It was a 3 hour course with 2 hours of swimming and 1 hour in the classroom in the middle. Paul had put together a great presentation for this section about the mechanics of swimming, some of the myths that go around and he also provided a video of one the the elite swimmers in Pembrokeshire outlining the things he does that make him so good!
The video swimming analysis session involved recording the swimmers from 5 different angles while they swam up and down the pool. This is really important because it allows us to get enough information to fully analyse the swimmer. This is important because different things can happen at so many different points of the swim stroke. The swimmers were recorded one at a time which was important to make sure all the necessary shots were taken (it also meant Paul didn't have to tear his beautiful hair out keeping on top of who's video was who's!). While this was going on, the other 5 were being coached by Darren on some of the common areas that swimmers (and triathletes in particular) have difficulty with when swimming- balance and body position. This was useful as it started the process of improving their technique. Part of the drill was to swim on their side which turned out to be harder than it sounds. The swimmers thought they were on their side and didn't believe Darren when he said that they were actually on their backs!
After a quick change it was up to the classroom for Pauls presentation and a bite to eat (note- at the next sessions we'll organise tea and coffee as well as some pens and paper for note taking!). Pauls presentation was actually quite good and easy to follow (we didn't know what to expect from it!) and included a great process for improving your swimming. It was also an opportunity to get some questions in, especially regarding pull buoys (there's a myth going around that you should swim in the pool with a pull buoy all the time so that you get the same buoyancy as when you wear a wetsuit in a triathlon. This is NOT true! You should not come to rely on any training aid).
The final hour was back in the pool to start looking at some of the issues with each of the swimmers and start to make some improvements. With general issues being balance and the catch phase of the stroke the time was spent doing some drills around these! This was also great fun, especially since nearly all the swimmers had an "a-ha!" moment (albeit in their own times!).
By the end of the course everyone was exhausted. It's funny how making your body swim in a way that's a little different can being so tiring, especially since the whole session was technique based with no hard efforts or long distance intervals!
The real value in this course is going to be in the DVD that will be sent out to everyone in the next week or so. This will have all of their videos on it, all annotated with recommended corrections for each. Then there will be the spcific drills that should be performed to start making these corrections along with a video of one of Pauls elite swimmers performing that drill. It is also possible to print off a sheet showing which drills to perform and how to take to the pool with you so you've got a constant reference when you're swimming.
The next dates for this course are February 19th and April 29th. For more information go to www.triexercise.co.uk or call in the shop to talk to us.
0 comments:
Post a Comment