EVEN GOD ENJOYS A GOOD LAUGH

But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Jewish:
1. He went into His Father's business.
2. He lived at home until he was 33.
3. He was sure his Mother was a virgin and his Mother was sure He was God.

But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Italian:
1. He talked with His hands.
2. He had wine with His meals.
3. He used olive oil.

There were 3 good arguments that Jesus was Black:
1. He called everyone brother.
2. He liked Gospel.
3. He didn't get a fair trial.

But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was a Californian:
1. He never cut His hair.
2. He walked around barefoot all the time.
3. He started a new religion.

But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was an American Indian:
1. He was a t peace with nature.
2. He ate a lot of fish.
3. He talked about the Great Spirit.

But then there were 3 equally good arguments the Jesus was Irish:
1. He never got married.
2. He was always telling stories.
3. He loved green pastures.

Friends I'm not trying to be racial but thought this was interesting.

Just to Clarify- Jesus was a Jew and thats what the BIBLE says :)

Front Crawl / Freestyle

The freestyle stroke, as it's name implies, is not limited by any particular technique. The stroke we now call freestyle, which is also known as the front crawl or Australian crawl, has been used since early last century. Only 15 meters can be swum underwater (from the start and from each turn), otherwise some body part must always be above the water. Some believe that the freestyle stroke was developed by Richard Cavill, an Australian who combined the overarm stroke with the up and down kick motion.



The freestyle is known as the fastest swim stroke.

Steps:
1.
Visualize a line running down the center of your body from your chin to your chest. This line is the axis upon which your whole body should pivot, and it should extend horizontally in the direction you are swimming.
2.
Keep your legs straight, but not rigid, with your toes pointed out, and kick up and down. Continue kicking the entire time.
3.
Move your arms in a windmill motion opposite each other. While one arm is extended completely out, the other should be all the way back, almost against the side of your body.
4.
Cup your hands and pull the extended arm through the water beneath your body. Bend your arm at the elbow and draw your fingertips along the imaginary line down the center of your body.
5.
Lift your other arm out of the water and move it all the way forward as the first arm is pulling beneath you. Bend at the elbow and drag your fingertips along the surface of the water. Penetrate the water with your fingertips and completely extend the arm.
6.
Breathe on one side by turning your head to that side as the arm comes out of the water

BUTTERFLY

The butterfly is a relatively young stroke. The butterfly stems from the breaststroke, because the contramovement of the armsare executed above the waterline. The pull through of the arms was extended in the direction of thehips, while initially the legstroke of the breaststroke was maintained.

The Armstroke
The arm-movement contributes in large amounts to the speed you swim:- There can be brought a lot of power in it, because you pull your arms through at the same time.
- The pull through is a long movement, from far before to close to the hips.
- The damsurfaces can be placed in a favourable position, which is similar to the arm
-movement of the freestyle.
- The pull through is completed with both arms at the same time, through which deviations in the straight line are exceptional.
- The pull over is above the waterline, through which the resistance is reduced to a minimum.
The armstroke can be divided in the following phases:-
Put in-phase- (Short) glide-phase- Pull-phase- Push-phase- The Lash out- Pull over

MY WEEKEND OF INSPIRATION

Last weekend..I went to watch the London Trilathlon..it was so good my colleague’ dad who is 54 did it!! We cheered him all the way through. I’m Inspired..I’m definitely doing it next year!!

The open water swin..in a part of River Thames is going to be the most daunting!! nerve wracking bit!! What is said by first timmers- "As the race begins there’s lots of choppiness in the water, like you are swimming through that scene in James Bond where piranhas are eating someone"-this is going to be my big challenge .I’m paranoid of open water swimming am happy in a pool .. my friend has suggested that I wear goggles with the swimming pool floor designed on them and will feel like I’m in a pool and not in the ThamesJ.How cool!!

The Michelob ULTRA London Triathlon - 4th / 5th August 2007

The 2006 Michelob ULTRA London Triathlon was the event's 10th anniversary and it has become the largest triathlon in the world. With 1000's of spectators lining the course, some of the world's finest triathletes racing in the elite race, and over £1million raised for charity, the event has become an incredible experience for all involved.

