Should you try a Loping Freestyle?
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- Опубликовано: 17 сен 2024
- Many really fast Freestylers lope. Should you try it?
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Watch the latest Olympic races between Katie Ledecky and Ariarne Titmus. Loping style vs. more standard style. Katie was 4th in the 200, a half body length behind in the 400, and won the 800 and 1500. Wish I could put one of those oxygen level things on their fingers after the races. I would guess that Katie's is high, and Ariarne was slightly low in the 200, lower in the 400, and pretty low after the 800... This style does go back to the 80's and Matt Biondi. The earliest I have seen, but it may be older than that.
I really appreciate this video. Thank you.
Hmm, I missed this one. The loping/gallop style is used by virtually all men, and some women, Katie Ledecky is one. From Gary Hall of the Race Club, it is less common with women swimmers because they metabolize oxygen and lactic acid better/more efficiently than men. This style goes back to at least Matt Biondi in the early 80's. Sun Yang is another swimmer who uses it. The arm pull is not on an even cadence/beat, more of a quick 1, 2, then a slight pause. With the men swimmers, for any distance over 50 meters, they all use it, with the exception of the last 10 to 15 meters of the race where they go to the windmill/kayak paddle straight arm pull and recover for a higher stroke rate. This is the same stroke that is used by all men swimmers in the 50 meter sprint. There is a slight porpoising when swimming this style. It works kind of like breast stroke and the fly by accelerating you into the forward arm pull. Part of the idea of this stroke is to keep the swimmer well oxygenated while swimming. No hypoxia/oxygen debt. Only way I can swim, other than for hypoxic training laps.
I remember I started loping as a kid after the first time I ever saw someone swim under 50s for 100 fc at a swim meet. It was the first time I ever saw someone swim with a lope, and I was mesmerised by how powerfully they moved through the water. Ever since then I always swam with a lope and I became a lot faster. However, as I got older, swimming unsymetrically started to drive me crazy, and I completly lost my way with freestyle, and eventually quit swimming. Now many, many years later I'm swimming again through triathlon, and I swim completly differently, and much more evenly, but even after a few years of hard training, I just can't get anywhere near the speeds that I used to. But after watching this video I'm wondering if I should try loping again. Actually, whenever I sprint I start to do it automatically as it is so ingrained in me, but I try to fight it. I just can't seem to generate the same amount of force when I try to swim evenly.
The point of training is t experiment and ditch anything doesn't work.
@@SwimCycleRunCoach You're right! Thanks!
One-sided breathing seems to be formative to a lope. Katie Ledecky has a less extreme lope in her stroke. She dives after her inhale to the right, and reaches a bit further with that same right hand. That lope gives her more time to extend underwater with her lead arm and with her head lowered, and extra time to exhale fully while she pulls strongly with her left arm. Often the thing for a loping swimmer to work on is keeping the head as low as possible when inhaling and avoiding the urge to lift to inhale, sacrificing streamline.
Be interesting to see other techniques and timings explored to experiment with. It seems that better swimmers often quite different to what is taught on poolside. For example wide swung arm action, high body position with aggressive preloaded bent wrists seems popular with a section of the better open water swimmers
Yes. One of the problems is in getting meaningful video, especially in open water. What happens over the water may not influence the underwater phase, but it's difficult to know for sure as open water and pool styles can differ.
Great video! I have been thinking about loping but this is counter to the bilateral breathing that I have been practicing. I've been breathing bilaterally to work on my rotation. How do you suggest that I train to try out loping? Maybe I should try out some swimming with a lope and other swimming more smooth so that I can breathe bilaterally? Do these loping swimmers always swim this way?
Loping tends to be a one sided breathing technique. Breathe to your favourite side and dive into that arm extension, taking you under the water. Power through that stroke and take yourself back to the surface. It may work for you it may not, but training is where you experiment to see how you can swim fastest. Give it a little time but if it doesn't come almost naturally it's probably not for you.
@@SwimCycleRunCoach Thanks for the advice.
Why some swimmers do the 3rd and 6th kick during the recovery and others at the end of the stroke before the arm is out of the water?
Hi, as a beginner in swimming I often do this technique. But I was unaware of its name n all.. I tried this because I had a leg sinking issue. Whenever I do this my leg touches the surface. Should I continue doing this or learn to do normal freestyle?
Hi Arshed, as a beginner swimmer you should aim for a more normal style of swimming. It's likely that you "Lope" to get your head out of the water to breathe, something that's perfectly natural but should be avoided. You need to learn to rotate to breathe, not push your arm down and your head up out of the water. Hope that help.
DrCleanUK Thank you 😊
Good topic 👍
Well, it was really interesting for me.
I am a masters swimmer. Average swimmer, so I have to concentrate on technique.
My problem is the sinking of the legs. Once I use the Pull Buoy, nobody catches me.
Generally, men sink the legs, women do not. Matter of fat percentage.
My opinion is that the loping rises the legs. It is done like in fly stroke. The front body goes up, pull the legs and then the legs follow the body up and down. Actually it is done as well in breast stroke.
The energy penalty is less than we think. Like a swing. It likes to go up again. Same with the sinking body in the water. The water pushes the body upwards.
Ahmdarsed's remarks is explained by my theory.
And it explains why men use the loping more than men.
Thanks
more the women :).
I used to also struggle with sinking hips and legs in freestyle. Then one of my coaches suggested kicking consistently so I worked on it everytime I swam. That did the trick. Now it is automatic.
Katie Ledecky has a bit of a lopp, but barely puts power in her kick.
Video good! Sound bad