SwimSwam wants to give you an inside look at what a normal day-in-the-life looks like for any given swimmer, and how that differs from team to team or city to city. We send our head of production, Coleman Hodges, to be a fly on the wall at practice, then relay what he discovered back to you over pancakes. Or at least breakfast.
We all saw how the Indiana Hoosiers breaststroke crew looked at the Pro Swim in Bloomington. If you didn’t… you should probably go look. Sure, a group of them were rested and shaved. However, 59.2 in the 100 and a lifetime best in the 200 for Cody Miller, as well as 2:20 in the 200 for Annie Lazor (making her the 9th fastest performer IN HISTORY), means one thing. IU breaststroke is doing something right.
We went to go film their practice the day after the meet, admittedly expecting to get more of a laid back, recovery type of practice. Lucky for us, Indiana doesn’t really do “that kind of thing”. Sure, they did have a more technique focused practice. Also of note, they still hit 6k. The technique-centric workout that we got to see was all about breaststroke; more specifically, it was all about all the parts of breaststroke. You’ll see Ray break down a lot of components of the stroke in the video, but some quick highlights include:
- An explanation of the 3 quadrants in breaststroke, and where to be in which quadrant when
- Ray explaining Jozsef Nagy’s influence on his style of breaststroke coaching; specifically, how Nagy would have his swimmers do a breaststroke pull set, followed by a breaststroke kick set, then repeat. At IU, they call that “combo”ing
- Detail on the importance of the “tube” and the “band” when pulling breaststroke
- Cody Miller tries out breaststroke fins
- Ian Finnerty swimming a 300 butterfly… in well under 3:00
What is the Carla drill supposed to help with exactly?
Looze said “timing.”
There’s more info about this drill here: https://staging.swimswam.com/swimmersbest-drill-of-the-month-karla-breaststroke/
i think to get the undulating motion going and to get the hips higher than the head when kicking. Looze called it kicking downhill vs. uphill and suggested a 40-50% difference.
Thanks Coleman! Love this video! I would give a lot to be able to train with these swimmers and coaches and pool. One of the great joys coming back to swimming is that my favorite thing, breaststroke, has changed. I get to be a beginner again & it’s so much fun it’s ridiculous. Seeing these guys is inspiring.
This was one of the best Practice and Pancake videos you’ve done. Who was the breaststroker that Looze referred to as being the new guy around the 2:55 mark of the video?
That was Justin Winnett, he swam at Lindenwood. Training with IU for the summer
But heretofore known only on SwimSwam as “The New Guy.”
Was Annie Lazor in that group?
Would love to see Zane and his workouts. Never see anything about him on the Cody videos. Bet the sets that Zane, Zack, and Blake do are pretty incredible!
Ya know…i have given Looze grief in the past. But he (and guys like Eddie Reese) welcome swimmers from other universities to train with them. Mike Bottom at Michigan won’t even let swimmers who grew up in Club Wolverine and who attend far lesser swimming universities train with him in the summers. Essentially end up with no comparables to train with in summers. Pisses me off to this day that he does that!
That can’t be accurate, because Delaney Duncan, who attended a far lesser swimming university, is currently training with Club Wolverine.
So, maybe it was just your kid?
Does anyone who watches Cody’s vlogs have an idea on what was done on his knees? Seemed like his recovery was really swift, and to see him putting on breaststroke fins like that has me really curious.
There wasn’t anything that any elite level swimmer (especially breaststoke specialist) wouldn’t have. Micro tears are extremely common. Reality is that he took some time to give his body a break from the incredible amount of overtraining he was doing and then switched up his workouts to include sprint work, rehab exercises in the weight room, and less distance practices. There was no magic treatment, just a change of training.
Thanks for the clarification. Vids of him deadlift and squatting heavy like two months post “surgery” had me super confused too. Good to know.
He really was overtraining. It was insane the amount of training he was doing.
Finnerty May be able to do a 300 fly but he still dies on the end of a 20@ breast. Ironic
He died on the 2nd 50 of the 200 last weekend and it got worse from there!
Give him credit though. He still swims it when dead tired and knowing he’s going to die. Maybe with a full pro year and LCM training (he said at NCAAs he does no LCM training), he’ll figure out a good 100 LCM to be in the mix and at least a competitive 200. Kind of like a light version of Lily, whose great in the 100 and not so special in the 200 LCM.
Having trouble with math. 3 quadrants? Where’s the fourth?
The fourth quadrant is the mind- the ability for the breaststroker to connect the other three quadrants.
So wait. Your head is supposed to be in the first quadrant but your mind is supposed to be in the fourth? I’m even more confused. No wonder I suck at breaststroke.
Exactly what i was thinking when he was explaining the 3 quadrants?!?!?
Took me waaayy too long to figure out what you meant
I like the updated version of Karla drill in this video. Karla Wilson swam at Auburn in the early 90’s and it was a drill that was used by Coach Marsh and the breaststrokers for a lot of years following her time there. So Karla was actually a woman and not “some guy named Carla…” Regardless, it’s a great drill demonstrated very well in this video. Now I want breakfast.
https://staging.swimswam.com/swimmersbest-drill-of-the-month-karla-breaststroke/
I love you Coleman. I swear when I wake up and a P&P video is up, that’s how I start those mornings. Gets the juices flowing and the appetite humming!
It’s the best feeling