Would anyone want to join me for next year?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARMELINE

Wishing you the best this year!!

Happy birthday little sis:)

Romans 5:17

Those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

Enjoy your day!!

Breaststroke

Breaststroke is swum on the breast and is the most popular recreational swimming style due to its stability and the ability to keep the head out of the water at all times. In most swimming classes, beginners learn either the breaststroke or the front crawl first
Breaststroke is the slowest of the four official styles in competitive swimming. The fastest breaststroke swimmers can swim about 1.67 meters per second.
Breaststroke is swum while leaning on the chest, with the arms only breaking the surface of the water slightly and legs always underwater, while the head is underwater for the second half of the stroke. The kick is sometimes referred to as a "frog kick" because of the resemblance to a frog's kick. The body is often at a steep angle to the forward movement. This slows down the swimmer more than any other style. Professional breaststrokers utilize abdominal muscles and hips to add extra power to the kick, although most do not perfect this technique until the collegiate level.

A special feature of competitive breaststroke is the underwater pullout. From the streamline position, one uses the arms to pull all the way down past the hips. This is followed by the recovery of the arms to the streamline position once more, and then a kick. The pullout at the start and after the turns contributes significantly to the swimming times. Therefore one way to improve the swimming times is to focus on the start and the turns.
Swimming breaststroke requires more strength and energy than any other style, including butterfly. Furthermore, breaststroke makes more use of the leg muscles than other styles

SWIM CITY

It's summer so in the next few weeks I'm going to post a few articles on swimming techniques...

Backstroke

Introduction

The backstroke was first demonstrated at the Olympic Games in Stockholm in the year of 1912 through the American swimmer Hebner. Because he won the race, his innovative technique was taken very seriously. For a long time the backstroke was swum witch stretched arms. Nowadays you only see the bent armtechnique, especially at matches.Because the pull through of the arms is executed via the body, there is a tendency to swing. Because of this, a good legstroke is essential to compensate the swinging, even more than at the freestyle. Besides, the damming function of the legs remains very important.The backstroke was first demonstrated at the Olympic Games in Stockholm in the year of 1912 through the American swimmer Hebner. Because he won the race, his innovative technique was taken very seriously. For a long time the backstroke was swum witch stretched arms. Nowadays you only see the bent armtechnique, especially at matches.Because the pull through of the arms is executed via the body, there is a tendency to swing. Because of this, a good legstroke is essential to compensate the swinging, even more than at the freestyle. Besides, the damming function of the legs remains very important.

The Armstroke

The arms contribute the very most to the movement. It is necessary that this move is as continuous as possible. Just like the freestyle, the backstroke is a continuous stroke. We can divide the arm-movement into two parts: the pull over (A) and the pull through (B). We can also subdivide the pull through into:-
Put in-
(Short) glide-phase
- Pull-phase
- Push-phase
- The Lash outA.

The Pull OverThe pull over takes place in a vertical direction, at which the arm is stretched. The reasonwhy the pull over takes place in a vertical direction is that it prevents undesirable rotations. Because of this the pull over stays, qua direction, within the line of movement. After the hand comes out of the water (with the thumb first), it turns during the pull over in such a manner, that the little finger goes under water first.B. The Pull ThroughPut inThe put in of the arms takes place on shoulderwidth, i.e. above the shoulders, as much as possible in a straight line from the shoulder. The hand is put in with the little finger downwards and the thumb directed upwards. In addition there is an angle between the forearm and the hand, at which the hand is pointed something more outwards than the forearm.The shoulder remains as high as possible, so that the water resistance caused by the shoulder is reduced to a minimum.

The Glide-phase
The arm-movement does not stop with the put in, but goes stretched further to a depth of about 30 cm. This part of the pull through you could call the glide-phase. This is also the moment on which the damsurfaces are set in the right position for the pull-phase. The wrists bend, so that the palms of the hand (the most important damsurfaces) go as quickly as possible in a good position on the direction of movement. As a result of specific bearing of the hand it is possible that a particular profile comes into being , through which the hand can be 'locked' in the water which pulls the body trhough the water.

