Courtesy of Gary Hall Sr., 10-time World Record Holder, 3-time Olympian, 1976 Olympic Games US Flagbearer and The Race Club co-founder.
After every Olympic Games, and after more records fall, the same question keeps coming up: How do swimmers keep getting faster? It is a fair question, as there’s surely a limit to how fast a human body can move through the water given the limited tools that we have to work with.
God never really designed the human to be fast in the water. He had more of a jumping, throwing, running creature in mind. Yet here we are, just over 100 years after the most popular swimming contests began in the Olympic Games of Athens in 1896, sAfter every Olympic Games, and after more records fall, the same question keeps coming up: How do swimmers keep getting faster?till trying and succeeding at getting faster in water.
I once saw an analysis showing where swimmers from different eras would be in the pool during their fastest 100 meter freestyle race, precisely as today’s world record holder completed the race. The world record holder in the100 freestyle of 75 years ago would still have another 25 more meters to swim, in the same time taken for today’s world record. It is astounding how far we have come in such a relatively short time.
Is it reasonable to think that we can continue to swim faster and improve at the same rate that we have over the past 50 years or so? Certainly not at the same rate, but swimmers will get faster. If you think not, think back to athletes like Janet Evans and Michael Phelps. Janet held the 800m world record for an astounding 20 years while Michael excelled in both the 100m fly and 400 IM – two very diverse events. All world records will eventually fall (including those swum in the now illegal full-body slick suits of 2008 and 2009), albeit by smaller margins.
For those extraordinarily gifted swimmers and the coaches that are fortunate to coach them, the questions are begged: Where is the improvement going to come from? How is the improvement going to be made? It would be easy to generalize with answers such as, smarter training, tougher mental training, improved technique, more swim specific power, or all of the above. How does one get mentally tougher than Michael Phelps or train harder or smarter than Katie Ledecky or create more propulsion than Nathan Adrian? I’m not sure. I do think that when striving for more improvement in fast swimming, we need to uncover every stone. We will need to focus on areas where we haven’t paid as much attention in the past. The means to do that will be through better technology that increases our knowledge and leads to improved technique.
As the most successful swimming country in the world, the U.S. is not very technologically advanced. Technology will lift the hood of the car and allow us to get a much closer look at the engine. In a sport that is arguably the world’s most technique-sensitive, we are far behind where we should be in technology compared to other sports. In order for our swimmers to keep getting faster, that needs to change.
The lesson from the slick suits of 2008 and 2009 should have taught us that technology is the next frontier. Yet with the current rules, the technology will not come in the form of improving suits as it did then, but rather from improving the swimmer’s technique.
There are new technologies coming to the market all the time but swimming faster is not just a matter of having the technology. It is a matter of knowing what to do with it and how to interpret the data. Armed with that new knowledge, both the swimmer and coach will know exactly where and how to improve.
At The Race Club, we use two technologies that have made us aware of the extreme importance of technique and how to improve that technique to swim faster. The first is called the Velocity Meter. It measures changes in acceleration and deceleration (including velocity) at every 2/100 of a second through a stroke cycle. Before having this technology, I had no idea it was even possible for a swimmer to go from 18 m/sec2 of acceleration to the same amount of deceleration in less than 1/10 of a second (of course, that shouldn’t happen with an efficient fast swimming technique). By measuring peaks and troughs of velocity through the stroke cycle and the difference between them, we derive information on propulsion and frontal drag. These tests take time to analyze (around 10 hours per test) but we now have a much better understanding of what is great technique, and can identify and quantitate what is poor technique with more precision.
With the second piece of technology we have recently acquired, we can measure a swimmer’s frontal drag and propulsion, the importance of which I have spoken about often. We are testing, studying and scrutinizing all of the advanced analysis capabilities this machine (called the Ben Hur) has to offer and integrating them into The Race Club methodology. We look forward to testing our clients with the Velocity Meter and the Ben Hur and seeing the performance gains from their improved technique.
Based on what I know now, two of the biggest opportunities that we have to improve swimming technique through technology will be in the kicking technique (and training) and in the more effective use of coupling motions to gain propulsion. We may have more understanding to gain with these two fast swimming techniques than with any others. In the next Aqua Note, I will discuss in more detail how and why I think kicking and coupling techniques may provide the next breakthrough for swimmers.
Yours in swimming,
Gary Sr.
Gary Hall, Sr., Technical Director and Head Coach of The Race Club (courtesy of TRC)
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THE RACE CLUB
Because Life is Worth Swimming, our mission is to promote swimming through sport, lifelong enjoyment, and good health benefits. Our objective is for each member of and each participant in The Race Club to improve his or her swimming performances, health, and self-esteem through our educational programs, services and creativity. We strive to help each member of The Race Club overcome challenges and reach his or her individual life goals.
The Race Club provides facilities, coaching, training, technical instruction, video, fitness and health programs for swimmers of all ages and abilities. Race Club swim camps are designed and tailored to satisfy each swimmer’s needs, whether one is trying to reach the Olympic Games or simply improve one’s fitness. Our programs are suitable for beginner swimmers, pleasure swimmers, fitness swimmers, USA swimming or YMCA swimmers, or triathletes; anyone who wants to improve swimming skills. All of our Race Club members share an enjoyment of being in the water and use swimming to stimulate a more active mind and body.
There have been specific changes within swimming history which have been related to the drops in World Record times. For example, 1956 saw the introduction of the flip turn – times in 100 Free fell; 1976, gutters in swimming pools were developed which significantly reduced turbulence in the pool – 100 Free times dropped; and, in 2008, full body suits were used in competition – again, times in 100 Free dropped. Advancements in technology, such as those mentioned, will continue to slash times.
That said, there are of course other factors at play; body types play their role too. Looking at elite swimmers such as Michael Phelps, the have a significantly greater torso length to leg length ratio –… Read more »
There are many frontiers, not the least of which is the mind. As one of my coaching friends, Monty Hopkins, reminded me yesterday, neural stimulation may provide the biggest breakthrough. Athletes can learn to unleash their bodies, being held back by their minds.
Not related to this topic, but to The Race Club in general. Love all the tips. When Mark Spitz was winning seven gold medals, some of us still wanted to be Gary Hall. IMHO, the man has earned the right to sign off as simply, Gary. His great sprinting son can differentiate himself with Jr.
Thanks. I won’t tell Mark you said that.
Improvements will come in the form of the quality of the athletes themselves. Lots of community college and DIII level basketball players would have been better swimmers had they taken up the sport at a young age.
Yes…better athletes will always come and swim faster.