Starting the Freestyle pull??

thank you, I'll keep focusing on my stroke count then, the feel of the water, and pay attention to times a bit more. I tried the swimfastes.net site, but I got a message saying they had exceeded their bandwidth.. I'll try again another time. thanks again! J.

I think a lot depends on where you are at with your training. It is important to learn to feel the water. At 16 strokes per length, you can countinue to lower that to about 12-13. It is always good to experiment and see the difference between the feel of the water at different paces. Hook'em Blue

Increasing speed via increased turnover does not a swimmer make. You are on the right track by concentrating more on your stroke than on speed. Think of reaching over a barrel when you start your pull. This will put your hand and arm in a position to propel you forward. Your hand and forearm should be as close to perpendicular to the bottom of the pool as possible. This is commonly referred to as a high elbow catch or pull. If you have high speed internet I suggest that you take a trip to swimfastest.net and look up some freestyle videos of Hoogenband. He has an especially pronounced catch that might help you to understand what I am talking about. The website has a limited amount of total bandwidth so it is best to make your downloads towards the first of the month. If you prefer, I can email a few to you as I have most if not all of them on one of my PC's. Shoot me an email at mbtp1@aol.com if you are interested.

swim.ee has videos and no transfer limitations: swim.ee/.../index_example.html

Originally posted by jswim I have a tendancy to pause a moment on the front hand, and glide a bit before pulling my arm through. If you are swimming with a typical front quadrant stroke your leading arm will reach full extension in front of you before your pulling arm completes the pull so it will stay extended in front of you for a period of time before starting to pull. This is a good thing. If you leave it too long you will be swimming closer to catch up than proper stroke timing. If you feel yourself accelerate on each pull (indicating a deacceleration between pulls) instead of a steady speed then you are likely gliding too long.

My first stroke after a turn is also weak in relation to my mid-lap strokes. I combat this by using a few dolphin kicks off the wall which builds speed and reduces the need for my first stroke to regain lost mementum.

Originally posted by craiglll@yahoo.com A problem I've recently noticed is that after my turn my first stroke is very weak. It is my left arm. I breathe to my left. The stroke hardly creates any energy. also, I am on my right side. In normal stroking you would be on your left side when you start a pull with your left arm. Most people will advise taking at least one stroke before breathing, I do feel stronger when I do, but it is hard to resist breathing right away... Originally posted by 330man I combat this by using a few dolphin kicks off the wall which builds speed and reduces the need for my first stroke to regain lost mementum. Theory says that if you have to build speed by kicking then you have glided too long, you should be kicking to decrease your deceleration and take your first stroke soon enough that you are maintaining speed rather than regaining it.

Originally posted by craiglll@yahoo.com A problem I've recently noticed is that after my turn my first stroke is very weak. It is my left arm. I breathe to my left. The stroke hardly creates any energy. also, I am on my right side. somehow, I think that I'm turning my body coming off of the wall the wrong way? I don't know if this is true or what! I am not sure what the experts say I am supposed to be doing, but this is what works quite effectively for me. I breathe to my right side. When I push off the wall, I am initially on my back, and as I glide on the push I do a quarter-turn to the right (to the side I will breathe on). Thus I am facing the side wall of the pool (or facing the lane line.) When start to slow down on the glide, I take a strong pull with my right arm (the one on top) while I am still under water. This gets me past the backstroke flags when I break the surface. I am still on my side, head turned slightly up so I can grab a quick breath as I break the surface after that first stroke. Continue rotating, pull with left arm and I'm off and running (so to speak) in my natural stroke.

On a typical turn with two dolphin kicks I surface about 5 feet beyond the flags. What do the rules say about freestyle pushoffs and distance to first stroke?

Originally posted by 330man On a typical turn with two dolphin kicks I surface about 5 feet beyond the flags. What do the rules say about freestyle pushoffs and distance to first stroke? You have 15m to surface after a turn for free, back and fly. In free some part of your body must break the surface at all times from the 15m mark to the far wall.