Freestyle help needed: One dropped elbow

It might help to think about and visualize the shoulder rotation early after your left hand enters, and begins to reach. I believe if you visualize rotating that left shoulder for the hand to slide down the VW hood as Pat said (or over a big ball - see below) it will help, making sure as bobinator said you are rotating the shoulder to push water backwards and not down. Your shoulder is now flattening and maybe even rotating a little the other way (like backstroke) during the reach and that makes the elbow drop. As someone suggested it seems to be related to the non-breathing side, so switching breathing sides every other lap for awhile might help too. The shoulder rotation (actual not visual) with the catch will help engage the bigger back muscles (lats) as your arm starts to abduct from the catch and the pull begins. You can practice this dryland lying over one of those big balls in the gym (I saw a video a few years back on YouTube of a Tennessee women's swimmer and their coach doing this over a big ball, but I haven't found it since). You kind of roll out on the ball letting your hand follow the ball down as you roll it forward. Good luck with it Elaine - hope it helps

www.usms.org/.../articledisplay.php This article was recently posted on USMS front page. This could help you with your breathing and in-turn your elbow. Also Elaine, focus on pushing back on the water to move forward. You look like you are pushing downward before going backward. The downward push stalls you instead of propelling you forward. Good luck, I think you have an over-all nice and smooth stroke.

Elaine... Two things. Reach and beer barrel. 1.) Your reach is not fully extended. The beginning of your catch should almost feel as if you were stretching out towards the ceiling. 2.) You will never drop your elbow if you imagined wrapping it around an imaginary beer barrel. The arm will stay high during the entire catch with a focus on keeping a high elbow. Reach out there, latch onto the barrel, and throw it behind you! :) The elbow wants to stay up high, and as close to the side of your head, for as long as you can while it transitions into the deeper part of the stroke.

www.usms.org/.../articledisplay.php This article was recently posted on USMS front page. This could help you with your breathing and in-turn your elbow. Also Elaine, focus on pushing back on the water to move forward. You look like you are pushing downward before going backward. The downward push stalls you instead of propelling you forward. Good luck, I think you have an over-all nice and smooth stroke. Thanks, Bobinator! I read that article when it was first posted, and it's a good one. This video looks at a similar stroke question: www.goswim.tv/.../1795-advanced-freestyle-swim-lesson-6-correcting-a-dropped-elbow-pull I am not a subscriber, so I was unable to view the video. (When I clicked on the link, it asked me to sign in.) It might help to think about and visualize the shoulder rotation early after your left hand enters, and begins to reach. I believe if you visualize rotating that left shoulder for the hand to slide down the VW hood as Pat said (or over a big ball - see below) it will help, making sure as bobinator said you are rotating the shoulder to push water backwards and not down. Your shoulder is now flattening and maybe even rotating a little the other way (like backstroke) during the reach and that makes the elbow drop. As someone suggested it seems to be related to the non-breathing side, so switching breathing sides every other lap for awhile might help too. The shoulder rotation (actual not visual) with the catch will help engage the bigger back muscles (lats) as your arm starts to abduct from the catch and the pull begins. You can practice this dryland lying over one of those big balls in the gym (I saw a video a few years back on YouTube of a Tennessee women's swimmer and their coach doing this over a big ball, but I haven't found it since). You kind of roll out on the ball letting your hand follow the ball down as you roll it forward. Good luck with it Elaine - hope it helps Thanks, Jersey! So far I have a VW Bug and a ball to visualize. Thanks for the tip! We have those balls in our community gym, so I'll try that after foam rolling, and before I hit the pool deck. Elaine... Two things. Reach and beer barrel. 1.) Your reach is not fully extended. The beginning of your catch should almost feel as if you were stretching out towards the ceiling. 2.) You will never drop your elbow if you imagined wrapping it around an imaginary beer barrel. The arm will stay high during the entire catch with a focus on keeping a high elbow. Reach out there, latch onto the barrel, and throw it behind you! :) The elbow wants to stay up high, and as close to the side of your head, for as long as you can while it transitions into the deeper part of the stroke. Hey, Silver! :wave: How have you been? I was hoping to meet you at a Nationals one of these years, but it still hasn't happened. I hope you are doing well! Aha! I now have a VW Bug, a Ball, and a Beer Barrel. That's a heck of a collection of B's! Sorry, Pat and Jersey, but I think the beer barrel wins. :chug: Although I will visualize the beer barrel and try to push back rather than down, I will try the ball in the gym to get the right feel. Thanks to all of you, (you, too, Orca!) for giving me a lot of great tips to work on. The hardest thing I have had to grapple with in swimming is thinking I am doing the right thing, but seeing that I'm actually NOT doing it right at all when I watch my swims on video. :dunno: Thankfully, I have a very patient hubby who has become quite adept at shooting videos of my stroke. :smooch:

