Oh God. Ogged is trying to bore us to death.
At least it's pushed the poo post further down the page.
I've always thought the butterfly is a very cool stroke. Tried to learn it. Failed utterly.
Was butterfly invented for anything besides competition? It doesn't look like a good way to get around the water (the landlubber says. The Cala don't float.)
Cala, are you saying you don't know how to swim?
Was butterfly invented for anything besides competition?
Butterfly evolved from breaststroke: take breaststroke, recover your arms above the water, make the kick more streamlined, and voila, butterfly. But it's not true that it's not a good way to get around. It's the newest competition stroke and is currently the second-fastest; some people think that with time, folks will go faster swimming butterfly than they do swimming crawl (for medium to short distances; crawl is still best for longer distances, because it uses less energy).
Is it really healthy, emotionally, for you to be swimming posts right now? Now's a time for healing.
5: What's the distinction between know-how and know-that? Whatever it is, I've taken and passed swimming lessons several times in my life, but never kept up with it enough to feel comfortable in the water or to feel like I could rely on it.
Maybe I should start doing push-up posts or "taking a walk" posts.
"I walked three miles today -- the stretch along Lincoln Ave. was tough, because of all the strollers and dogs I had to dodge. Coach is saying I should try to walk to Powell's now that the weather's broken."
"25 push-ups today. I would have done more, but I got bored."
Maybe I should start doing push-up posts
It would have to be at least as good as This pull up thread which was actually pretty good.
Maybe I should start doing push-up posts
And the Times just had an article all about the push-up.
because it uses less energy
See, this is why the best defenses of butterfly -- and Ogged's was surprisingly good -- are still hooey. (sp?) Butterfly is a crazy-ass stroke because it is so ridiculously energy-inefficient. The Hummer-stretch-limo of strokes, if you will. Swimming to win races is grand, but first you swim not to drown, and burning through your energy as fast as you can violates the spirit of this principle. And if that means nothing to you, I can't do it, so therefore it sucks. That should be conclusive.
Butterfly evolved from breaststroke: take breaststroke, recover your arms above the water, make the kick more streamlined, and voila, butterfly. But it's not true that it's not a good way to get around.
In fact, butterfly was first swum in breaststroke races, and after changing the rules to prohibit it, people realized that it was a pretty neat stroke.
It kind of sucks as a way to get around, because it's not really easier to swim slowly than it is to swim quickly, which has bad consequences when you get tired.
Sucks about the bpl, Ogged.
It's beautiful to watch. I spend an hour a week watching the pool while my kids get lessons, and there's usually a team practice in another part of the pool. People really doing the butterfly do seriously look like dolphins.
While trying not to be pressuring about it, I am secretly (secretly from her - I brag behind her back) delighted by Sally's interest in swimming partially because the idea of being related to someone who can do that sort of thing is so neat.
It really makes a ginormous difference when people start as kids and stick with it. I have to think about every little thing, while I see twelve and thirteen year-olds who are totally fluid.
Also, breaststroke gets no love. It's a good stroke!
Also, breaststroke gets no love.
You're probably doing it wrong.
Heh. Sally had a teacher tell her that she was a natural breaststroker. That's sort of like having your music teacher tell you to be a drummer, no?
but there's no getting around the fact that you're repeatedly slamming your face into the water.
Dammit, man, why can't you just get drunk like the rest of us do when we're dumped?
STOP THE MASOCHISM!
I'm a natural breaststroker, but I don't really like to swim.
That's sort of like having your music teacher tell you to be a drummer, no?
No! Breaststroke requires different flexibility in the ankles than all the other strokes, and it's also the most technically challenging stroke, what with all the timing issues. People who are good at the other strokes tend not to be so good at breaststroke and vice-versa, but it's beautiful when it's done well, and it can be a lot of fun to swim.
it's also the most technically challenging stroke
This makes me feel better. My version looks a bit like someone having a seizure in the pool.
or you can walk 1500 steps/day ircc
that's all cardiovascular activity one needs they say
you don't have to slam your face into the water swimming butterfly, just breathe to the side, like you do in freestyle.
Ogged, did you learn to swim as an adult?
21: Shorter Ogged: " I am not an animal! I am a human being! I am a man!"
Ogged, did you learn to swim as an adult?
I took lessons when I was seven or eight, then didn't swim again until a few years ago.
62 and sunny here, thank god.
23: Read, don't try to confuse these madpersons with facts. Exercise is virtuous, classy, and sexy.
Sucks about the bpl, Ogged.
Indeed. No more kickboard jousting. Sniff.
I took lessons when I was seven or eight
Did you take lessons when you started back up?
