Go Swim Freestyle with Jason Lezak

[livinseasy91]

my swim team does the "Lezak drill" all the time... big fast kicks and nice long arms :)

[underwaterjustin]

Lezak can you teach me how to swim like a fish?

[ron7006]

Jason Lezak is one big dude. His ancestors were definitely beer drinkers or brewers. Ležák means lager beer in Czech. The Czechs can withstand huge amounts of alcohol and it only makes them bigger and stronger. I'd like to see Jason Lezak race Mario Marijuana.

[m1ke905]

What is the best way to exhale underwater? Use only your nose, only mouth...or both?

[goswim098]

@m1ke905 - Gonna vary per person, but typically for slow exhale... nose... for blast exhale... mouth. Just my opinion... no science behind that. Hopefully someone else can answer better.

[kypselialani14]

@m1ke905 i think its nose... u can control exhaling better that way because its slower...so u arent out of air underwater...

[ePauloX]

BTW, I am a swimmer & did great in Physics. The surface of the hand is the same with fingers apart or together, but it is not the only variable that matters. Fingers apart will decrease the displacement of water as it flows between your fingers. If you want to think of an analogy to this - do you think it would be the same to jump from a plane wearing a parachute that has holes in it? Same surface but I prefer to wear a parachute with no holes and land alive :-)

[goswim098]

@ePauloX - Don't forget when quoting physics to also factor in viscosity of water compared to air, and vortices that are created within small gaps in the fingers.

[kypselialani14]

i cant forget how he made bernard his bitch at the 4x100 free relay back at 2008...this guy is the man!

[multf1lm]

Brilliant tehnique for long distances, wow. :)

[InsanePuppy11010]

I swim with my fingers open.

I've tried with fingers closed and I found it was just another thing to think about when swimming.

In a race, it's hard to remember to do absolutely everything the coach tells (or in some cases yells at) you to do

[jbairddo]

just tried it trying to swim the same amount of effort, I may have been a bit faster with fingers apart, but not enough for me to tell. i think the only difference is that it is hard to keep your fingers apart since your muscles are actually stronger whilst gripping. Still the greatest race though i will ever see in my lifetime and doubt anyone will ever swim that fast again (or at least in the next 20 years and chemically free).

[kolikolikokoliko]

holding the fingers apart should be natural and is natural to most swimmers espetially to the ones who swimmed mid-longer distances when they were younger as those disciplines concentrate on the technique and the swimmer is asked to preserve as much energy as possible and any small amount of help is welcome

any swimmer with a good technique keeps his fingers apart

[jbairddo]

no one took physics in college i see. the surface area of the hand is the same with fingers splayed or together, given that water is around 800 times denser than air, i suspect the effective surface area is even greater with fingers apart. But I now have a better definition of arrogance (i.e. telling the fastest swimmer in the world he doesn't know what he's doing).

[goswim098]

@jbairddo - a voice of REASON!  Made my day. Thank you.

[whatisavailable11]

@jbairddo

im pretty sure open hands is a drill he does

just like the closed fist

[secretasianman44]

@jbairddo by spreading your fingers apart slows you down by not being able to scoop the water but instead the water goes past with out pushing foward

[christrimmer]

It looks like he's splaying his right hand more open than his left -- any idea as to why this might be?

[H2OStar3000]

@onlyplayingme who r u... go butterfroggin' or play with inflatable ducks....

[koonkiuman]

I think it is interesting to mention that the athletes swim vastly different when training and when competing. If I remember the videos from Lezak swimming the 400m freestyle relay Beijing 2008, Athens 2004 and during single races, he swims choppy after every two strokes.

What do you think guys? I think this thought also applies to Michael Phelps. There are also various movies of him, in which he swims differently when competing.

[thegingerswimmer]

THAT WAS AT MY CLUB POOL XD!!!!!!!!!!!

[PolkTheSwimmer]

@onlyplayingme Umm I don't need to be a junior national swimmer to know anything. I've had enough experience in the water with national swimmers (yeah national swimmers not junior national) to know what I'm talking about. You get more pull when your fingers are relaxed and spread apart a bit. When you look at the olympic cameras from underwater, you see the worlds fastest swimmers swimming, WITH THERE FINGERS OPEN!

[goswim098]

@onlyplayingme Yikes... why all the anger? I'm glad your passionate about what you believe, but even at the Junior National level, you have a lot to learn. Opening up your mind to new techniques can be the difference it takes to move you to the next level. As a US Olympian, who works with other Olympians, I don't just make this stuff up... so ignorance, while I accept I don't know everything, probably isn't the best way to describe what we produce. Searching would be more accurate.

[x1y1l1e1m]

Actually open fingers reduces tension on arms, and lets you use the palm and elbow to a better extent.

[sfdawgz]

I think he was just doing drills. the beginning he has his hands in a fist and after his hands are open. This is just a sneak peak.

[spiderbee91]

close your fingers bro

[goswim098]

You're kidding right? After working with Roland Schoeman, Kara Lynn Joyce, and now Jason Lezak... all who have fingers open... you're telling the man with the fastest split in history to close his fingers? I think Jason will stick with what he's doing, thanks.

[freddygomeow69]

@goswim098

you do have a point there, but if you think about it, by keeping your fingers spread, you lose efficiency and your hand slips. When your hand starts to slip, your stroke rate increases, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but you do more work and yet your performance does not improve, theoretically

[PolkTheSwimmer]

Your actually supposed to leave your hands loose with a little space in between the fingers. If you try to close the fingers and cup the hand it can cause tension on the arm muscles and actually slow you down. They've done several studies on this and it's actually a fact that with open fingers you go faster because of like currents in between your fingers producing more speed.

[Polarcupcheck]

@PolkTheSwimmer That is what I have heard. However, I have done my own tests, and I notice no significant difference(less than a 14% difference in efficiency) between relaxed, closed, or in an L shape. It might be significant at the highest levels where races are won by 0.05 seconds. The idea that it frees up your muscles is a new one to me, that might play a larger role than the minor surface are you gain.

[H2OStar3000]

@spiderbee91 ridiculous wannabe

[clabbergirls]

@spiderbee91 You're joking right, you're telling one of the fastest in the US and the world how to swim..LMAOOOOOO

[claireabley]

pretty good :P who is a girl hear

[fashionistachica]

sexy

[krnboii93]

yeaaa baby