Sam Burwell, this one's for you!!

Tonight, I capitalized on Chris being very sick (get well soon, buddy) and used my 2 hour Elite and Regional Development workout to really enforce push off depth and how to get there in a turn. Long story short, he question was brought up: "How do you get that that depth in BR or Fly turns?"

The answer: You don't need to go over the water to turn in a breaststroke turn. You have the unique ability to drive into the wall at whatever depth you want with a 2 hand touch. Because the ledge of the wall is an attractive thing to grab onto and pull on, doesn't mean that its the best or fastest way to turn (in fact, I strictly enforce the "No Wall Grab" rule for all 2 hand touch turns). Check out this race from TSC's Warren Barnes (from 2008 Canada Cup) which illustrates great turns at every wall:

Notice how going into wall #1, and all subsequent walls, Barns spends very little time above the water: just enough time to take a breath.

Check out World Championships where there is an entire field of world class breaststrokers:

Freeze frame on 34 seconds and pay attention to Brandon Hanson's body position on his turn as well as the others slightly behind him. Does he turn his body around, or just switch direction and push off on his side? How much time does he spend above water during that turn?

There is a whole world of wonder to be found by watching great swimming. Anyone who has the chance to make it out to London Ontario for Eastern Canadian Championships will have the opportunity to see some great stuff, and even if you can't make it out of your house, check out the live web feed of the Western Canadian Championships the same weekend. Details available @ www.swimming.ca. My plan is to video tape as much as I possibly can at the Grand Prix in Indianapolis as well. A lot of great things to learn from paying attention and watching!