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.
Check go-swim Fr drills "The Shoulder Catch" and "The Shoulder Breath".
Both emphasize cheek to shoulder contact as drills. I also heard a clinic instructor mention something about having a grapefruit sized space there instead, which contradicts this if I am interpreting what she said correctly.
Check go-swim Fr drills "The Shoulder Catch" and "The Shoulder Breath".
Both emphasize cheek to shoulder contact as drills. I also heard a clinic instructor mention something about having a grapefruit sized space there instead, which contradicts this if I am interpreting what she said correctly.