Never learned to properly swim myself. However, I'm tired of jogging everyday and think swimming would be a nice second option.
I'm curious if you or anyone else has had to learn to swim freestyle as an adult. How long before you considered yourself proficient?
It really makes a ginormous difference when people start as kids and stick with it.
Butterfly was my stroke when I was a kid, and somewhere I've got a trophy to prove it. Then we moved, and the new school had no pool; there went all my competitive swimming glory, nipped in the bud.
Did you take lessons when you started back up?
Ah, you're new here. Yes, I took lessons. It takes a few weeks before you can get around the pool enough to get a workout and not feel completely lost, but if you're an obsessive perfectionist, you can keep working on your stroke forever! But I would recommend lessons, yes, and I would definitely recommend swimming.
28 just envious of all these techniques
swimming is not my cup and coz i'm lazy i like to learn about lazy exercises
for example there is an exercise when one just stands and basically just throws one's arms around his torso, that's it
or another one, when all you need is walk around in a shoe streching your achilles tendon
i'll post the picture if i'll find
I'm curious if you or anyone else has had to learn to swim freestyle as an adult. How long before you considered yourself proficient?
Well, at age 14, anyway. I'd say a good six months before I wasn't embarrassingly awful. Maybe a year before I had a reasonably pretty stroke.
There are no short flyers, Jesus.
Yeah, well, I was robbed of my chance to disprove that rule.
My mom threw my brother and I in the pool when we were each six months old. That's fallen out of fashion since, but it's nice that I've never been afraid of water. I took swimming lessons for a few summers as a kid to learn the actual strokes, but it would be nice to start doing it again as an adult.
Butterfly is an obnoxious stroke to do in a crowded pool. Less so is breaststroke, my stroke of choice in high school (but now that I'm growed I only swim crawl).
And I live in terror of taking a kick in my bad knee from a breaststroker the next lane over who can't see me passing.
And sorry about bpl, ogged, but she was bad for you anyway.
I have never managed to do butterfly in such a way that I could actually get my face out of the water sufficiently to breathe. Now that's efficiency!
Here, ogged, this should cheer you up.
It takes a few weeks before you can get around the pool enough to get a workout and not feel completely lost, but if you're an obsessive perfectionist, you can keep working on your stroke forever!
I'll probably give it a shot for a month and see how I do. But I can see myself giving up after an 8 year old makes fun of me.
Saw that, NPH. Studiously ignored it. She's a Big Media Troll.
Indeed, and one whose schtick has become boring. Maybe she and McManus should swap gigs for a while.
OT: Google's Zurich office, or, New Media Work-As-Playroom Extravagance, But The 90hr Weeks Do Not Show Up in Photos.
Read, don't talk to these crazy people.
Re the dumping, has any nerd made the joke "Wake up, bpl!" yet?
Ogged, there's more than one lifeguard there at a time, right? You know, just in case.
I am secretly (secretly from her - I brag behind her back) delighted by Sally's interest in swimming partially because the idea of being related to someone who can do that sort of thing is so neat.
Isn't it! There are all sorts of things I feel like that about with my kids, but watching my 7 year old swim is up there. His butterfly is probably better than his two older sisters' - although they've been doing it longer, he started younger, and his wiggle seems to come much more naturally.
56 and Sunny, definitely give swimming a try. After dropping out of swimming lessons as a kid and spending 3 decades being very comfortable in the water but just kind of winging it, I finally learned sidebreathing and actual strokes last year. It's great.
Don't be discouraged if you consider yourself in good shape as a jogger but get very winded and tired when you start swimming. It's completely normal. Stick it out and you'll find there's a pretty step curve of getting the hang of it.
Also, breaststroke gets no love. It's a good stroke!
No it isnt.
Ok. Summer Richmond party at Casa BR and Will will have swimming lessons.
There are no short flyers, Jesus.
Sure there are.
I wish I knew how to swim better. I can't tread water. Like, I don't know how to move my legs or what to do with my arms. I need this described in first-you-then-you to me, because my brothers trying to show me after shoving me into pools 1) made me afraid of water and 2) did nothing to teach me how to tread water.
I can sail a boat pretty well, though.
Like, descriptively, via email? I don't think we live in the same part of the country.
Like, I don't know how to move my legs or what to do with my arms
The water polo guys use the "egg beater".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWV4GHp03gA
I almost drowned when I was 5 years old. It was truly terrifying. And though it sounds like a cliché, because, well, it is a cliché, I will swear to my dying day that I saw my life flash before my very eyes.
