Hi, I have to say that I am somewhat confused about whether or not ,when I am doing freestyle ,if I should roll my body and rotate my hips.My Masters coach has said that the body should stay flat and that I should just roll my shoulders when I stroke and keep my hips flat.For me this means that my stroke length is shorter when I do this and also my time is slower.Can anyone please enlighten me.
Parents
Former Member
Mark,
The importance of body roll is in reducing the drag effect that one has while moving through the water. If you stay flat, there's ultimately going to be more resistance.
And as swimrat mentioned, the flat swimming style means that the stroke length will be shortened. Perhaps your coach has noticed too much roll? And thereby suggested to tone it down a bit? But if you take a look at the swimming style of any mid distance freestyler, it's a good bet that they've got a roll to their stroke.
The only exceptions to this may be with sprinters who have little or no noticeable roll when they go all out on say a 50 meter race. To paraphrase from Coach Hines' book, you can either swim like a tugboat (flat) or like a racing boat (streamlined).:cool:
Mark,
The importance of body roll is in reducing the drag effect that one has while moving through the water. If you stay flat, there's ultimately going to be more resistance.
And as swimrat mentioned, the flat swimming style means that the stroke length will be shortened. Perhaps your coach has noticed too much roll? And thereby suggested to tone it down a bit? But if you take a look at the swimming style of any mid distance freestyler, it's a good bet that they've got a roll to their stroke.
The only exceptions to this may be with sprinters who have little or no noticeable roll when they go all out on say a 50 meter race. To paraphrase from Coach Hines' book, you can either swim like a tugboat (flat) or like a racing boat (streamlined).:cool:
