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NE W Z E AL AND F I T NE S S ,

Oct ob er / Nov emb er 2 0 0 9

A CrossFit approach to improving your breaststroke performance.

Summer is fastapproachingand it’s timeto dust off theSpeedos andexpandyour trainingoptions, writes

LISA O’NEILL

and

ALEX PORTER.

SWIM

further,faster

e could discussthe greatestswimming hot-spots. Orperhaps the latest fashionabletogs. But really, you’re reading

New Zealand Fitness

remember? Let’s talkabout performance!We are performance elitists.There, we said it. We like ourathletes performing out of theirskins; we’re in the business of helping people to reach theirgenetic potential.So when we leave dry landwe expect the same result.Our performance objective isto move large loads overlong distances and quickly.The Olympic pool or thelocal beachis no exception. This objectivetranslated to the sport of swimming, is swimmingfurther, faster.Interestingly swim trainingculture traditionally hascoaches train swimmers muchlike runners train for their fi rstmarathon. In the runningworld it is a commonly heldbelief (read: ERROR), that youshould train longer, harder andfurther to get better and fasterand that over time you will“naturally” learn to do socorrectly, and yourperformances will improve.This, unfortunately justisn’t true. You can expect asmall amount of progression,but swimming and for thatmatter running, is in manyways as technical as golf orgymnastics. Those who make itlook easy, like Japanese 200mbreaststroke world recordholder Kosuke Kitajima, do soafter specifi c training of technical movement patterns,as well as specialized dry-landtraining. Muscles learn to fi rein a correct sequence and withan economy of movement.These elite swimmers achievea fl uidity and effi ciency of movement that makes ahard and strenuous sport lookeffortless, because it nearlyis. Nearly.Let’s take a closer look athow you too can improve yourmovement effi ciency, or inother words accomplish thework with the mostadvantageous use of muscle –and, how you apply this to

NE W Z E AL AND F I T NE S S ,

Oct ob er / Nov emb er 2 0 0 9

Start with your feet,shoulder width apart andtoes slightly out. Keepyour head and eyes uplooking above parallel.

Accentuate the normalarch of the lumbar curveand keep your mid-section tight.

Send your butt backand down with yourknees following the lineof your feet.

Lift your arms out and upas you descend and tryto keep as much lengthin the torso as possible.

Stop when the foldof the hip is belowthe knee.

On the return up, driveyour hips back into linewith the intention of usingyour core muscles, vspushing through the feet.

At the top of themovement stand as tallas you can. Rememberthroughout themovement you mustkeep ALL your weight onyour heels, driving withthe hips and focus on thebody doing thestraightening.

NB:

If you’re unable toachieve this movement,we recommend you seea good coach.

How to perform the air squat for

SWIMMING PERFORMANCE

your performance in the waterto swim further, faster.

MOVEMENTEFFICIENCY

Before we start breakingdown a water-borne techniquewe’re going to take a look atyour dry-land training. Thetraditional method of conditioning swimmers hasbeen to train hard to get in thebest shape possible for thework required, with a heavyemphasis on the lats, pecs andtriceps, as the prime movers of swimming. Secondary musclesand midline stabilisers aresometimes neglected in favourof training the prime movers.A converse method of training would be a switch inthinking to ﬁ nd the “easiest”way to get the job done, orachieving movement efﬁ ciency.

Save energy

Recruit the best muscles todo the job, and

Minimize resistance anddrag in the streamline andglide phases of the stroke.The breaststrokemovement, put simply, ispulling the arms and kickingthe legs. You pull - you kick -you streamline - you glide.When in the pull position, thisis not dissimilar to the squatposition on land (go on, get upand perform a breaststrokepull while standing).When training land athletesa key cue to performing acorrect squat is to pushthrough the heels for power,engaging the posterior chainmuscles - calves, hamstrings,gluteals and back to generate astrong and powerfulmovement. As a swim athlete,shift your intention to bringingyour hips back into line (ratherthan driving through yourfeet); you recruit more coremuscle and your legs don’thave to do as much work.Movement is stronger andpotential for fatigue is less.This same principle can beapplied to performing adeadlift or any Olympic liftingmovement that moves througha partial or full squat positionto standing; bring the hips andknees back to the centre linebetween the heels andshoulders with a focus on using your core muscles.Instead of your feetdoing the pushing - focus onyour body doing thestraightening.When US Olympicchampion Michael Phelps’coach was interviewedabout how they improvedPhelps’ breaststroke speed(previously Phelps’ weakeststroke), he explained that theytrained him to achieve a moreefﬁ cient and powerfulmovement by having him focuson pushing the back of hisknees toward the surface of thewater; what a fantastic analogyfor bringing the hips and kneesback to centre line while in ahorizontal position. Andessentially mimicking the hip-extension movement pattern of a squat (more on this later)!Why is the use of the coreas a prime mover so importantfor swim athletes?

STEP