In a recent Triathlete Magazine article the author brought out the need for swimmers to first do foot and calf stretches before they can learn how to run. The author states, “Only in swimming are the calf and foot muscles asked to contract all the time. This ‘overdevelopment’ of the calf muscles that results from swimming will force your center of gravity back away from the finish line.”
If we closely examine these statements, it is hard to find substantiation for them. For example, triathletes do not transition immediately from the swim to the run. They do cycling in between in which the foot returns to the normal anatomical position during the power phase of cycling. Thus the muscles and tissues of the foot and calves will automatically get stretched.
It is also necessary to question the statement that the foot and calf muscles are under constant contraction while swimming. This is false. These muscles contract and then relax during the kick. The position of the foot gives the impression that the muscles are under contraction, but because of the resistance of the water the foot can remain extended on the downstroke. If the muscles remained contracted all the time they would eventually tighten up and go into tetanus, which would probably stop the swimmer from continuing. All good athletes know how to contract the muscles when they are in use and to relax them when they are not. This is especially important in the endurance events.
The author makes an even bigger faux paux in his statement that “Unlike runners, swimmers have loose, open hips. In addition, swimmers recruit their back muscles as part of the leg kick. The same movement in running can lead to lower back tension.” However, a good runner will (must) have loose, open hips. They cannot be tight! Runners need a full range of forward and backward motion, more than that seen in freestyle swimmers. Thus runners have a greater range of motion which would mean that they have looser more open hips. The only exception would be in side movements which occur in the breaststroke. But in triathlon, good swimmers do not do the breaststroke.
The statement that the back muscles are used as part of the leg kick is controversial. The lower back muscles are used only if raising the leg above the level of the hips when swimming freestyle. This means above the water when the hips are level which is not effective. In the push off in running, the leg goes behind the body but the glutes and hamstrings are not involved in this action. They remain under isometric contraction to allow the pelvis to rotate forward in order to get the leg back. In this action the lower back muscles contract. How can this action, which occurs only on the push-off, lead to lower back tension?
Even more startling is the comment that swimmers, when running, must learn to lift the knee without using the lower back muscles. But how can this be? How can the lower back muscles lift the knee? This is impossible! The author goes even further when he states that, “When I worked at the Olympic training facility with runners the most common and consistent problem was this knee lift-lower-back relationship. Tight plantar and calf muscles exacerbate the problem.” How this occurs however is not brought out or explained. Thus what he states can only be interpreted as B.S.
Perhaps even more importantly is the fact that he never explains what is meant by tight foot and calf muscles. In general, tightness would mean that they are unable to step without the foot slightly compressing in the arch and that the foot would be unable to attain the normal anatomical position in which it is at right angles to the shin. I have never seen a bona fide athlete, especially a triathlete, who is not able to do this.
If one experiences inflexibility in the ankle joint it is usually an inability to fully extend the foot but yet, this is the reason he gives for a decrease in flexibility. This would imply that they cannot dorsiflex the foot. But if the athlete can walk normally he is capable of dorsiflexing the foot. It is impossible for most people to move the foot into greater dorsiflexion beyond a 10-20 degree angle and there is no reason to do this. Fully dorsiflexing the foot does not play a role in any sports.
This article is a great example of misinformation in a magazine that is reputed to have great information for the triathletes. If the author was asked to substantiate his comments he would be hard pressed to do so, but yet magazines do not require this of most writers. Thus it is important that you have a good understanding of what happens in the three events so that you can weed through the information presented and take only that information which is substantiated and can have practical application.
See Explosive Running and Build a Better Athlete by Dr. Michael Yessis for more information.