Is there anyone who knows where the hand should be entering the water during freestyle? I have heard a lot of opinions on this: chin level, eye level, and fully outstretched. This seems important and I have not been able to get two identical answers. I'd like to get my form down this year as I plan on doing a few triathlons. Thanks for your help.
John,
There is no one perfect location for hand entry on freestyle. What’s more important is what the hand does when it enters the water. My personal preference is for my hands to be about 3/4 fully extended. This way the hand can finish extending and reaching down for the catch.
almost fully out stretched
ande
Originally posted by John Natale
Is there anyone who knows where the hand should be entering the water during freestyle? I have heard a lot of opinions on this: chin level, eye level, and fully outstretched. This seems important and I have not been able to get two identical answers. I'd like to get my form down this year as I plan on doing a few triathlons. Thanks for your help.
I'm not sure what you mean by that, Craig.
In TI, they make the point that waiting until your arm is fully laid out before entering the water is bad, if your purpose is to be more streamlined. By entering the water sooner than that, you are letting your arm intercept the water flow, rather than your (block-like) head and shoulders.
Entering by your chin sounds awkward. Your elbow is just about perpendicular to your bodyline at that point.
I'm reading Total Immersion. I was realy struck when Terry wrote that most people overreach. I've never noticed that before. It seems to me that most peole underreach. In college we used to call it the combover becasue so many peole woudl enter their hand almost directly over their head so that it looked liek they wer trying to cover a bald spot.
As an aside. the book seems full of inconsistences.