Knowing how to tread water is a good skill to acquire, and a skill that (well, you never know...) might even prove useful.
holy moly, that is how you tread water?!
I am going to die.
This is how I still enjoy the Bay Area while not knowing how to swim: sail with lifejackets!
59: What is it like to have your entire life flash before your eyes at 5 years old?
I vow to learn how to swim before I have children, because I couldn't not bear to just watch my children drown if there's some accidental fall. I have lots of nephews and nieces, and I am the loser aunt who never takes them to the pool.
It is hard to drown. You really have to work at it and struggle hard, and panic, to drown.
Relax and you typically wont drown. Our bodies float relatively easily. Scuba divers need weights to make them sink.
57: That's how I do it!
BL, a more gentle egg-beater style will easily keep your head and shoulders above water, especially if you gently pass your arms back and forth, too. The reason to develop a really strong leg-only tread is if you're playing game for which you need your arms above water.
some people think that with time, folks will go faster swimming butterfly than they do swimming crawl.
That is what I have thought. The table below shows the men's world record at 100 meters for the two strokes at the beginning of each decade. General trend is clear for people not named record holders not named Mark Spitz (butterfly in 1970). Spitz was ahead of his time in the fly, he had incredibly flexible shoulder blades which really helps (With crawl you can compensate on the arm recovery by rolling a bit, not an option in butterfly.)
........Fly......Free....Ratio
'60....61.0.....54.6.....1.117
'70....55.6.....52.2.....1.065
'80....54.18...49.44...1.096
'90....52.84...48.42...1.091
'00....51.81...48.21....1.075
current 50.4..47.84..1.054
I almost drowned when I was 5 years old
I have a great memory, possibly my earliest, of falling into a pool when I was 3. I was sitting with my back to it and just kind of leaned backward; I remember looking up through the water, and how pretty the light was and how quiet everything got, and my mother's muffled scream. She was right there, so I wasn't in any real danger. It's a really pleasant, peaceful memory.
That eggbeater-on-crack video had some other suggested videos, and this one seems helpful.
w-lfs-n told me he had to pass a swimming test to go to UChicago. I would have not gained admission, or would have been relegated to being the only Southern Californian-living-next-to-a-beachtown (he and I are from roughly the same hometown) in the freshman swimming class. Highly embarassing, I would imagine.
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I need sympathy. I am trying to finish sewing a goddamn teddy bear for my niece before we fly out in the morning, and the cat took off with and hid one of the ears. I'm beyond frustrated - I can't find the goddamn ear anywhere.
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People who are good at the other strokes tend not to be so good at breaststroke and vice-versa
Ogged's right. Plus the breaststroke really is just fun, and the best stroke, and the one that's the most likely to keep you from drowning, so yay! Encourage Sally!
I need to get much better about swimming with PK. I love swimming, and he needs the practice, but the rigamarole of the thing--changing clothes, showering, changing back, blah fucking blach--is a pain. And the free pool at the community college always has classes in one end and lane swimming in the other, so the room for PK and I to practice is in the deep middle, where he can't stand up, which means it's all work for mama, all the time. I should probably just suck it up already and join the damn Y.
Total sympathy. Go find a doll's hat and sew it on, in a cocked chapeau fashion. Or a gigantic bow.
Or do what I do and tell the kids some elaborate story of how the bear survived the war.
What is it like to have your entire life flash before your eyes at 5 years old?
Well, it's all very murky, of course, from the perspective of these many years later and after the fact, and no doubt the actual experience can never be truly isolated or abstracted from the mediating mechanisms of the memory of that experience, as retold and recounted and etc. But I certainly remember thinking, "Please may I go to Heaven," and I have a dim, through-a-glass-darkly recollection of seeing faces and vignettes pass before my eyes. And also, there was apparently some sort of mind/body dualism at work: I did not know how to tread water, but my body was frantically flailing and desperately trying not to drown, while my mind was (or at least, so it seems in recollection) trying to more or less calmly prepare itself to meet the end.
So children plus water makes me nervous. I try not to pass this on to my son, but I probably fail. A little while back, I told him that one must never leave a baby alone in the bathtub. No, not even for one minute. 'But what if the phone rings?' No, not even then. 'But what if it's a 911 call, and there's a ROBBER in the house!?' He's all about the 'what-ifs'.
67: Just tell her its name is Vincent, heebie.
67: It's hard to sympathize when I'm giggling. But um, yeah: bad kitty!! (Do you have any more fabric to just make a new ear? Or might the bear want to be a jaunty bear, with an ear that's spotted a different color than the rest of him?)
70: My dad is totally spazzed about the koi pond in the back. "But what if PK falls in?" "Dad, he's not going to fall in." "He might!"
