Swim drills with ankle band = new swim coach

What actual drills are you doing with it?

The ones recommended in Total Immersion.

- Kicking on side, one arm extended

- One-arm pulls, one arm extended

- Same thing with arm not extended

All with band no buoy

I'm definitely going to have to try this out.  I feel like my technique is solid as well, but could certainly be improved.  It's just that I've already picked the low hanging fruit, so I'm not sure where to look next

When you kick, do you do a two beat or a four or six beat kick?  When I switched over to a two beat kick, I realized my previous kick style was a huge cause of drag - not only in my feet, but because the kick was twisting my lower body separately from my upper body during certain parts of the stroke cycle.  Not good.

Yes, I'm a bit confused.  Please clarify those drills... I'm interested in improving as well.

I switched from 6-beat to 2-beat kicks this year too and the reduction in drag was amazing plus my efficiency went up.  I'm still working on timing the kicks correctly with the strokes.  =)

Oops - total brain fart there.

 I meant one-arm pulls, not kicking.

No kicking drills. As expected given your ankles are locked.  Woops.

Just to clarify. I have no interest in improving. I just wanna get faster.

Reckon I've been improving for two years now and nothing makes a difference to my lap times.

:/

Thanks for the drill info Yaz.

I can't help but feel that this will improve swimming. Far from expert here, but I can swim an all-out 100 in sub 1:20 so I'm not a total beginner, either. 

The one thing I though of when I got those few 'pure glide' strokes down every now and then was "I'll bet this is how TJ Fry feels!" , at least  in a really beginner sort of way! I thought I did a minimal kick (like less than 2 beats) but after feeling what a true glide feels like, I'm convinced my kick is still compensating for sloppiness. (I can swim a pull buoy with the ankle band no problem- it's actually too easy techniquewise.)

I can't point to one thing that has made is a lot easier/better in the past week I've been doing it, since it seems that so many factors are involved to get that smooth, but for sure, one big piece of it is really pushing the chest down into the water. I was aware of this before, but with that one-armed pull drill at a slow pace, ankles locked, you really learn where that balance spot is. I can do it really well on my dominant right side and it feels SO smooth, but it's a wakeup call on my left where I just can't stay level or without tipping on the rotation without some cheater dolphin kicks. That's some work to be done there!

Gave it a try this afternoon and I have to agree.

I've tried ankle band on its own before and didn't learn much - my feet sank, but I just compensated with a stronger pull. Ankle-band with one-arm pull really draws out the idea that it's about balance, not propulsion.

The ankle band is a drowning device!!!  Well I've only used mine once and I already hate it!  I'm an average swimmer and have been told that I have smooth technique.  Hell, random swimmers tell me I have a smooth technique?  Am I fast?  Not really. 1:25 on a hundred is my fastest but not consistently. 

How the hell can I make swimming with an ankle band happen?  I want to just keep on working on it but I almost gave up on the first try.  Oh well...  Back to the pool again at lunch time...

I don't mean to burst your bubble but if you had a good six beat kick you weren't causing any extra drag or causing any sort of stroke issue.  A good six beat kick is a thing of beauty and no one who has a good six beat will ever go to a two or four beat.  

For all you folks who are looking for techinque-related gains, I'd still SERIOUSLY recommend the ankle band. I jumped onboard after the OP's post above, and it's really changing my swimming.

I had a revelatory swim today where I took off the ankle band, and did one-arm pull drills with a small kick after 20 mins of drilling with the ankle band. Without trying that hard at all, one-arm pulled my way to a 1:45/100, which is nearly my regular swim T-pace. 

I unfortunately have a ways to go before I integrate the smoothness from my drills to my regular stroke, but I'm already a hair faster (like 1-2sec/100, which is a big deal for me.)

Also, I'd also add that at least for me, I feel that you cannot simulate the ankle band by just touching your toes or locking your ankles. You will certainly cheat at a key moment and do a microkick just when you shouldn't be doing it without the ankles locked, which destroys the whole point of the band.

Last point as well - I'm finding you do NOT have to swim fast to use the ankle band. In fact, I can use it successfully at a sluglike 3min/100 when I'm doing heavy emphasis on balance with exaggerated slow one-armed pulls, which is a GREAT drill. I don't think I swim faster than 1:50/100 with the ankle band even when doing it right. (I drop immediately to 1:30-1:35 when I remove it, though.)

Glad you're finding it as useful as I am!

Those one-arm drills are tough - but great. I'm still semi-drowning on the left, but doing great on the right. Breathing is still an issue as well...

Keep us posted on your progress!

I dunno - I actually disagree with that article, honestly. It implies that you might be using an ankle band as a swim crutch to keep the legs together, which I don't think is the case at all.

I have had absolutely zero problems coming off the ankle band to regular swimming. Maybe others have had problems adapting (?) but it's really so much easier to swim without the band, even maintaining the no-kick situation (or minimal kick) that I think it's not really true that you have to actually work on swimming without the band to teach yourself that motion without it.

Even if you try and kick with the ankle band on, it'll be unproductive, and you'll struggle. You can't just dolphin kick your way into staying afloat, it won't work as you can't scissor kick to correct balance. 

It's also not like a pull buoy where you might rely on it as a crutch - you will NEVER rely on an ankle band as a crutch, which is why I have come to really appreciate it.

As said above as well, I disagree that you can better emulate the motion of the band by just touching your toes. If anyone doubts this, just try it with and without the band - there is a 100% chance you will find it harder to swim with the band, just because you will invariably cheat without it. In fact, I assumed I would be very proficient at the band because that's exactly what I did in my practice this past year, just touching or locking ankles during drills, and was shocked at how sloppy my form was revealed to be after using the ankle band. It's night and day, really.

Well, if you put the band at your KNEES, that's kind of avoiding the whole point of the ankle band, so I'm not surprised (nor are you) that it's not working out for him. Either way, that's not the fault of the ankle band, but the fault of the (obvious) mis-use of it in a way it wasn't intended to be used. 

I do agree it can be like torture to wear one of these things if you're starting out, and real beginners who aren't comfortable in the water yet should steer clear for awhile as it's going to make an already hard situation that much harder, but if you're like me, and feeling like you're plateauing techniquewise, I think you should try and get this ankle band swimming skill down - it's a revelation in the flaws in your technique.

And going from band to no band - WOW. Talk about putting on jets!

Well, if he put the band where it belongs, which is at the ankles, and not at the knees, he would be spending ALL of his time working on sinking hips. You can't go anywhere if your hips are sinking with the ankle band on correctly so it autocorrects. That's the beauty of the ankle band - it makes it impossible to cheat on the body position. Even a teensy tiny kick will be prohibited, and thus you'll really see your swim balance flaws.

Put the band on the knees, and all bets are off, as you can clearly scissor kick and do all sorts of other compensating kicks for incorrect upper body form. 

I definitely wouldn't use knee-band guy as an example of how an ankle band isn't working for improving balance in the water, as he's clearly not using an ankle band.