Swim Smooth Analysis Of Lance Armstrong's Freestyle Swimming

http://www.swimsmooth.com
Swim Smooth Head Coach Paul Newsome takes a look at the recently publicised footage of Lance Armstrong swimming in Kona, Hawaii. Paul critiques his stroke, highlights the strengths of how he swims and provides a few pointers to tweak up the stroke a little.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• lance
• armstrong
• freestyle
• swimming
• technique
• swim
• smooth

[triswimcoach]

I'm still watching the video. I think this is an excellent analysis of Lance's stroke. I disagree about head position though. He may be able to swim like that with looking forward, but he would be more efficient and waste less energy if he looked down. Remember, he's training for a triathlon, not a sprint 200m freestyle, so saving energy is even more important than going fast.

[swimsmooth]

@triswimcoach

Thanks for the comments Kevin. Glad you liked the clip. One of the things we have to remember here is that despite Lance's lean build, his body position (especially without a wetsuit) is actually pretty good in this clip. Head position is such an individual thing, the swimmer being able to use it as a bit of a tuning knob for their overall body position in the water.

[swimsmooth]

@triswimcoach

(Sorry, ran out of space there!) - Is this a 4km swim? We don't know - there's only 10 strokes to see here, but it's my guessing that given Lance's background that it is probably maintainable. Whilst I'd personally love to see Lance in the lead pack at his upcoming races, I think realistically he's going to be in one of the chase groups and as such developing his drafting capabilities are going to be essential to hang onto the faster swimmers...cont.

[swimsmooth]

@triswimcoach

...without doubt, sensory awareness of what is going on around him will be heightened by looking sightly forward like he is here and if this isn't sacrificing his body position BUT allowing him to take advantage of all the benefits of drafting well (i.e. swimming easier at a given speed / staying in contact with the fast guys) then it'd still be my recommendation for him to keep doing what he is doing. The ability to draft well for the PRO guys in the 51' to 55' IM bracket is key

[Jorleanka]

Shelley is swimming total immersion style?

[ChalupaExtreme]

1:01/100m splits at Panama 70.3? Damn! Comments on that?

[ISAPIDLL]

Hey thanks for sharing this Paul! I checked out your site and realized that I am an overglider transitioning into a swinger. I may just check out your documentation

[thecupdidit]

i wonder if he's watching this...

[The1985cc]

Shut up

[TheSblackwater]

I know a swimmer who swims with LA. He say's that what is not evident from the video is his speed. "He is fast. In practice he is regularly under 2:00 for 200yds. And he frequently puts his 500s under 5:10." While this is not world class it's pretty good for a triathlete and he has the endurance as well.

[TheSblackwater]

I know a swimmer who swims with LA. He say's that what is not evident from the video is his speed. "He is fast. In practice he is regularly under 2:00 for 200yds.  And he frequently puts his 500s under 5:10." While this is not world class it's pretty good for a triathlete and he has the endurance as well.

[UsernammanresU]

That there is a superhuman freak of nature with a moderately inefficient stroke. He would probably break masters records if he started swimming again

[Macro934]

How much do you charge for a video analysis?