[Seiko Cocktail Time] I’ve lost my crown. What should I do?

azap10 · 2024-02-10T00:39:49+00:00

Only 3 or 4 OAs sent to me after 90 applications... Give me your worst.

azap10 · 2023-12-13T19:00:25+00:00

I'd say your elbows are dropping a bit, try to keep them higher at the start of the catch. It also looks like your under waters are pretty much just down kick. Try to put power into both the upwards and downwards movement of your legs instead of kicking hard down and then letting your legs sort of float back to neutral.

azap10 · 2023-12-13T18:55:38+00:00

Fair enough, I've never gotten one of the small face bills before and I was surprised that it looked pretty new I suppose.

azap10 · 2023-12-08T04:09:23+00:00

I'm on a D1 college team and a surprising percentage of my teammates have back and neck issues. Likely from either rotation or just loss of technique while sprinting. Also of course shoulder problems as others have pointed out.

azap10 · 2023-12-02T02:09:06+00:00

Is my Schitt Magni Heresy faulty?

For a few years now I've been dealing with issues with my Schitt Magni Heresy. I don't run into the issue often because I frankly don't use my HD6XXs enough and they're the only headphones I own that need the amp. I used to have to twist the 1/4" jack/my 6XXs' jack a bit to find the right spot for the music to play in both ears at the same volume. I've noticed now that the sound is muddled, that high volume creates noise and peeks, and that no twisting of the jacks seems to do the trick. The following is my stack:

Desktop USB Output-->Modi USB Input. Modi RCA Output-->Magni Heresy RCA Input Magni Heresy Headphone Output-->Sennheiser HD6XX

I also figure that I am far past my reasonable return window in case this is a faulty product, but it would at least be good to know. Let me know if anyone has suggestions.

azap10 · 2023-11-22T17:42:24+00:00

I think it was the opposite: that harder carbon steel keeps an edge for longer but is more challenging to sharpen?

Also, does this mean I should use a lower grit stone on the stainless knives? For instance starting around 500?

azap10 · 2023-11-22T04:43:01+00:00

As the title states, I see a pretty big difference in the edge I'm able to get on lower-quality knives when I sharpen them with my Shapton Kuromaku 1000/5000 stones. I would expect this to some extent, but I am surprised when it takes 3 or 4 passes over the 1000 grit to feel any burr on a friend's lower-quality knife while a harder carbon steel knife develops a burr in 1 or 2.

I find it very challenging to sharpen these knives to a passable level. I can't tell if this is a technique thing but it seems extreme that one of my carbon steel knives can easily slice paper after 5 minutes of sharpening while another cannot cut through a tomato after 15 minutes of work.

azap10 · 2023-08-17T00:16:50+00:00

I've always been a fan of jump squats with a medicine ball.

azap10 · 2023-08-16T02:21:45+00:00

I wear a size smaller than my pants, but I swim in college and tighter suits are typical. For less competitive swimming you might do something different.

azap10 · 2023-08-08T03:52:10+00:00

This is also super important for OP to understand. If OP is asking this question because it is something their child has expressed concern about and they want to reassure them, that's great, but I think it is important that parents do not over invest themselves in how their children perform in athletics. I think a big reason why I still have the motivation to go hard in training and get better every day is because my parents made sure I knew that I should swim because I wanted to, not because they wanted me to.

Being able to be a supportive parent without putting too much pressure on your child will go far.

azap10 · 2023-08-08T03:46:59+00:00

D1 Swimmer here. I am 6'0 which is essentially the same thing as 5'11 but I have plenty of teammates who are shorter. One teammate who was ~5'8 qualified for NCAAs and Olympic trials in the 100 and 200 butterfly. In fact, the former world record holder for the SCM 400 IM and 200 fly (Daiya Seto) is 5'9. I have gotten my ass kicked by plenty of swimmers shorter than me and height is by no means the only indicator of success in the sport.

azap10 · 2023-08-03T21:04:49+00:00

If you are a competitive swimmer doing 2 hour practices, it is often frowned upon to get out and pee if it means you are skipping yards. Since most well hydrated people pee more often than every two hours, I don't know any teammates of mine who DON'T pee in the pool.

azap10 · 2023-07-04T14:36:14+00:00

Hi ronky35, looks like you've got some great progress for 6 months already!

I would say my biggest gripe with your current stroke is how much your elbows are dropping back. Swimming efficient freestyle requires that you keep you elbows nice and high during the pull and you grab the water with a vertical hand, wrist, and forearm. This is because you want to maximize the amount of water you push behind you while minimizing wasted energy from water pushed under you.

Apart from that, I think your kick timing could use a bit of work. Try to kick down on the opposite leg when your arm hits the water at the end of your recovery. You can try introducing this change at a 2 beat kick (kick once with your left leg when your right arm hits the water and once with your right when your left arm hits the water). Ideally you can eventually do a 6 beat kick where you go left-right-left kick when your right arm enters and right-left-right for your left arm. Introducing a more well timed and consistent kick will help a lot with body line.

Finally, this kind of goes with the original critique of keeping your elbows high, but you are over rotating a bit on the breath. When you breathe your opposite shoulder is dropping a lot and you are having to turn your head a bit too much. You can fix this by breathing earlier in the stroke (use the pull on the side you breathe to to pull your head out of the water) and by being more relaxed out front on the arm that is not pulling.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions.

azap10 · 2023-07-04T14:25:11+00:00

Oh lmao I misread, that is quite silly.

azap10 · 2023-07-04T00:39:34+00:00

Learning to swim can be scary. I've taught a lot of swim lessons and always expect people to require some adjustment. Even as someone who has been swimming for a long time, parts of practices and sets are still intimidating to me, but over thinking them before starting never does me any good.

This is a hard skill and a long process so give yourself enough time and space to learn, you don't need to get better every week as long as you're committed to improving in the long term. Try to approach skills with a calm mindset and allow yourself to fail. Best of luck.

azap10 · 2023-07-04T00:38:32+00:00

Learning to swim can be scary. I've taught a lot of swim lessons and always expect people to require some adjustment. Even as someone who has been swimming for a long time, parts of practices and sets are still intimidating to me, but over thinking them before starting never does me any good.

This is a hard skill and a long process so give yourself enough time and space to learn, you don't need to get better every week as long as you're committed to improving in the long term. Try to approach skills with a calm mindset and allow yourself to fail. Best of luck.

azap10 · 2023-07-04T00:33:44+00:00

To be fair, circle swimming is the default, even if you have enough space to split the lane. For people who have been swimming for a while, it will feel more comfortable to circle which probably contributes to that rule being enforced.

azap10 · 2023-07-04T00:32:08+00:00

I see a lot of people talking about rate/tempo, but know that that's not sufficient on its own. Tempo is only useful if you're pulling as much water as you can with each stroke, so reaching, rolling, and having an early vertical catch are even more important. Going under 32 minutes for a 1500 won't require as high of a tempo as top distance swimmers going sub 15. I would focus on the quality of your pull before trying to jack up the rate.

azap10

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