using your head to control hip level is what you want to work toward. But in the short term, low head plus a little bit of back arch is the quick and dirty way of getting the hips up. I feel like the Total Immersion method is woefully incomplete when it comes to teaching fast swimming, but the system does do a good job with getting good body position established in newer swimmers. You can find their books...

Quote: Originally Posted by KevT found that if I put my head a little lower in the water, arch my back a little and point my toes my legs did stay up. You've got the right idea with this, in that you're using your core muscles to keep your legs up in the water, but you don't necessarily need to actually arch your back to achieve this. Indeed some coaches would say that arching will cause more drag in the water, and you should...

not a coach, just a parent, but I'd be very wary of uprooting your whole family for your son's swimming - there are all kinds of reasons why he might be suffering a dip in form, only some of which might be addressed by moving clubs rather than completely relocating (which would bring its own problems in its wake) would one of the swimming specialist boarding schools be an option? Both Millfield and Plymouth College (Leander) offer...

His body will still be changing quite a bit at this time and can result in a sort of general lethargy; I actually remember experiencing this myself as a teenager and giving up at that point; later after I'd moved through that stage I felt a bit sad and wished I'd kept going. This is just a personal viewpoint as I am not a swimming coach, but surely it wouldn't do any harm to see what other clubs had to offer and perhaps to...

I know Masters can't really be compared to young swimmers, but my wife and I were a club for a long while and were in a bit of a rut. The comment about having nobody to pull your son along in training is very relevent to us. We were the only 2 at training sometimes. We moved Club and things went better. My wife even broke a couple of freestyle world records which she hadn't been close to before. I know I haven't hit here heights...

Quote: Originally Posted by spartacus purely into swimming. a very dedicated and determined individual. no pressure from us at home. athe better clubs are mostly up north so it would be a big step to take, but he insists he needs to do this. relocation would be very difficult and expensive but what does one do? Well there's one in your county that has produced Olympians and gets to the final of the Arena League. I've seen many more...

Has your son been doing any of that growing thing that boys of that age have a habit of doing? Has he been ill? Has he had any extra pressures on him from other parts of his life, such as exams, school work, even girlfriends? Have things changed at the club, such as new people joining his squad, older people going off to uni, a change in coaching staff or regime? There are so many things that can put pressure on swimmers of that age that...