Technique question

[nak2000]

I've searched the forum, read through various threads and couldn't find anything about this particular subject, so I figured I asking wouldn't hurt.

I've been working on my CSS for over a year now, it's been developing nicely and I have gotten down to a sub 9 minute 500 yard swim (my best 100 M split is 1:28). I basically self taught myself the stroke using Stew Smith's 12 weeks to BUD/S guide. I have gotten to the point where I can swim 2000 yards at 10 minute/500 yard pace without really getting tired or winded, which means I can get out of the pool and go for a good run after I'm done.

Now, my problem is this, I saw the video on youtube which teaches the CSS. I do it very similarly, except for one minor detail, when kicking and extending my arms I don't go back to being completely parallel to the bottom, I stay at an angle (about 45 degrees or so). I have tried working on my CSS concentrating on going back to a flat position after the kick and it just works me like no other. I get winded after 500 yards and I don't see much if any improvement in my times when swimming it that way. The question is, should I keep swimming the way I have been, not going back to a completely flat position after the kick, or should I keep working at getting my shoulders parallel to the bottom after every kick.

In short, should I keep doing it the way it works for me and works for me well, or should I try to do it absolutely perfectly and see diminished results?

[Nihilo]

I don't know what the hell you are doing but for the majority do the correct CSS..why do you have such a high build up (which proves nothing except energy loss) when you should be using fins to get a solid build up.. ding?

[JLPestkeJr]

I'm no professional swimmer by any means, (I can't even do a sub-10:00 500m yet... almost... but not quite) but from my understanding the corkscrew motion of rotating your body will both help to conserve energy and increase your speed by reducing drag. I personally suck at it to and started using your 'method' but before my current month break for hardcore strength training, I was focusing almost entirely on squaring my shoulders down to the pool bottom. King is right you'll probably get hammered if your form isn't right, I would say work on that but then again im no BTDT either...


just sayin...

~Jim

[nak2000]

I mis-worded it I guess. My body (lengthwise) is parallel with the bottom of the pool at all times, (widthwise) meaning my shoulders, never really go to parallel, and when I try I use a ton more energy doing it.

[leahy_j]

my Mentor and the swim coach he's hired to train with us at HUB events say to forget the youtube CSS vids. you should never be belly down in the water, but your eyes should be straight down during your glide. you should also never be belly up. you should make about a 45 degree rotation. if belly up is 0 degrees, your body should rotate between 70 degrees and 115. but your head should make a full 180, from straight at the ceiling to straight at the bottom.

[missathletic]

my Mentor and the swim coach he's hired to train with us at HUB events say to forget the youtube CSS vids. you should never be belly down in the water, but your eyes should be straight down during your glide. you should also never be belly up. you should make about a 45 degree rotation. if belly up is 0 degrees, your body should rotate between 70 degrees and 115. but your head should make a full 180, from straight at the ceiling to straight at the bottom.

This is what I do, and I think it's what the OP does too if I read it right. Keeping your body at an angle helps you slice through the water like the angled hull of a ship. When you are flat belly down it creates drag.

[firsttimeeverytime]

everyone does it their own way, and everyone does it a little different. do what works for you. sub 9 is good, follow kings advice and start putting the miles in with fins.

[boredengineer]

Swimming with your shoulders parallel to the bottom is definitely not the most efficient way to move through water. Your body should always be at an angle in that respect, whether you swim freestyle (and switch from side to side between strokes) or while swimming CSS. It's a principle of fluid dynamics, the body produces less drag when on its side. Research Total Immersion, the style takes advantage of streamlining principles while swimming.

[Neumeister]

Check out Don Walsh's new video Go Swim CSS. It teaches the most efficient way to swim CSS where you are on your side the whole time.

[centerpeel]

Check out Don Walsh's new video Go Swim CSS. It teaches the most efficient way to swim CSS where you are on your side the whole time.

I second that. Get it, watch it, take the laminated card with you to the pool and practice, and repeat. His variation of CSS is by far the most efficient.

[nak2000]

Thank you everyone for your replies, and yes, the way I swim it is with my shoulders at an angle through the water. My question stemmed from the fact that the video that gets linked so much teaching the CSS tells you that your shoulders need to go back to parallel.

[centerpeel]

If you look at the very end of the CSS video put out by the Navy on youtube, where a bunch of people are swimming in the background, you can see that they are swimming pretty much at angle the whole time without the corkscrew motion . This is exactly the type of css Don Walsh's dvd will teach you.

[jared1989]

stay parallel to the botom you are just wasting energy and adding resistance against yourself...streamline is the key