Sigh.
"But what if PK falls in?"
"We won't have to feed the koi for a while."
70: Bill Cosby on life passing before your eyes at age five, from "Tonsils" (starts at about 0:45).
Important update: the Coach informs me that butterfly needn't be so energy intensive and some of his kids can get into a rhythm and swim 30 minutes straight. Of course, people can swim crawl for hours, but still, evolving stroke.
We actually need to buy koi food--I don't think we've fed the koi in months.
Ogged, I'm glad you're here! The picture I tried to send you earlier was of PK wearing a sarong. He had an accident at school today b/c the janitor had locked the bathrooms (we were hanging out for a while after the school day was over). Luckily, I was wearing a BITCH PHD tank top my sister gave me, which is Not Appropriate to pick him up at school in, obvs., so I'd tied a sarong over it tube-top style, so I was able to get his pants off, tie the sarong around his waist, get him to drop his boxers, and stuff his wet clothes into one of my bike panniers.
And, BECAUSE MY BOY IS UNAFRAID OF WEARING A SKIRT, we didn't have to deal with a fit or rush home; we went to the beach just like we'd been planning to do, and he ran around in the sarong and got all wet and sandy, and then we went and had burgers and rode home and he agrees that no wonder men who live on islands wear sarongs, since they are obviously the perfect beach wear, what with drying quickly, being comfortable, cool, and easy to wear, and not collecting a ton of sand in your tender areas.
So SUCK IT. Also, he looked fucking adorable in the sarong with his tangly hair all the way down his back.
I got one picture from you, of a child, helpless, buried in sand to his neck.
LOL. I thought I'd sent you the other one, of him running around in the sarong. Yeah, the "bury me in sand" thing is weird, but hey, it's the beach. Why not?
69, 71, 72, aw, thanks for the sympathy! I had to go do other tasks so that I could return to the bear without anger. I do have more fabric. I'm a champ about buying twelve yards extra justin cases. But it's psychologically hard!
76: Well, fucketty. Some of us are grappling with (yes, it's on a weblog that we grapple, but still...) the lifetime implications of a childhood near-death experience, and you come back to us with some smugly superior and even downright triumphalist account of some kids from somewhere or other in your state swimming 30 or under or some such shite. I hereby declare any child born and reared in California to be an outlier, if not, strictly speaking, in statistical terms, then at least for existential purposes...
If only you'd had your skates on, Mary Catherine, you could have swum to safety.
82: I'm glad you have other fabric. You're so psychologically healthy, with the doing other tasks to return to the bear without anger! (Not to mention the sewing bears for your niece, full stop. Jeez. You need to have a kid already.)
Just know that this is proof of your love of the niece *and* the goddamn cat. And that several weeks from now, when the ear turns up, you'll laugh.
83: I do hope you caught that PK and I went to the beach this afternoon, Mary Catherine.
How's the weather up in Canadia?
Aren't coaches basically full of BS of this sort as a matter of occupational routine?
86: You did see upthread where I told you to suck it, didn't you?
Someone is still working on pitching the Ogged and B Show to a network, right?
Aren't coaches basically full of BS of this sort as a matter of occupational routine?
He said it in a way that indicated he was a bit surprised himself; it's not something most people would expect, and like I say, the stroke is really just starting to mature. Plus, he's a very very good coach and I'm inclined to believe him, so there's that.
92: People lie. I learned this is on House. Which is just so...real. Like The Wire. But more so.
I got one picture from you, of a child, helpless, buried in sand to his neck.
Make sure he isn't watching too much Naruto.
(very sad story)
92: It still has the "steepest" fall off with distance. For instance, the current world record 200 to 100 time ratio is 2.22. Free & breast are 2.17, while backstroke is 2.10.
I was a freestyler who when called upon could do a pretty decent 50 fly, with drugs proper motivation tears and threats an OK 100, and the thought of doing a 200 in competition was inconceivable (and yes that word means what I think it does).
Turns out it helps if you actually kick and don't have a back as flexible as 2x4.
How's the weather up in Canadia?
The weather is just fine up in Soviet Canuckistan, I thank you very much, and it tends, as usual, to the overall general health of the aggregate population, because it's just too bloody fucking cold for anything to prosper but good health and good spirits and maybe a bushel or two of potatoes.
When the water turns to ice, I leave youse hosers behind.
too bloody fucking cold for anything to prosper but good health and good spirits
You're speaking to seasonal affective depression girl, remember. I'm not buying that nonsense.
