[Update and Rebuttal]
From Anonymous:
"... Almost all of these guys are between 45-to-80-degrees down -- you have to take it from the body-line in the water - NOT the water surface. The second and third US swimmer is going back and forth with the head - you can see how is looking for the wall 6 or seven strokes out. The 3rd French guy - Frederick Bousquet - has maybe the highest head position - maybe at 45-degrees from the body line.
Look at Sullivan - first Aussie on the second lap - that is DOWN, although according to Clay, this would be considered "up" ...? "
Link to NBC Video: [Link]
Original Post below:
That is Ryan Lochte looking up during the 400-LCM IM.
SCAQ Olympian, Clay Evans, has been telling me for several years that looking while doing freestyle is the de facto standard for fast people. Above is a Reuters photo of Ryan Lochte storming the 400 IM at Nationals today.
Note his head position.
I spotted this photo at Universal Sports in a USA Swimming Nationals Day One gallery - a must see: [Link]
If you look at movies of Ian Thorpe, Stefan Nystrand, Alain Bernard, Natalie Couglin, Laure Manaudou, et al. they are not looking down but rather looking up.
Here is where it gets fun, Clay, gets so frustrated trying to get this point across that he hires a carpenter to make him this wooden "gizmo" to prove that a "heads-up" position while swimming freestyle is superior.
I think he spent a couple-hundred-bucks doing it too.
He calls me up and for three weeks straight and he tells me, you have to come out and film this "plank" I had made and put it on the blog. So I finally come out but I forget the camera.
The plank is about 5-feet tall, 18-inches wide, and 6-inches thick. The top portion of the plank has a "head portion", which is simply 12-inches or so of more plank that is on a hinge so the "head portion" can be fixed in a "looking up" position or a looking down."
(You are probably lost so I will film it this weekend.)
So we pull this 80-pound plank with hinges and and such and we push the plank across the water the with the "head portion" of the "gizmo" looking down and the plank buries itself a bit trying to compress the water in front of it which it can't do and consequently goes slower.
Then when we put the "head" position up a specified number of degrees and I was astonished! The back end of the plank came up, the "chest portion" moved down and the plank moved three times farther when pushed.
Clay referenced that surfboards are curved upwards, boats, etc and so should people who swim freestyle.
I then swam a 25 with my head down and then with my head up and I swam faster. Consequently I set a personal best at the Mission Viejo Natadores Masters Meet looking almost up at the "+" at the other end of the pool.
I will film it and show you.
12 comments:
Heads up freestyle is the coolest!
Don't tell my coach or Ahelee I said that though... I'm hardwired to do it, I can't help it.
It's not as high as it used to be. Back in the day, 30+ years ago, we'd swim looking forward, with the water breaking just above your eyes. Joe Bottom and Andy Coan (You have to be a certain age to appreciate those names!) swam like that.
Now, the head is rotated down from that position but, yes, you still look forward. The water breaks at the top of your forehead.
I personally think that one of the reasons you can / should roll your head somewhat down is that it loosens up your shoulders.
I've always been faster with my head up - it helps bring the shoulders out of the water more, and put your feet in a position to be something of an outboard motor.
Ted's right on the money - that's the way I learned it. And yes, all the cool kids are doing it.
hahahaha
He couldn't be more wrong. First, you're not a board that floats on the surface - a swimmer is more like a ship that goes "through" the water. If he were right, then ships would be designed like speed boats that skim the surface of the water, and they wouldn't look like this:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/bulbous-bow.htm
I will check the link out soon. :-)
It's Erik H --
This non-sense again - Clay is wrong - and here is why:
He defines "Down" as looking 90 degrees down (or almost back) - anything else is "up" for him. That makes no sense -- I would bet that 90% of all Olympians are between the 45 degrees to 90 degrees DOWN angle.
Another problem -- the overall body position of any swimmer in the water for Free is about 10% higher in the front - your behind is always lower than your head (no matter what) - so NOBODY can look 90 degrees down.
People have actually tested this with swimmers and not dummies - down is faster ....
We should have the Swimetrics people at the pool on Sunday - spend the money and find out ....
Well that shows me. ;-)
You are right, this weekend will be the definitive test. I should post the result video.
You look up 45-degrees, right?
Here is a good comparison - 4x100 Free relay underwater Olympics:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/share.html?videoid=0812_HD_MUL_AU_CE493
Almost all of these guys are between 45-80 degrees down -- you have to take it from the bodyline in the water - NOT the water surface. The second and third US swimmer is going back and forth with the head - you can see how is looking for the wall 6 or seven strokes out. The 3rd French guy - Bousquet - has maybe the highest head position - maybe at 45 degrees from the body line.
Look at Sullivan - first Aussie on the second lap - that is DOWN, although according to Clay, this would be considered "up" ??????
I updated the post and included both the rebuttal and the link.
Unfortunately I can embed the movie.
Well, actually I could but NBC would send their "ninjas" after me.
what are you talking about? ian thorpe looking down?!?! he never did such a thing! i would say he is notorious for loooking VERY high in the water. he even states this in his video "beneath the suit."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QrF2JkUdig
sorry, about my previous comment. i was reading the post wrong. haha
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