You were doing this during your 1,000 free at Nationals. Over reaching on both sides, putting the brakes on with your wrists, over rotating on your dropped side. That is...until you got tired/down to work. Your stroke started cleaning itself right up as you passed 500 yards. One of my coach friends and stopped to chat and I pointed it out, said, "not too often someone's stroke keeps getting better the more tired they are." Then you weren't messing around with the reach, you were digging right in and the over rotation went away. Not perfect but a ton better than at the start. We had figured you used the first half as a built in warm up, as some swimmers do, and your real stroke was coming out as you got warmed up. While all these tips are great, you can do it pretty good when you really get moving. I think you just need to stop getting so long at the front of your stroke (shorten your stroke a bit) while swimming at these more "relaxed" speeds. It won't actually shorten it, it will just FEEL that way to you. Because I bet when you're trying to haul through the last 500 of the 1000 it feels as though your stroke is shorter.

Hey, Silver! :wave: How have you been? I was hoping to meet you at a Nationals one of these years, but it still hasn't happened. I hope you are doing well! All is well. Still splashing around and swimming backwards as always. ...Just waiting for Nationals to come a little closer to home. :) Glad you enjoyed the pointer. A high school coach introduced that concept, and a few of us went under :50 for the 100, which was like the ultimate when we were kids.

You were doing this during your 1,000 free at Nationals. Over reaching on both sides, putting the brakes on with your wrists, over rotating on your dropped side. That is...until you got tired/down to work. Your stroke started cleaning itself right up as you passed 500 yards. One of my coach friends and stopped to chat and I pointed it out, said, "not too often someone's stroke keeps getting better the more tired they are." Then you weren't messing around with the reach, you were digging right in and the over rotation went away. Not perfect but a ton better than at the start. We had figured you used the first half as a built in warm up, as some swimmers do, and your real stroke was coming out as you got warmed up. While all these tips are great, you can do it pretty good when you really get moving. I think you just need to stop getting so long at the front of your stroke (shorten your stroke a bit) while swimming at these more "relaxed" speeds. It won't actually shorten it, it will just FEEL that way to you. Because I bet when you're trying to haul through the last 500 of the 1000 it feels as though your stroke is shorter. That was the 1650, not the 1000. ;) I had done a warm up, but I know I started out a bit nervous as I always do in my first race at Nationals. Once the nerves subside, I start thinking more about my stroke, and go into correction mode until I get the correct (at least to me) feel. Then, I swim. I haven't competed in distance freestyle very often, but I really enjoy it, so I want to improve my stroke technique. Thanks for your feedback, M! I appreciate it very much, because I didn't have any video from the race. Hubby was counting for me, so the camera canned for that race.

Is this any better, other than the left hand pointing up (which I see I need to fix!)? I've been working on my rotation, and I hope it has improved. As for the left arm, it is an ongoing frustration! This video (sorry it's not clear; I should have wiped the lens off better!) shows me breathing right (my worst side): www.youtube.com/watch

Wow, you've made a lot of progress. You look a lot smoother and it appears from this angle that you're bending your elbow at the right time and not dropping it. The rotation is better too. You're right to catch that your left hand curves up a bit, but that's an easy fix now that you have the harder part down. Great job, Elaine!

Wow, you've made a lot of progress. You look a lot smoother and it appears from this angle that you're bending your elbow at the right time and not dropping it. The rotation is better too. You're right to catch that your left hand curves up a bit, but that's an easy fix now that you have the harder part down. Great job, Elaine! :bliss:Thanks, flystorms! I just can't believe how difficult it has been to get corrections to STICK! I do daily drills (during warm-up and cool-down), but I have to stay on it with video for feedback, so I can keep on making corrections. Swimming is NOT like riding a bike! :dunno: