Thick as a Brick

By Gary Hall Sr.

There are three fundamental principals I like to teach to all of The Race Club campers that pertain to both freestyle and backstroke. These principals seem so obvious to me now and yet, when I look back at old videos of me swimming in the 68 Olympics or even after, I cringe. How could I have done so many things wrong? Why didn't we get it back then?

I guess we were just dumb... but the truth is that these 3 fundamentals aren't so obvious. If they were, we wouldn't find that 99% of The Race Club campers haven't figured them out either. It really isn't their fault. Like with me, they have not been told what to do and, instead of doing what is most beneficial to swim fast, they have adapted in order to survive long, arduous workouts. The habits we develop by swimming 10 x 400 meters on 5 minute 30 second intervals allow us to (hopefully) walk away from the pool to live another day. They don't necessarily teach us the best way to get up and down the pool the fastest and most efficient way.

The first fundamental principal is that we are all built like bricks; well maybe not quite that bad. But the human body is definitely not streamlined. Let me give you an example. When we take a racing dive from the starting block, assuming we have any spring in our legs at all, and with the help of gravity, we all hit the water going about 5 miles per hour. That is nearly the same speed that Gary Jr swims the 50 meter sprint in the Olympic Games. And yet, even with the most streamlined body position we can manage and with no pull or kick to propel us forward, we come to a complete stop in around 5 seconds. In five seconds we go from 5 miles an hour to zero... that is called deceleration. That is a non-streamlined body. That is a brick..more or less.

The reason that this fundamental principal is so important is that with non-streamlined bodies moving through water, little changes in our body or head or arm or leg position and little changes in our surface texture (shaving or wearing new technology suits) can make significant differences in the drag and friction we encounter. One of my first revelations of the importance of this came when I was pulled through the water on a towrope for 50 meters in around 20 seconds. At this speed, by simply dropping my chin to adjust my head position and maintaining the same towing force, I dropped my time by nearly two seconds. The only change was body position, which created less drag. Improvement of our understanding of this principal certainly doesn't account for all of the vast improvements in swimmer's times, but it has clearly been a big contributor. Let's retrace some of the history.

1950's nylon suits replace cotton.
1956 Olympics Melbourne. The Australians shave their bodies and kick some butt. No one ever considers not shaving again for major competition (except for some crazy German guy with a big hairy chest who finaled in the 1500 meters in the Olympics in Atlanta)
1960 Speedo introduces striped colors (red/black, blue/black and gold/black) in nylon suits; a fashion revolution.
Late 1970's End of Superman. Swimmers begin streamlining underwater on starts and turns.
1988. David Berkoff proves one (with a ferocious kick) can swim as fast or faster underwater without any arm propulsion than one can swim on the surface using all forces possible.
1992 Full body (Farmer John) suits introduced for the first time.
2000 First Full body suit worn in the Olympics by Ian Thorpe
2008 Technology of full body suits keeps improving the dampening effect of the material to reduce drag. Will we someday actually figure out a material that makes us behave as if we are streamlined?

Here is a very simple drill you can all do to show how important something as simple as head position is. Kick on your stomach with your arms outstretched in front of you, sculling with your hands, but keep your head out of the water looking straight ahead. Now do the same thing with your head down, chin tucked almost to your chest. You will immediately feel your chest and back rise out of the water and your body aligns in a straight plane. You will feel less resistance and more speed as you scull through the water this way.

So why do we all want to swim with our head up? First, we like to know where we are going. Second, I believe we think that by lifting our head up that our body will do the same, not realizing that the opposite occurs. So if we are going to go to the expense and trouble of shaving our bodies and wearing the expensive new high-tech suits, we might as well learn how to hold our head in the right position to minimize resistance and swim faster. That means chin down in freestyle and head back in backstroke. And don't forget to streamline on every start and turn!

Some argue that the new high tech suits are unfair, like "steroids on a hanger". I say keep on improving that technology. Someday, I want to see a suit that will make me a perfect streamlined body, even though I look more like a brick. On that day, I will dive in off the starting block and glide effortlessly for 25 meters underwater without a stroke. That day, providing I am the only one who gets to use the suit, I will come out of retirement.

Next, I will discuss the second fundamental of fast swimming, called "Swimming on the Freeway". Stay tuned.