The Wave- The official blog of SwimLabs Swim School

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SwimLabs, in conjunction with CU Sports Medicine Dr. Inigo San Millan, is proud to now offer Lactate Testing and Blood Profiling.
Your Lactate Profile and Threshold measures your Athletic Endurance Performance, and is used to predict Athletic Performance. Basically, it works by telling you how efficient your muscles are at removing lactic acid produced during training.
Your Blood Profile is a measure of various blood markers, and can indicate your level of Fatigue. Your Blood Profile can be used to Detect and Prevent Over Training.
Here’s what to expect during a session:

During Lactate Tests, you will swim in an Endless Pool at Swimlabs. You will undergo a set of four or five swims at incrementally increasing speeds until you reach a maximum effort.
At the end of your test, a very small blood sample will be taken to measure your lactate.
Once your Training session is complete, we will go over your results, and help design a training plan for you.

For a Blood Profiling, you will come to the CU Sports Medicine Clinic in Denver, where we will do an analysis on your blood to help your coach personalize your training regimine.

Both of these programs are aimed to help you train better. For more information, call 303.798.7946!

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One of the best things about SwimLabs is hearing about the results of swimmers who have come in for analysis. The following is a client testimonial:

OK, so I’m totally beaming! Please tell Laurie thank you a million times
over. Reilley got All-Stars by over 1 second in 50 Free today. She has
consistently shave 3-4 seconds off of her 50-Free time every meet since the
season began. We attribute a great deal of this to Laurie’s teaching. Her
9th birthday is tomorrow and what a great present! Have I mentioned how
out-of-this-world proud of her I am? Anyway, please tell Laurie THANKS!
We will see her next week for lessons and Reilley remains focused on her
goal of making HRA in the fall.

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Compared to the other competitive strokes, swimming Freestyle seems a relatively simple task. The arms alternatively move in large circles, from forward to back, while the feet simultaneously kick up and down. The result of these movements is forward propulsion. Freestyle, also known as Front or Australian crawl, is typically the first stroke that Americans learn to swim, and probably the stroke that people most commonly associate with the sport of swimming.
While the basic idea of Freestyle is fairly simple, in reality, to swim it with any sort of speed or power requires much more than simply moving the arms in large circles and kicking the feet. To swim with balance, efficiency, and power, one must understand that the arms move not just in large circles, but in succession from one position to the next, each one calculated to bring maximum efficiency, and therefore power to the stroke.
Of these positions, arguably the most important for you to learn takes place underwater, and is known as the Catch. The Catch is a transitional position that takes place between the entry and extension of your arm into the water, and the pulling or power portion of the stroke. It is basically composed of two steps- the Hinge and the Anchor. Combined, these two steps allow for a strong foundation for the pulling phase of the stroke.
The Hinge occurs immediately after your hand enters and extends forward into the water. As your arm reaches its full extension, rotate, or hinge your arm at the elbow, until your forearm and hand are pointed straight down towards the bottom of the pool. As this occurs, it is very important to keep the elbow as far in front of your body as possible.
Once your arm has completely hinged, it should “anchor” into position in front of your body. As this happens, the job of moving the arm backwards through the water will be transferred from your Pectoral muscle of your chest to the Lats and the Deltoids of your back, which will provide for much more power as you begin to push the water backwards. Another reason for anchoring your arm and hand this way has to do with the upcoming power phase of the stroke, in which it is better to imagine pulling your body past your hand and arm, than it is to pull your hand past your body. A simple change, but one that makes all the difference as you start to push the water backwards.
By arming yourself with a catching drill progression, you can easily master this technique of “Catching the Water”. To begin, start with a Double Hinge drill. Float face down in the water, and kick just hard enough to maintain your body position. Extend both arms in front of your body, and practice the Hinge simultaneously with both. Once the Hinge is completed, return your arms to a fully extended position in front of your body, and repeat. While this drill is being preformed, do not allow your elbows to slip backwards or downwards.
Once you feel comfortable with the Double Hinge Drill, you can move on to the Single Hinge drill. It is preformed exactly as the Double Hinge drill, however, instead of moving both arms simultaneously, alternate each arm. As before, do not allow your elbow position to change during the drill.
Once you feel that you have mastered both the Double and Single Hinge drill, you can begin to incorporate this move into your Freestyle. Be aware, this will significantly change the timing and the balance of your previous stroke, resulting in an awkward feel to the move. Keep practicing, and don’t be afraid to go back into the drills if you feel like you aren‘t swimming correctly. Eventually, your timing and balance will adjust to this new move, and you will be swimming faster and better than you ever have before.

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At SwimLabs, we are firm believers that technique is the single most important aspect of becoming a good swimmer. We’ve seen it over and over again how small technique changes can yield fantastic results, whether you are looking to cut time in a specific race or are just looking to make swimming easier on yourself.

The following is a letter from the Johnson family, who experienced first hand how changes to their daughters swimming technique yielded fantastic results just a short time later:

Hi Mike & Giff

Our 8 year old daughter, Cami Johnson, began her private lessons with you June 25, 2008 to improve her times in her Freestyle and Breaststrokes. She was swimming in a Summer League and when she began with you her times during the season had been deteriorating despite her goal of qualifying for the All Stars with at least one qualifying time.

I’d like to share with you the improvement of her times during the course of the past month:

25 Free: Before lessons, best time of 21:01
Championships, 19.43 (All Stars qualifying time is 20:80)

50 Free: Before lessons, best time 55:33
Championships, 44:47 (All Stars qualifying time is 48:10)

25 Breast: Before lessons, best time of 30:53
Championships, 25:89 (All Stars qualifying time is 28:10)

Cami is absolutely ecstatic about these results (and so are her parents)!! She not only achieved All Star status in one event, but she will be swimming in all three All Star events next saturday in Castle Rock.

We are big believers in SwimLabs and the Swim Technique theory. We were truly amazed with the dramatic change in results after just 4 private lessons!!! We will definitely be back next year before the summer season!!!

Thanks again Giff & Mike, we really appreciate everything you did for Cami. The results were phenomenal!

Diane Johnson

At SwimLabs, we can teach you to swim fast…faster.