I previously swam by reaching as far as possible, extending my arms and hands in order to enter the water as far as possible, and pull all the way nearly touching the knees in order to lengthen the stroke. However, my coach told me to drop this practice and enter the water near my head instead (she gave me a kickboard and let me do one-arm drill such that the hand enters the water BEHIND the kickboard), and told me that looong stroke is a kind of old-fashioned swimming in the 80s. That's exactly the opposite of this video tells:
www.youtube.com/watch
So what's exactly the mechanism of entering short? This club is running Swim Smooth, or should I switch to one which runs Total Immersion instead?
The coach is always right, except when they aren't. Why does she think this style is better? Who is elite who swims this way? Whose form should you emulate? I can't say I am expert in the most current thinking in freestyle, but I am not clear an early entry is faster. Perhaps you were over extending and not entering cleanly and this is a drill to correct that. Find out your coach's rationale.
The coach is always right, except when they aren't. Why does she think this style is better? Who is elite who swims this way? Whose form should you emulate? I can't say I am expert in the most current thinking in freestyle, but I am not clear an early entry is faster. Perhaps you were over extending and not entering cleanly and this is a drill to correct that. Find out your coach's rationale.
