Can swimming be this easy?

[arunks]

After having practiced the varied drills which have helped me a lot, just got the thought if the dryland practice as show in the video (Video: Click this) could help swimming a lot, as one needs to just mimic this action in water until one feels really smooth and have the rythm rather than practicing a lot of drills.When do you think this kind of practice fits in?Probably once you have good balance? How do you think this kind of dryland practice help the beginner, intermediate or in the advanced stage?

[rbs24h]

Originally Posted by arunks

could help swimming a lot, as one needs to just mimic this action in water until one feels really smooth and have the rythm rather than practicing a lot of drills.When do you think this kind of practice fits in?

I'm sure there is a place for " dry land practice". And if anyone can mimic dry land "movements" in the water, repeatedly to success, without doing any drills to build the fundamental parts of the whole sroke, my hat's off to them. Never say never. A freak of nature could be out there somewhere.

They say Jim Thorpe was such a great athlete, that he could watch a pole vaulter one time, grab the pole and just do what he had seen.

Realistically, this sort of dry land practice can probably be used, by any level swimmer to some extent, as a small piece of a much larger puzzle, almost entirely made up of in water drills and in water movements.

That being said, I know just watching video of good swimmers before I swim helps me. Something about visualization. And this could be looked at as active form of visualization, I would suspect.

[CoachSuzanne]

We use standing rehearsals or "dry land" rehearsals all the time in workshops & lessons. If the student can't do the movement on land, without distractions offered by the water, they won't be able to do it in th ewater.

There are a few exceptions where we actually use the water to help give us feedback about something (swing switch for example, using the surface of the water as a guide for the elbow)

Mostly that particular video I think is just fun to watch.

But to answer your question, yes, I do this type of thing constantly...while walking to the park, standing in line at the store/bank, I'll typically be doing SOMETHING that mimics swimming (maybe not the full stroke like this example)

[andyinnorway]

Originally Posted by CoachSuzanne

We use standing rehearsals or "dry land" rehearsals all the time in workshops & lessons. If the student can't do the movement on land, without distractions offered by the water, they won't be able to do it in th ewater.

There are a few exceptions where we actually use the water to help give us feedback about something (swing switch for example, using the surface of the water as a guide for the elbow)

Mostly that particular video I think is just fun to watch.

But to answer your question, yes, I do this type of thing constantly...while walking to the park, standing in line at the store/bank, I'll typically be doing SOMETHING that mimics swimming (maybe not the full stroke like this example)

me too but that's when it gets a bit obsessive, swimming great freestyle is like breaking the enigma code, or even becoming great at the rubiks cube but only being allowed to play with one for an hour or so a day. That's why we have to use mirrors, sofas and hold bags of sugar over our heads (oh no that one is just me) sometimes.

[rbs24h]

Originally Posted by CoachSuzanne

But to answer your question, yes, I do this type of thing constantly...while walking to the park, standing in line at the store/bank, I'll typically be doing SOMETHING that mimics swimming (maybe not the full stroke like this example)

This is the question I answered to:

Originally Posted by arunks

...could help swimming a lot, as one needs to just mimic this action in water until one feels really smooth and have the rythm rather than practicing a lot of drills.When do you think this kind of practice fits in?

I understood, in his question, "this kind of practice" as, replacing drills with dry land movements.

If we could do this, I think I would see much more of Terry out of the water or in a DVD, " TI-Self Coached Easy Freestyle in One Easy Lesson"

[CoachSuzanne]

Originally Posted by rbs24h

This is the question I answered to:

Originally Posted by arunks

...could help swimming a lot, as one needs to just mimic this action in water until one feels really smooth and have the rythm rather than practicing a lot of drills.When do you think this kind of practice fits in?

I understood, in his question, "this kind of practice" as, replacing drills with dry land movements.

If we could do this, I think I would see much more of Terry out of the water or in a DVD, " TI-Self Coached Easy Freestyle in One Easy Lesson"

Im confused about where we are, lol. In the 10 lesson series you see Terry practicing "dry" rehearsals. He is usually standing in the pool when he does these, and he does a rehearsal of the movement out of the water before leaning over into the water (nose /face in the water) to rehearse it again...he does that before the full drill. Maybe not every time, but I can visualize him doing that.

Coach Dave Cameraon has several videos up with some dryland demos that I practice as well. His website is www.distancedave.com

Not sure I clarified anything, lol.

[rbs24h]

Originally Posted by CoachSuzanne

Im confused about where we are, lol. In the 10 lesson series you see Terry practicing "dry" rehearsals. He is usually standing in the pool when he does these, and he does a rehearsal of the movement out of the water before leaning over into the water (nose /face in the water) to rehearse it again...he does that before the full drill. Maybe not every time, but I can visualize him doing that.

Coach Dave Cameraon has several videos up with some dryland demos that I practice as well. His website is www.distancedave.com

Not sure I clarified anything, lol.

Nothing to clarify, really. I can see Terry doing that as well, before the "drills", just not instead of them.

[ernewill]

"Dry Land" rehearsals of strokes are great whether you are really on dry land or bent over in the pool. You don't have to worry about breathing or anything else. You can really focus on the feel of the mechanics of the stroke. Once you have the feel on dry land, it is easier to imitate in the water.