The Pull-phase-The pull-phase starts when the hand and the forearm, opposite to the swimmovement, begin the damming. Again the hand leads the movement and the upper arm turns outwards in the pull-phase.During the pull-phase the arm is bended more and more in the elbow, at which the elbow stays lower in the horizontal surface than the arm. (Take a look at the images). The bow of the arms is the biggest when the shoulder is passed by the hand. The advantage of the bow in the arm is that the movement is made close to the body and that the amount of delivered power is much bigger. The angle is about 90 degrees. The hand will come more to the watersurface during the pull-phase.The Push-phaseWhen we push through to the hips and the arms stretch themselves, we come to the push-phase. During the entire pull through we try to point the elbow to the bottom of the pool. During the push-phase the elbow will pass from 90 to 180 degrees. This means that the arm will be stretched gradually. Because of this stretching the hand will be lower in the water.At the end of the push-phase there appears a downward accelerated movement, also called the 'Buggy Whip'. The result of this movement is that the reaction on the body is pointed upwards, through which the shoulder at the same body half will come out of the water, thorugh which the pull over of this arm will pass easier.

The Lash out
The pull through ends at a depth of about 45 cm. Here starts the unbending of the arm. Through rounding the hand, which means turning the thumb upwards, the lash out can be started when the hand goes through the watersurface.We see during the swimming of the backstroke a continuous spinning of the shoulders round the longitudinal axis of the body. This is just normal; it is necessary to pull through properly. This spinning movement happens continuously. To swim backstroke properly, a smooth shoulderjoint is required.The arms move right in front of eachother. When the left arm pulls through, the right arm makes a lash out and so on and on. The distance between the arms stays the same.

The Legstroke
You can compare the legstroke of the backstroke with the legstroke of the freestyle; both legstrokes are not only in a vertical surface. There is not only a up and down going movement. The functions of the legs are to dam and to stabilize/compensate.The sideways pointed movements are also called 'lateralmovements' and have a compensating function. The hips and legs turn with the stroke, so that the sideways pointed legmovement can take place easily.The legmovement is started out of the hips. Because of the good bearing of the damsurfaces (mainly the foot and the lower part of the leg) the upbeat has the most damming abilities. The upbeat is mainly started with a bended leg and a stretched foot. At the end of the upbeat the toes break through the water surface. After that, the downbeat begins and is executed with stretched legs. Because of this there is hardly stowage during the downbeat. To move the legs well a light bow in the hips is necessary. During the complete legstroke, the feet are kept relaxed. That is why the feet are druing the upbeat directed a bit inwards.

The Combination
At the backstroke, the combination of the arm- and legmovement is executed almost automaticly. There does exist a 'combination-scheme' at the backstroke, which is 2 : 6. This means that there are swum 6 legstrokes during 2 armstrokes. At the backstroke, the head stays still, with the chin directed upwards.

Breathing
If the backstroke is swum well, breathing should not be a problem, because the face is always above the watersurface. Still is the breathing a problem, because the regular rhythm, a good adjust on the arm-movement is necessary. The best way to breath at the backstroke is: inhaling during the pull over, breathing out during the pull through of that same arm.Inhaling occurs through the mouth, breathing out through mouth and nose. In the first place, because the water in the nose needs to be blown out and in second place because breathing out through mouth and nose will take place more continuously.

Frequently Made Mistakes
- The arms do not move straight in opposite, through which the armstroke is swum very irregularly- The arms are put in too high, which causes swinging of the body- The arms are put through too deep- At the lash out the thumb is not pointed straight upwards, which causes a lot of resistance and through which the shoulder's rolling movement is crossed- With the put in, the little finger is not first in the water, through which a good dam-movement is not possible- No relaxed ankles, which causes more resistance than stowage- Irregular breathing.- Breathing out insufficiently, which causes hyperventilation.