Thorpes buoyancy

[Zenturtle]

Looking at Thorpe doing drills, you can see how low he rides naturally.
When doing side dolphinkicks his natural float level is almost completely underwater.
He must press the upperbodybody a bit up to get his mouth to air and let it sink down after it ,or reach with his head to air stretching his body a bit out of perfect horizontal alignment to just get his mouth above the surface.
Some inspiration for sinky guys perhaps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PL8QJ8Gx6k

[s.sciame]

Very nice, the most graceful waterpolo drill I've ever seen. Good soundtrack too :)

In waterpolo drill Craig Stevens rides incredibly high on the water! Even with a slowish rate, very impressive...

Have you noticed that most of these elite swimmers videos on you tube show them while drilling or swimming easy? Although less sexy, I'd also like to see more videos like this sometimes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgX-qiRKiKc

If I search "ian thorpe in the middle of a killer set" on you tube I get "Perfect Freestyle Technique Drills - Ian Thorpe" :D

Salvo

[novaswimmer]

Originally Posted by Zenturtle

Looking at Thorpe doing drills, you can see how low he rides naturally.
When doing side dolphinkicks his natural float level is almost completely underwater.
He must press the upperbodybody a bit up to get his mouth to air and let it sink down after it ,or reach with his head to air stretching his body a bit out of perfect horizontal alignment to just get his mouth above the surface.
Some inspiration for sinky guys perhaps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PL8QJ8Gx6k

Well, one can certainly have what I call a 'high specific gravity' which causes one to ride low in the water. It varies considerably between individuals. The 'floaters' vs 'sinkers' issue.

But I think there is even a more disadvantaged physical scenario and that is when your 'center of gravity' (usually around the hip area) is further away from your 'center of buoyancy' (in the lungs area). The further away those points are from each other, the more difficult it is to keep legs and hips up and maintain a horizontal position. The closer they are, the easier it is to attain horizontality, eliminating drag. ...or the easier it is to learn to make minor adjustments to achieve that horizontal posture.

At least with a high specific gravity (perhaps Thorpe), he is able to maintain a horizontal position in the water so that drag is reduced, compared to the other scenario. He can still move through the water like a bullet.

Of course there are lots of 'technique' reasons for sinking legs and hips too. In fact there are probably more technique reasons than there are physical limitation reasons.

Just my opinion. Your thoughts?

[Zenturtle]

Salvo. thats just what I though after seeing that swimmer right after Thorpe. As if someone is walking under him lifting him up!
From 11min 20 they do more fast reps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm5HzVknNOs
6 min 30: 6 x 100 coming in at 52/53 sec.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYSD...63p7B_&index=4


Novaswimmer.
I believe most sinking legs problems can be solved with swimming skills
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7ETlhaMsEk etc,etc

But lowriding swimmers who also have a big distance between center of buoyancy and center of gravity will have an extra handicap compared to the highriding horizontal floaters.

Good buoyancy on its own also makes it easier to get the legs up. For static balance just shift more weight in front of the lungs and the available buoyancy will prevent the lungs and head to sink too much.
A person with very big lungs could even make the arms heavier to pivot the legs up around the lungs.

Simply having some forward speed with a slightly angled down foot at the end as a horizontal rudder, and the leg acting as a long lever will give some upward force on the balancing foot/rudder without creating much drag.
Because of the length of the lever a small force is enough to create a relative high leg lifting torque around the lung pivot point.
Having a streamlined leg where the water is free to flow to the foot is often enough.