PST CSS

[Brigham]

Hey i just wanted to say i found out i was doing sumthing way wrong with CSS. Im going to retest my self with the revision on Monday. But i wanted to ask: Sounds dumb but do u get goggles during the swim? If so CSS might be WAY better, but if u dont get goggles, though normally a little blurred vision doesnt matter, it would with 8 guys per lane! So in that case SS might be the choice. I can picture myself doin CSS runnin into guys all over the place lol, and with all that lost momentum You probably wouldnt make time. ok, thats it. God bless.


-Brigham

[asoon2be]

Im glad you found out what you were doing wrong. Brigham I dont think they allow goggles in boot or some of the pool training in BUD/S but thank God they allow masks in the ocean swims, salt water must suck in the eyes. I know this should be in the swimming forum but since you brought this up right now Ill just ask. Is the difference between SS and CSS is in CSS are you more parrallel with the surface of the water while slitely under and instead of poping your head out of water and losing momentum, you kinda just roll over on your back to get a breath with little movement of the kneck. Are the leg kicks and arm movements the same? Thanks.

[IT3IHateSand]

bootcamp you won't have goggles, A school you can, I think BUD/s you don't.

[V_DeSan]

Hey i just wanted to say i found out i was doing sumthing way wrong with CSS. Im going to retest my self with the revision on Monday.


What were you doing wrong? And what was your retest time? I found the hardest thing about the CSS for me to get down is staying streamlined. Once I got that together my times improved from 11:00 to 9:30 in about a week.

Asoon2be - FYI salt water has no affect on the eyes, just low visibility.

[tingkka]

FYI salt water has no affect on the eyes, just low visibility.



wouldn't it sting?


also... for people in general: i've been swimming my 500yard SS in 12:30sum seconds. i did it once in 11:40, but it usually stays within the 12:34 to 12:38. I'm trying to get that down. i'm getting myself streamlined as possible, but damn....

also, in boot, when you're testing with bunch of people in one lane, don't you run into people? do the test administrators just say, "screw it! you need to deal with it!" or are they more compassionate about it? if i swim 12:30 for 500yd, then calculating the "run in with swimmers" to wake from other people's body flapping, i'll be doing a whole lot slower. damn... life sucks

[Brigham]

Old time: 10:50
New time, 1st try, from 1 simple change: 9:50


Asoon2be, ya the movement are pretty much the same, just that now u REALLY have to control breathing, seeing as ur heads uUNDER the water now lol.

IHateSand, Thanks.

DeSan. What i was doing wrong:
Well the 12 weeks to BUD/s DVD is kind of confusing when they show CSS. The book actually describes it better. See, from the DVD, i thought that ur bottom arm was ALWAYS pointed out, and as u KICK, BOTH arms point FORWWARD gliding, then the TOP ARM does its stroke as u breathe, (the bottom arm never moves)Then u point it FORWARD as u kick again. thats what it looked like 2 me lol.

The REAL way: The top arm strokes WITH the FEET (or close), u glide with the bottom arm pointed straight, then u give a Little stroke with ur bottom arm as u turn & breathe, and ur feet spread and ur top arm goes forward all ready to stroke, then U point ur bottom arm forward and stroke ur feet and top arm again at the same time, glide, repeat.

My SS time should be under 11:00 no problem, maybe even better. even tho its slower, i think I'm going to do it, cuz CSS without goggles with several guys per lane would be hectic. And i have contract, so i just need to finish under 12:30, I dont want to risk messing up for just a little better time. what u guys think?

Hope all that wasnt too confusing lol. God bless.


-Brigham

[khanuwil]

also... for people in general: i've been swimming my 500yard SS in 12:30sum seconds. i did it once in 11:40, but it usually stays within the 12:34 to 12:38. I'm trying to get that down. i'm getting myself streamlined as possible, but damn....


Question for you: do you flutter kick between your scissor kicks? Also, how many strokes do you take per lap (of 25 yards)? You should probably only be doing a max of 5-6 strokes per lap. You get more speed that way because you can really crush the strokes and then recover on long glides.
Also, you might want to check your scissor technique. I had a problem originally where it was kinda turning into a breast stroke kick, which is more tiring and slower -- make sure it actually looks like a pair of scissors moving parallel to the water surface. Also, make sure it's the top leg moving forward. My time is a little under 7:00 right now and those are the things that helped me the most. Good luck!

[V_DeSan]

Brigham - Good work with the sidestroke. Keep in mind the pool at RTC might have a low chlorine level and good visibility. I've been in pools where I could see a mile before. If not, the best option might be to use SS when your crowded by other swimmers and CSS when you have an open area.



also... for people in general: i've been swimming my 500yard SS in 12:30sum seconds. i did it once in 11:40, but it usually stays within the 12:34 to 12:38. I'm trying to get that down. i'm getting myself streamlined as possible, but damn....


Do you mean CSS? Honestly, dude, for someone who doesn't have a swimming background (like myself) I think it's just about impossible to get the CSS down from reading about it. You have to get in the pool with someone who knows it. I thought a I had a fairly decent CSS, swam an 11:45, and then Sandfrog told me it looked like I was in a wrestling match with the water and losing. He spent about an hour showing me the proper stroke and eventhough I didn't get it at first my time dropped to 11:00 after an hour. Now I've got a pretty good CSS and swim in under 10. The best thing you can do is stop swimming it because you're probably developing bad habits (I know I did), and wait for Sandfrog to come back and schedule some pool time with him.

The biggest problems I had were not staying streamlined, extending my head out of the water for a breath, and not getting any power out of scissor kicks.

You still got like six months if I remember right and once you get the proper form your times will plummet quickly and you'll have a lot more energy while swimming. And no, salt water doesn't sting think of all the surfers who'd be wearing goggles haha.