Terry Laughlin sent me his thoughts regarding the post I made about the new 'Arena Powerskin R-Evolution ' speedsuit

My quote regarding the new suit: "What really has me interested in this suit is that a scientist named Alfio Quarteroni did the number crunching so as to develop computer models that would quantify drag reduction and speed increase too."

Here is a link to the orignal blog post: [Link]

Terry responds: "I get the Science of Sports newsletter and followed a link from it to your blog. This topic is of significant interest to me as well. One question that Jonathan and Ross raise that I do not hear from others that often is, if the drag reduction potential from a suit is that significant, how many more significant opportunities for drag reduction from biomechanical improvements are being overlooked. Given that the suits are most likely to have their greatest impact on reducing friction drag which is the least significant of the three forms of drag, how much more could swimmers and coaches be doing to reduce, say, wave drag, which is the most impactful form of drag and which the suit is not likely to impact at all? I suppose Alfio and friends could contribute something meaningful to documenting what technique adjustments do impact that and how much. But of course, who would pay the millions for that sort on non-commercial research.

In any case, I enjoyed reading. Thanks." Here is a link to the Total Immersion website: [Link]

It is accurate to say that Terry Laughlin has had a big impact on swimming and I am very flattered that he wrote me. I may not swim well, and I may not swim fast, but it is a real joy for me when I get letters or comments from giants in the field such as Terry Laughlin, Glenn Mills, Erik Hochstein, masters swimmers, bloggers, friends or the Olympians who post anonymously and either call me out or correct me.

The above photo is Team Arena which I found on the Arena website: [Link]

Swimming evolution in the last 70 years or so - Click on it to make it larger.

Here is a series of illustrations denoting proper swim technique throughout the past century or so. I found the first three illustrations on a swim blog from Spain called NotiNat which is a great blog too so go there and look when you are done reading. [Link]

The year is 1838: A French swimmer is swimming on his side using a on one-legged breaststroke kick as the primary means of propulsion.

The year is 1875: See how low the swimmers legs go when he takes a breath. It's almost like sighting when swimming in open water. There is very little kick if any.

The year is 1893: Modern technique is becoming more recognizable but the kick and the breathing need work not to mention that there is no rotation.

Circa 2000: The last picture is the from the Total Immersion school. The kick is coming from the hip flexors instead of the knees, there is rotation in the stroke and side breathing plus women are allowed equal access to pools, competitive events, and hydro dynamic swimsuits. You can feel the athleticism as well. The swimmers ankle flexibility is so superior to average that she looks like a ballerina en pointe )

What is ironic is that my swim technique is a bit sketchy and here I am pretending I know something. Let that be a caveat ;-)