As long as I can remember, every swim instructor and coach has taught me that for freestyle, after recovery, stretch your arm out, hand should enter the water at an angle, with the final stretch (I'm guessing 6" or so) being done beneath the surface. You should always avoid hitting the water flat, where you'd create a large splash.
I started swimming when I was about 4-5 years old, took lessons at a community pool. I started masters in my mid-20s and swam with a variety of teams and many coaches since, including one rather legendary coach, and they all taught the same thing. One coach helped develop paddles for TYR that aid in this.
I was recently told that my hand entry is (in no uncertain terms), "wrong." I should be stretching my arm fully out prior to entry, then slapping the water and beginning my pull.
This goes against everything I've ever been taught.
So is my technique wrong?
Not that I do many, but if I swim freestyle in a meet would I get a DQ?
It was my understanding that one could do nearly anything for freestyle, short of pushing off the bottom or walking. Heck, I could swim doggy paddle or sidestroke if I wanted to (I wouldn't want to throw off meet timing).
I've done many open water swims, including several this year, and I definitely did not receive a DQ. I saw a variety of swim styles, most seemed to swim about the same way that I do.
If this is a matter of style, then that's fine. I see some people doing dolphin kicks for their breaststroke; I won't, and I've never received a DQ for that. I swim mostly just to keep in shape and train for open water swimming. I don't really care too much for speed (of course it is nice to get faster, but it isn't the end all/be all for me).
I would be concerned if I'd hurt myself by doing something wrong.
Appreciate any thoughts.
Wondering if your coach is advocating a straight arm recovery where I think your hand would enter with more of slap than with a bent arm recovery. Slapping the water with a bent arm (high elbow) recovery doesn't seem plausible.
The straight arm recovery seems to work for some swimmers, especially sprinters. There was an article about it on Gary Hall's race club website: theraceclub.com/.../
There is no need to worry about being DQ'd if you slap the water - just figure out if it makes you "faster, faster" as Andy says.
Is this meant to be satire or are you serious? If you are serious, no, of course you wouldn't get DQed. You can essentially do anything you want in a freestyle race as long as you don't go past 15 meters underwater off the start and turns and don't push off the bottom.
Dont try to do fly *** or back as a freestyle leg in a relay though :)
Hey there Tim. One of my coaches helped me work to change my hand entry this spring because my pull was off. My hands did more of a thumb entry and it was causing me to have a cross over a bit. To get away from this, for about a 3-4 weeks, he had me slap my hand on the water ahead of me in order to force a different feel and get away from the cross over. Once it became habit, we worked on the entry a bit more which now is a very slight outward turn of the hand (pinkie/ring finger entry) and more straight. In this change, it's also helped to force me to a longer reach and roll under the water on entry. My shoulder/lat haven't given me any troubles since we worked out the entry, even with the increased mileage in training. To me, it's kind of strange that s/he wants you to reach before the entry. Hmm...
And on the other question, freestyle is just that in a meet. You're free to do just about anything. There was an article somewhere here this week, maybe in the blogs, that talks about what can be done on a freestyle race.
- Kari
Not that I do many, but if I swim freestyle in a meet would I get a DQ?
Is this meant to be satire or are you serious? If you are serious, no, of course you wouldn't get DQed. You can essentially do anything you want in a freestyle race as long as you don't go past 15 meters underwater off the start and turns and don't push off the bottom.
... after recovery, stretch your arm out, hand should enter the water at an angle, with the final stretch (I'm guessing 6" or so) being done beneath the surface.
I've been swimming for a long time. I've never really been on a "coached" team, and just about all of my competition consists of open water swimming. And I don't pretent to be any sort of stroke analyst or authority. But I have learned lots of things from lots of qualified swimmers and coaches over the years that I do share with others. The one thing that I have never understood is why anyone would think that thrusting your arm forward (reach) underwater is more conducive than doing so above the surface of the water. Regardless of exactly how your hand enters the water (palm slap, thumb, pinky, index)...pushing it forward underwater is counter-productive -- it works against your forward motion because in this case the water creates resistance and the air does not.
Dan
The one thing that I have never understood is why anyone would think that thrusting your arm forward (reach) underwater is more conducive than doing so above the surface of the water.
I'm no expert, but buoyancy might be one reason. When any part of your body is out of the water, the rest of your body tends to sink a bit. As a somewhat extreme example, kick a length on your back, no board, in a streamlined position. Easy peasy, right? Now, repeat that with your hands pointing at the ceiling/sky, with your hands far enough out of the water that your elbows are at the surface or out of the water. How much more difficult is it to get your feet to the surface?
I'm not about to claim that the difference between hand entry at full extension vs entry six to nine inches further back is going to make a huge difference in buoyancy, but every little bit helps, I suspect. (I'm also not advocating that your hand should enter just after it clears your noggin.)
I'm no expert, but buoyancy might be one reason. When any part of your body is out of the water, the rest of your body tends to sink a bit. ...
I'm not about to claim that the difference between hand entry at full extension vs entry six to nine inches further back is going to make a huge difference in buoyancy, but every little bit helps, I suspect. (I'm also not advocating that your hand should enter just after it clears your noggin.)
I'll concur with that for sure. Obviously any part of your body that is OUT of the water is making the rest of your body IN the water less bouyant. But then I have to ask (conversely), why don't we make our hand/arm enter the water "just after it clears your noggin" and keep it under for the entire reach for more buoyancy assistance?
Dan
Assuming you are not sprinting,you want to extend your arm as far forward as you can and still have a clean entry(minimal splash.)It is true that the farther you extend your hand above the surface the less drag,but extend it too far and you will have a splashing entry that will generate more resistance than what you save. A really strong sprinter can generate a lot of splash and still be fast if the entry gets his/her hand into the catch faster.
