Andy - Before
BEFORE: A Remote Video Analysis client, this already polished swimmer simply wanted to improve. 55-year-old Masters swimmer Andy is all about Breaststroke. Following instructions sent to him, Andy videoed himself, and we followed this up a few days later with a 30-minute Remote Video Analysis session via Zoom. The videos were quite revealing.
Capable of just 5 surface strokes at :21, we found his lower back and legs losing control during the glide phase. In this image, we see his heels and part of his lower legs coming out of the water.
Andy - After
AFTER: We laid out a plan, including core strengthening exercises. Andy later made corrections on his own, without me ever observing him poolside, and now he is two seconds faster per length (25-y) at those 5 surface strokes. There is still work to do; one heel breaks the surface just a bit after stroke 1, both after stroke 2, but now it is just the heels. Andy now has the ability to drive his stroke count down at will to just 4 surface strokes, and has on occasion hit 3, all at his original endurance speed. Impressive.
Schedule a Remote Video Session here.
Kyle - Before
BEFORE: Already fairly fast, Kyle benefited from video analysis, and a lengthy conversation about how the human body finds balance in the water. His goal was to swim faster than 55-min in the half IROMAN. Baseline data at the start of his first lesson: 20 strokes :19.0 (25 SCY).
Notice here we do not see his right hip breaking the surface, his entire torso and head are on an incline, and leading (pulling) arm is moving too soon at this energy level.
Kyle - After
AFTER: Kyle was so excited after his first lesson he found a pool later in the day during his lunch break and got himself down to 12 strokes, hit an occasional 11, and claimed to have sped up some more!
3 weeks later: 10 strokes at :18 (25 SCY - image at right)
4 weeks later: 12+13 at :32 adding Tempo! (50 yards)
7 weeks later: 7 at :11 in a wetsuit! (25 y)
Eleven seconds! Eleven! And he really wasn’t working that hard. Kyle is WELL on his way to meeting his IRONMAN goals. A little video analysis goes a long way. Schedule here.
Flo - Before
BEFORE: With some shoulder pain, and lack of progress on her own, Flo’s baseline was 14.5 cycles at :31. She was in need of kick timing to drive rotation, and a much improved semi-catchup.
Flo - After
AFTER: Flo can now swim a length on just 9.5 cycles at :26 and makes it look easy. She will take 1008 fewer strokes to complete a half Ironman swim after just two lessons. With more work to do to learn good workout habits, and better connect her kick timing, she’ll just get faster. Nicely done.
Schedule here.
Futures - During
DURING: It seems few youth swimmers get consistent meaningful feedback from their club coaches. I work hard to provide them the mental framework to take their new knowledge base back to workouts and apply them, while still respecting the coach’s directives.
Here, this already fast 15-yo Futures swimmer demonstrates one technique we use to break-down underwater Fly kicking so that she KNOWS each one is effective.
Her underwaters got 25% faster in less than 6-weeks (as logged by her wearable tech during club workouts). This is a result of a high focus on early-season kicking, SuperStreamlining frequently, and knowing that her kicks are EFFECTIVE.
Schedule here.
EFFECTIVE Fly kicks subsurface.
Richard - Before
Frustrated by lack of feedback or progress at his Masters workouts, Richard flew in from Miami for a weekend-long personalized “blitz” of lessons.
BEFORE: A little of everything needed work. Spine is bending, no semi-catchup, legs reacting. Baseline was 9.5 cycles at :27.1 per length.
Richard- After
AFTER: We see an entirely new swimmer! Richard can now swim a length on just 7 cycles at :18.1 and makes it look easy and powerful. That is about 32 seconds faster per 100 after just three 60-minute lessons and lots of video analysis! Great work.
Schedule here.
Tony - Before
Tony climbs mountains, but lives in Houston and uses Masters swimming to keep up his level of endurance.
BEFORE: Lots of opportunity: bad body position on an incline, no semi-catchup, legs parachuting. Strong, but inefficient and very little range in speed.
Tony - After
AFTER: Much better overall control at 17 strokes/length at 26.4 seconds over 25-yards.
Schedule here.
Andrew - Before
BEFORE: Although a record setter on his team at age 8 in Freestyle, Andrew’s Breaststroke kick was not legal.
