Swimming in and out

14.0 Why are strokes and restarts important?

These parts, which we call non-swimming parts, are part of the swim course. They have a real impact on your efficiency. They may seem tiring at first, but you soon get used to them and they save you time and energy.

14.1 The sink

The sink represents the phase of pushing (underwater) against the wall until the moment of returning to a full swim (at the surface). For some it is non-existent, for others partial. But this so-called non-swimming part is not to be neglected. As the wall is the only solid support in the pool, it should be exploited to the full. Firstly to limit fatigue, then to gain speed

You need to know that underwater, after the wall push, you are faster underwater than at the surface. Why is that? Quite simply because underwater there is no longer any resistance - wave resistance. This resistance is part of the resistance to moving forward at the surface. In fact, even in a swimming pool, there are waves at the surface, which form small undulations and which, when they come into contact with the body, create a brake. So you need to exploit this time underwater as much as possible. Be careful, however, if you don't produce effective movements (undulations) underwater, sinking will have the opposite effect and will cause you to lose time (especially on a run).

14.2 Swimming restarts

The restart is the moment when, after the wall push and the sink, you start the first movement with your arms to begin the swim. You can't 'see' this moment, you have to feel it. In fact, to know when you're close enough to the surface to start swimming, you need to rely on sensations. The water pushes you upwards, towards the surface, and it's up to you to steer yourself, particularly with your arms. If your arms are slightly inclined downwards, you will tend to sink towards the bottom of the pool. On the other hand, if you want to go up towards the surface, all you need to do is tilt your arms slightly upwards.

You have to work on your stroke recovery with lots of repetitions, and you're lucky, in the pool every 25m (or 50m) you're confronted with this problem.

Vision can also be useful in relation to the depth of the pool. By habit, the brain registers the distance between the surface and the bottom of the pool. Unconsciously, we'll use this information to know when we reach the surface of the water so that we can start swimming