Swim like an 8 year old

Alan Couzens, MS (Sports Science)

Jan 26th, 2014

This post is inspired by a recent thread on the Slowtwitch forum that (heatedly) argued the most effective kick timing for triathletes – 2 beat vs 4 beat vs 6 beat. While these different patterns do exist in swimming. I would suggest that the 'right' pattern will vary with both the bodytype of the swimmer and their event. More importantly, I would suggest that for the bulk of swimmers, or at least the bulk of developing swimmers, kick timing falls into the unconscious category & is another example of adult onset swimmers ‘over-thinking’ swimming & 'majoring in the minors'.

From my experience, when progressing through their swimming development, almost all high level swimmers will begin with a 6 beat kick and then as the distance of training increases and they find their own stroke pattern, will fall into the ‘right’ pattern for them without a lot of conscious thought. Kick timing, like most of the technical elements that occupy an adult-onset swimmer’s mind-space is one of those red herrings that has very little to do with why most 8 year old swimmers across the country could crush you over a 50. The reasons for this simple fact are a whole lot less complex than most of the ideas that adult triathletes come up with. Let me give you my take…

My first full time coaching gig was as a ‘development coordinator’ with one of Australia’s top age group programs. This program was responsible for developing an Australian record holder and several Olympians & was, at that time, one of the top junior clubs in the country.

As fancy as the title sounds, my job largely consisted of walking around the mini squads and handing out advancement tokens to the age group swimmers who exhibited perfection in some very simple criteria in stroke kick, drill and swim. The transitional program from learn to swim to squad consisted of exactly that, a very boring fixed program of 6x12.5’s of kick/drill/swim for each of the 4 strokes. No wonder the kids were in a hurry to advance to the next level!

For freestyle, the 3 activities were kicking with a board, catch up drill and straight swimming. ‘Perfection’ in each of these was exhibited by the following criteria…

Kick:

Drill/Swim

Children who achieved the above would move on to a training squad squad where they would continue the technical refinement of their stroke (at various speeds and over various distances) while beginning basic conditioning & learning how to read a pace clock etc.

From here, the best in the group would move on to a junior development squad with an aim towards high level competition. By the time these junior swimmers made this shift, they were swimming at or below 33s for a 50 free (at about 4 foot nothing in height!). A few were already below 30s for a 50!

Only at this point, i.e. when fitness training took over, was the athlete permitted to develop their own ‘style’, i.e. to modify the basics in accordance with their own strengths, weaknesses and body type. For some swimmers this meant a more ‘middle distance’ type stroke, with more of a bent arm recovery, a heavy 6 beat kick and some overlap. For some swimmers it meant a pure distance stroke, with continuous arms and a 2 beat kick, while for others, their best stroke turned out to be more of a sprint stroke. The point being that all of these evolved after a lot of yards and from a very firm foundation in the basics.

Now that I deal more in the world of adult triathletes, I often wonder how many could honestly pass that initial test. Can you maintain a rolling kick with your chin on the water and perfectly rigid arms? Do you have the shoulder mobility to get your upper arm to ‘cut off your ear’ during the recovery?

In my opinion, the reason that an uncountable number of 8 year old swimmers around the country can out-swim the bulk of much stronger, fitter age-group triathletes can be traced back to these differences, i.e. quite simple differences in applied mobility.

For the above reasons, to the chagrin of the vast majority of athletes that I coach, I include other strokes like Butterfly that challenge mobility, I harp on the importance of streamlining off every wall & I program long kick sets with a board, even for those swimmers who may be swimming with a wetsuit and barely kicking in their race! I also highlight the importance of using massage, and daily stretching & myofascial release to bring your tissue quality a little closer to your 8 yo self.

In conclusion, keep in mind that most 8 year olds, even 8 year olds swimming <30s for 50m aren’t as strong as you. If you’re a serious triathlete training 10+ hours per week, they probably aren’t as fit as you and they certainly don’t possess advanced degrees in biomechanics or hydrodynamics :-) What they do have is flexibility, a plasticity in both their joints and their mindset for learning. They are accustomed to drilling in simple, foundational, somewhat repetitive concepts until they are fully absorbed both in body and mind.

Begin at the beginning and…

Train smart,

AC

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