65: Jesus, when he was about three my son pushed his stroller into the Laurelhurst duck pond and followed it in. I leaped in and rescued him. He was underwater but very peaceful and didn't breathe in. A happy memory.
Oh hello, little furry red bear ear! Whatcha doing under the easy chair? Look at you, all covered in dust bunnies.
65: I did that too, a little younger. Peaceful memory for me, not so much for dad.
You're speaking to seasonal affective depression girl, remember. I'm not buying that nonsense.
It's not Canada's fault you're broken, B.
Had B been born in Canada, she would not have survived to adulthood, and the world would be a much different place. Not necessarily better, just different. Concievably even worse, in theory at least.
hbgb, I think the dust bunnies are optional for the pattern.
the Coach informs me that butterfly needn't be so energy intensive and some of his kids can get into a rhythm and swim 30 minutes straight.
Butterfly is about rhythm as much as it is about power.
More than once, we had to do a 1500 long course fly when I was a kid.
As 34 year old, my pride got me roped into doing a set of 10x200 butterfly with the kids. That was really stupid on my part, but I didn't want to be the wuss who broke stroke or stopped in the middle of the set.
or you can walk 1500 steps/day ircc
that's all cardiovascular activity one needs they say
The British government recommends 10,000 steps a day for basic cv fitness. Every so often I wear a pedometer, to see. My average day -- with no attempt to do any extra walking, just getting to work and taking a brief stroll over lunch -- is about 5500 - 6500 steps.
If 1500 was all I needed for cv fitness, I'd be laughing.
We do very little walking in the US. It is such a huge difference from European living.
A pedometer is a great thing to try out every now and again to see how little you walk.
Yeah, turns out I walk a reasonable amount without really trying.
http://www.whi.org.uk/details.asp?key=E14%7C0%7C42663490963%7Cp%7C66%7C0
Has some interesting information.
A lot of schools in my area give kids pedometers so that they learn how much or little they walk.
109 the difference is the continuous walk i guess
if one does 1500 steps as exercise without interruption, not overall steps one does
but i'm not sure, i forgot, may be i missed one zero
My dad is totally spazzed about the koi pond in the back. "But what if PK falls in?" "Dad, he's not going to fall in." "He might!"
I fell off a bridge into a trout pond when I was 6 or 7. Turns out those swimming lessons as a kid really were helpful. Everybody was kind of surprised when I front crawled to shore. Apparently, they thought I would panic or something.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/walking/SM00060
how many steps/15 min one does
for me it was like 400/5 min so may be that 1500 i remember correctly
When my son was young we walked everywhere. I remember he walked about 5 city miles with me (altogether) when he was 5 or 6. People thought it was odd.
Americans don't really calculate in steps, but if you figure that a normal stride is around 3 feet, 1500 steps is about 0.8 miles and 10000 steps is almost 6 miles.
Aaand, if you figure you're walking at 3.5 mph, which is quick but not exactly brisk, that's about 17 minutes per mile, so .8 miles would take just under 14 minutes and just under 6 miles would take 100 minutes.
Those numbers sound roughly right, yeah.
thanks, Ogged
i'll try to check facts before i say something though, my memory is so unreliable
about the shoes, so those shoes had elevation not in the heels but in its anterior side, the feet held like 30-45 degrees from the ground, may be 45 is too steep, it's pretty painful to stretch your tendon like that for 15-30 min
all posterior muscles of the legs get stretched that way, when i did that i just put some books and half stepped on them, they were saying it equals one normal workout ircc
pretty convenient, for example when you prepare your food or watch TV
just of course there are tendinitis and other injuries if you are not careful when walking in that shoes
I rode about 9.5 miles yesterday. With PK on the back for 75% of the way. Uphill on the return. *And* with a headwind.
It's not Canada's fault you're broken, B.
Everything's Canada's fault.
Huh, according to the 1500 step metric I do almost exactly twice as much walking as I need to for adequate cv health per day. From this I conclude that the 1500 step metric is wrong.
Cut down the walking, Sifu! Now. Doubling the required dose is a common error, but it's always risky.
Except the alcohol dose. They say that 2 beers a week is optimum, but that's off by about 1.3 orders of magnitude.
If 1500 was all I needed for cv fitness, I'd be laughing.
Damn, your field must be tough. Maybe you should focus on higher impact-factor journals?
124: all the evidence you need that I get a sufficient alcohol dose is contained in the relative placement of "per day" in 123.
the
not walking, but i recalled when i was about 17 i rode a horse for the first time and went to the forest about 12 km far place with my father
without any previous training, my dad praised me that i'm a real Mongol :)
just my knees were so strained i remember i couldn't ride off the horse and dad had to take me off the saddle