To give a little more background, my coach really wants me to do this kind of freestyle where I press deep into the water and essentially begin my pull with my pull arm at like 7 o'clock and my recovery arm at like 1 o'clock (if I was pulling with my right arm). My pull arm would then cross past the center of my body and pretty much touch the opposite hip. He's not really a believer in the high elbow/pivoting mechanism people strive for nowadays. So I pretty much end up doing my own thing in trying to improve my freestyle. That's why I'm hoping to get advice from some of my accomplished friends here (I've appreciated it in the past).
Looks like typical TI freestyle. My observation is that your hands (especially right one) go a bit too deep before you make the catch - that makes your pull shorter (I have the same problem because of lack in shoulder flexibility).
Obviously if you compete this technique is good for 200+ distances only - not for sprinting.
Looks like typical TI freestyle. My observation is that your hands (especially right one) go a bit too deep before you make the catch - that makes your pull shorter (I have the same problem because of lack in shoulder flexibility).
Obviously if you compete this technique is good for 200+ distances only - not for sprinting.
No I definitely don't sprint like that. That's my longer distance stroke and in a 200 I would put more umph into it. On longer distances I have been trying to time my catch initiation with my recovery hand getting to my ear. That's a recent adjustment I made actually based on KPN who recommends a pause before the catch.
I'll post a sprint video soon where I definitely catch earlier. My catch depth is probably the influence of my coach. I will try to get the right arm higher, I've been working on that.
Yeah I need to improve the ankle flexibility no doubt.
Taruky: compare your horizontal position with, say, Lindsey Benko. Her hips and legs are pretty much horizontal in the water. Yours: not bad but up a little higher could make a huge difference. Mike
Yup, spot on. I've been trying to improve on that for a while but I think I concentrate so much on my catch and pull that I forget. If I had a better kick that body position might be to my advantage, but since my kick is relatively weak I'm better off more horizontal.
By the way, would you guys mind looking at my last vid from January and tell me if I'm heading in the right direction? Because my swimming fitness is better I don't know if my time improvements are due to better technique or not. Thanks.
Tarik swimming Jan 23 2011 - YouTube
It almost looks like two completely different swimmers from the January video to the October video. Just in stroke technique alone, a big improvement.
Former Member
Taruky: compare your horizontal position with, say, Lindsey Benko. Her hips and legs are pretty much horizontal in the water. Yours: not bad but up a little higher could make a huge difference. Mike
From one who has seen you in person over the last year or so, I ca say your improvement is huge. I even commented to Cy about that in Sept while on deck. You should be proud of the improvements. Now to get you to a meet :bolt:
