Had a chance to swim with a pal over the weekend who swam D1. So fun to watch someone swim with that kind of knowledge. I noticed he has a very pronounced location of his cheek close to or actually pressing against his shoulder until his arm gets well into the insweep/propulsive phase. We chatted about it and he said the difference in drag is massive in his opinion if he doesn't do it.
I messed around with it and kinda sorta could do it, but methinks my inflexibility is a limiter. Obviously I don't want to contort my neck downward to get my cheek on my shoulder right? So it's a matter of bringing the shoulder up to my cheek? How does one go about this and still keep their shoulders wide enough? My biggest issue was that I felt I had to narrow up my shoulders so much that I couldn't catch quite like I'm used to.
Thanks for any insight.
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Former Member
My initial thought is this: my shoulders come close to or graze my cheek on every cycle, when I am fully extended (rotated on my side). This is more common for distance events or long sets in practice. However, I would say that it breaks shortly thereafter and not well into the downsweep (by which point in time I am completely flat, as opposed to on my side). But it's all a matter of inches, so I guess it depends on how you define "close." The shoulders should not be shrugged at all.
I'll think about this more when I've had a chance to get in the pool.
Ok thanks that makes more sense to not shrug the shoulders. I have the wing span on an adult condor;) Gotcha on 'close' and my assessment on the when his shoulder/cheek breaks was really just eyeball from the side. FWIW my pal swam @ Auburn in the late 80's and dude can make wakes! I don't follow any advice blindly, but I tend to listen to guys who get scholarships for their swimming skills. To the other poster who says 'wrong' please feel free to expound...love to learn new things, but I can't glean much from 'he's wrong'. Are you saying that narrowing up the frontal profile.....makes one slower?
My initial thought is this: my shoulders come close to or graze my cheek on every cycle, when I am fully extended (rotated on my side). This is more common for distance events or long sets in practice. However, I would say that it breaks shortly thereafter and not well into the downsweep (by which point in time I am completely flat, as opposed to on my side). But it's all a matter of inches, so I guess it depends on how you define "close." The shoulders should not be shrugged at all.
I'll think about this more when I've had a chance to get in the pool.
Ok thanks that makes more sense to not shrug the shoulders. I have the wing span on an adult condor;) Gotcha on 'close' and my assessment on the when his shoulder/cheek breaks was really just eyeball from the side. FWIW my pal swam @ Auburn in the late 80's and dude can make wakes! I don't follow any advice blindly, but I tend to listen to guys who get scholarships for their swimming skills. To the other poster who says 'wrong' please feel free to expound...love to learn new things, but I can't glean much from 'he's wrong'. Are you saying that narrowing up the frontal profile.....makes one slower?
