By Louis Tharp

 It’s hard to see exactly how using high hips for propulsion actually works, unless you time this 100-yard drill and see that the 5’10" swimmer is not even breathing hard after turning in a 1:18 at 15 strokes per length.

That’s hips.

There are two stages to using hips effectively, and these mimic the same two stages we go through in every part of swimming — reduce drag and generate power.

So getting to the high hips position reduces drag, But without allowing the hips to generate power means they aren’t subtracting from speed, but they also aren’t adding to it either. And that’s bad.

I estimate that 90 percent of triathlon swimmers use their wetsuits to raise their hips in order to reduce drag. And this makes them feel so good they can’t imagine what it could feel like if their hips actually contributed to their forward motion instead of following along in this wet-suit-induced benign state.

It’s like driving a Camry. You have no idea what it’s like to drive a car that actually handles and stops well so you assume this must be as good as it gets.

But it gets better — with cars and swimming. After 25 years of driving high-performance German cars, I’m over them because Cadillac has figured out how to improve on the German driving experience with the new CTS-V.

Getting better at swimming costs a lot less, even at my rates, and generating power from the large muscles surrounding the hips allows you to speed up when you need to without increasing stroke rate. Imagine that. We are not a boat propeller. Beyond a very limited range, spinning our arms faster doesn’t make us go faster.

But what about kicking? That makes us go faster, right? Yea, whatever. If you’re a pool swimmer, especially a pool sprint swimmer, kick yourself silly. We’ve talked about the words "kick" and "foot" being connected thanks to the football players’ influence on how we  perceive sport, but aside from a cool whipping motion some people can get from their ankles, feet-focused kicking just wears out your calves and quads — those things you need for the bike and run.

Hip-generated power gives you damatically more propulsion than foot-generated power. So why don’t we hear more about this secret to speed?

Because the kickboard, pull buoy people don’t want you to know about it. (Sorry, I slipped into Glen Beck paranoia for a moment.)

We don’t hear about it becuase it’s not easy to master, and kick boards and pull buoys are. And, it’s hard to demonstrate. And it’s hard to explain. And  buying that new aero helmet, and drooling over the Sram Red, is so much more fun.

But you really should know how to connect your hips to your stroke because you care about swimming fast and efficiently.

You do, don’t you?

 

About:

Louis Tharp is a competitive age-group swimmer and a TI triathlon swim coach who is currently taking a few semesters off from West Point coaching in order to work one-on-one with Nicholas Sterghos, an ’09 West Point graduate and pro triathlete.

Learn more about Nicholas Sterghos.

Louis Tharp’s book, "Overachiever’s Diary, How The Army Triathlon Team Became World Contenders" is available from Total Immersion.

Read a sample chapter and reviews from the top triathlon and swimming media at Overachiever’s Diary.

Buy Overachiever’s Diary by Louis Tharp on TI. Read a review of Overachiever’s Diary at active.com

His home pool is Club Fit, Briarcliff in Westchester County, New York.

Want to know what Louis Tharp does when he’s not coaching?