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Start Technique: Head lift in the Tandy Start
Start Technique: Head lift in the Tandy Start
Recently, I wrote an Aquanote about why we defend teaching the Tandy start at The Race Club. Since there are a lot of moving parts to the Tandy start, and it is not easy to master, many swimmers who try it, get it wrong, especially when first learning it.
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TRC Main Set – 50 Sprint Power Set
TRC Main Set – 50 Sprint Power Set
Executing a good 50 race of any stroke requires both an incredible attention to detail & a lot of physical power. This is a good set to help improve both. This set can be done with any stroke… butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke or freestyle.
Start Technique: Defending the Tandy Start
Start Technique: Defending the Tandy Start
Recently, a 16-year-old Race Club swimmer came to me for some technique work. It had been over a year since I last saw her, and she had slipped back into many of her old bad habits. One of them was her on her start.
I recall that she had nearly perfected the Tandy start (named after retired Olympian Brad Tandy) on her last visit to San Diego. Arguably, it is the best start technique.
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TRC Main Set – Breaststroke: Finding Your Line
TRC Main Set – Breaststroke: Finding Your Line
There are 4 aspects of breaststroke technique that impact how fast you can be in the stroke. In order of importance they are as follows: 1. Kick Propulsion 2. Kick Cycle Time 3. Loss of velocity after the kick 4. Pull Propulsion. This week’s main set focuses primarily on the 3rd…
TRC Main Set – Individual Medley Speed Set
TRC Main Set – Individual Medley Speed Set
Every swimmer should be seeking opportunities to swim fast in practice. Fast/high intensity training in practice is one of the primary building blocks of a well executed race. This week’s main set aims to help IMer’s push themselves to high intensities while still giving enough rest to execute each & every swim with INTENTION.
IM Technique: Crossover Transition to Breaststroke
IM Technique: Crossover Transition to Breaststroke
There is no doubt that the crossover technique is the fastest transition from backstroke to breaststroke in the Individual Medley. We have written about the three main advantages of using the crossover transition over any other technique of transition in the IM.
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Breaststroke Technique: The Breaststroke Pullout
Breaststroke Technique: The Breaststroke Pullout
Depending on how well it is done, the breaststroke pullout can either help or hurt the breaststroker’s race. More often, we find it is not done well and causes more loss than gain.
There are four allowable propulsive events in a breaststroke pullout and should be performed in the following order: 1. The push off the wall (or the starting block) 2. The dolphin kick 3. The pulldown and 4. The kickout.
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TRC Main Set – Flippin’ FAST
TRC Main Set- Flippin’ FAST
In our two most recent video releases, we cover the approach, flip & how to practice flipping fast using Tennessee Turns. If you haven’t seen these yet, check them out to learn about the key pieces to a fast flip turn (Parts 1&2, Part 3). This week’s main set aims to give you an opportunity to practice these skills… starting slow/simplified & progressing into fast/race pace.
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Breaststroke Swim Drills with Nick Mahabir
World class Breaststroker Nick Mahabir has risen fast in the world rankings leading up to the Paris Olympics. Nick comes from a water polo background and only started taking swimming seriously when COVID forced polo to stop. He brings a fresh perspective to swimming and we were intrigued with his unique swim drills and playfulness in the water. He incorporates a lot of egg beater kick used in polo into his breaststroke swim and kicking drills. We asked Nick to showcase his favorite drills so that we could learn a thing or two from this fascinating swimmer.
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Breaststroke – Matt Fallon Flexibility Tests
Matt Fallon recently visited the Race Club to work on his breaststroke swim technique. Matt is the National Champion (2:07.71) in the 200 breast and bronze medalist at the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. He recently placed 2nd with a personal best 1:48.48 at the NCAA championships earning him a silver medal behind Leon Marchand. He is focused on making the Paris Olympics and we were honored to work with him again on his Olympic journey. Matt has been coming to the Race Club for many years and it’s been no surprise to see him climb to the top. In our session we begin by testing Matt’s flexibility. Most great breaststrokers score extremely high in our flexibility tests for breaststroke and Matt is no exception. Coach Gary and Matt then discuss some changes they will make during their session as well as a technique employed by Chinese World Champ Qin Haiyang.
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Kicking Baseline Speed
Setting goals is so important whether in swimming, school, business or in life in general. At the Race Club we set goals for our swimmers by creating the perfect race. It begins with splits for every 25 or 50 of a race that is well balanced. Then we decide on a swim technique, stroke rate and breathing pattern for each respective swimmer. Before even entering the pool we practice visualization imagining the perfect race. This process tremendously helps athletes accomplish their goals. Another key aspect to goal setting is setting kicking goals. In every Race Club camp and most of our private sessions we take the swimmer’s baseline kicking speed. The baseline kicking speed is a swimmers time in an all out 50 kick. Knowing what a swimmer’s baseline kicking speed is at all times is critical in order to motivate the swimmer to work harder and improve their kick.
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Interview – Kasia Wilk Wasick
Gary Hall Sr sits down to interview 4 time Olympian Kasia Wilk Wasick to discuss her career in swimming. We recently finished our video series featuring Kasia where we taught her the Brad Tandy start. We made a tremendous amount of progress in our session and were proud to see Kasia in the lead at the first 25 in the 50 free last week at the World Championships in Doha. She clocked her best time of a 23.94 to capture the Bronze medal behind American Kate Douglas (silver) and Sarah Sjostrom (gold)! Kasia discusses her goals for the games in Paris and possibly 6th Olympic games in LA 28′.
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Dryland – Boxing Race
We use dryland boxing in our strength training program that helps swimmers achieve their goals. When we set goals at the Race Club we have a range of parameters that will achieve the ‘perfect’ race. This includes stroke rate, swim technique, breathing pattern and splits. Once we have the perfect race mapped out we practice on dryland. Using the boxing gloves allows contact that will enhance the strength training aspect of this exercise. It can also be done without gloves and contact. This is a great exercise because it not only informs the swimmer physically but how to achieve their respective goal mentally.
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Kasia Wilk Wasick – Starts Part Three
In our final video with 4 time Olympian Kasia Wilk Wasick we worked on the leg kick and putting the start all together. As with our previous exercises Kasia showed that she is a quick learner and demonstrates some great starts at the end of our session.
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Kasia Wilk Wasick – Starts Part Two
In our first session with 4 time Olympian Kasia Wilk Wasick we worked on positioning on the blocks and the arms swing in the swimming start. Every swimmer progresses a little differently in learning the Brad Tandy start and it’s important to focus on one technique at a time. Find out how Kasia does with her hip lift as we get closer to putting it all together for a fast swimming start.
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Breaststroke – Kick Set
The fastest breaststrokers in the World are swimming at a stroke rate of 60 in the 100 meter breaststroke. In order to swim at this high of a stroke rate one must have lightning fast breaststroke kick. We gave Nick a breaststroke kick set designed to help him become more comfortable at a faster kick rate.
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