What is the concensus on the modern freestyle pull for sprints; is it straight back or slightly curved (S-shaped like the butterfly pull but with less curve)?
Additionally, links to diagrams/articles would also be greatly appreciated!
Originally posted by SupaFly
What is the concensus on the modern freestyle pull for sprints; is it straight back or slightly curved (S-shaped like the butterfly pull but with less curve)?
Additionally, links to diagrams/articles would also be greatly appreciated!
SupaFly TJ, I don't know what a poll would show about the consensus, but I know that fast swimmers pull straight.
In www.usswim.org there used to be a feature called 'Ask the Sperstar' where the sprinter Anthony Ervin (US) answered a poster last year to get rid of the S-shape when pulling.
Australian swimmers and the sprinter Inge de Bruijn (Ned.) are notorious for swimming with straigh arms above the water and in the water when pulling.
It seems to me that there is some s-like action when your hand is over your head as you scull a bit, but then it is straight down most of the way. Because the body is rotating, from the perspective of the swimmer the hand can seem to be moving in an s motion, but it is going straight from the perspective of the bottom of the pool.
Swim fast,
Greg
It's probably impossible for there not to be some side to side hand motion, because of the way the arm is constructed and, as Greg said, body rotation makes it appear to be an "S" motion from the swimmer's perspective. But, as my coaches teach it, it's basically a straight back pull (relative to the pool bottom), not the deliberate S-curve that was taught a few years ago.
I am just coming back to swimming after a long lay off. These comments about the pull have me slightly confused. What happened to the theory that the S pull was to be used because the swimmer is searching for still water rather than water that is already moving backwards?
Originally posted by Gil
I am just coming back to swimming after a long lay off. These comments about the pull have me slightly confused. What happened to the theory that the S pull was to be used because the swimmer is searching for still water rather than water that is already moving backwards?
I'm not a coach myself, but I've been told by a couple of coaches (my team's coach and a coach who ran a training camp I attended a couple of years ago) that that was an "after-the-fact" theory to explain the "S pull" that people THOUGHT they saw. In fact, what they were seeing was just a function of body rotation, so the hand looked as if it was moving in an S pattern relative to the body (but not the pool bottom) -- almost an optical illusion. Of course, some side to side motion is inevitable because of the way the arm is constructed, but as I understand it, very few coaches now teach a deliberate S pull, especially for sprinters.
What is the concensus on the modern freestyle pull for sprints; is it straight back or slightly curved (S-shaped like the butterfly pull but with less curve)?
Additionally, links to diagrams/articles would also be greatly appreciated!Would it neither be straight back or sculling, but a fixed hand position in the water after the catch (with small amount of slippage backwards)?