Andrew - After
AFTER: In less than 2 weeks, he achieved his main goal … legal! The instant video feedback and underwater shots helped him better understand his problems areas. Parents liked the very easy to access videos via the smart-device app.
Schedule here.
Jorge - Before
Swimming on his own, Jorge was already very competent, but had stagnated for 10-years and was frustrated. He swims primarily for fitness.
BEFORE: His time over 50-yards was :50, with a cycle count of 8.5/length and an average tempo of 2.6 sec/cycle.
Jorge -After
AFTER: Just 6-months later, Jorge was 14-seconds faster per 50, has much better stroke control, and has learned the importance of range in his speed. He can now hold :36/50-yards with a cycle count of 7.0-7.5. Following corrections to his breathing stroke; placing a high priority on better distance-per-stroke; and working his kick; an increase in tempo now results Increased speed because his distance-per-stroke is mostly uncompromised.
Schedule here.
Tom - Before
BEFORE: No body involvement, stopped mid-pool after ~18-seconds and fearful of deep end.
Pearl - Before
Pearl competed at very high levels, never missed a swim practice for 6 years.
BEFORE: She needed work to address shoulder pain, and find power in big muscle groups, in order to stay competitive while in her mid-teens.
Freestyle head-on, submerged.
Pearl - During
DURING: Exposed to advanced rotation-based drills, we trained her big muscle groups to do a bulk of the work. While her speed did not immediately increase, her efficiently skyrocketed as her stroke count dropped by nearly 50% at the same speeds, and we were able to successfully unload her shoulders. Though a similar process, we were able to find power in her Breaststroke as well.
Schedule here.
Leonie - Before
BEFORE: This initially struggling Masters swimmer was banned by me from swimming full-stroke Free, Back or Fly because of scary shoulder impingement issues. Here, outward rotation of the knees during Breaststroke kick recovery was holding her back.
Leonie - During
DURING: Here, we force inward rotation of the knees. She developed much more power out of the kick and the stroke following a number of improvements … she is capable of just 6 surface strokes. 3 years after the “parachuting” video above, improvements in all 4 competitive strokes enabled this swimmer to be within just 2-3 seconds of qualifying for several tough events (400 IM, 200 Breast) at the FINA World Masters Championships in 2017.
Schedule here.
Flash - Before
A Masters swimmer with aggressive goals, Flash just needed some tweaking and a plan. Before, we see back arch, and inability to control her semi-catchup. Those leading arms drop too soon, especially during the breathing stroke. All hampering her DPC (Distance Per Cycle).
Flash - After
6-months later, Flash bought in to the idea of managing great body position which I feel she learned primarily during body-position kick sets, and look at the stroke control! That is some pro-style Freestyle! Now she has a cycle count of only 6 over 25-y! That’s just 12 strokes! Solid work.
Schedule here.
Kristy - Before
This Triathlete hesitated for a long time before getting lessons. She knew something was wrong. Her baseline swims were consistent when we first met: 11.0 cycles at :27 per length.
Kristy- After
5-months later, and a new fan of kicking during her workouts, Kristy now has a cycle count of only 7 over 25-y, and is capable of 6.5 when pushed. That’s just 14 strokes! She will end up taking at least 480 fewer strokes to complete a 2.4 mile swim. And her speed has increased by 3 seconds per length. Solid work.
Schedule here.
BEFORE & AFTER MATH - DOMINIQUE
For the even more serious swimmer, TechSwim can crunch the math so you can hone in on your goals. Sprinters, did you know that increasing your distance per stroke by just 1/2 inch can result in a 1.5 second time drop racing a 100? And we get to have a conversation (and do some simple math) about the fight between distance per cycle (DPC) and Tempo. Here are some math (and performance !) examples. Dominique needed quite a bit of work, but she was very serious about her goals.
BEFORE & AFTER MATH - JORGE
Jorge was quite accomplished when he began. Following corrections to his breathing stroke, placing a high priority on better distance-per-stroke, and working his kick, Jorge now is 25-seconds faster per 100, has much better stroke control and has learned the importance of range in his speed. An increase in tempo now no longer significantly compromises distance-per-stroke!
“My first training session with Lorin was transformative!” - Kristy