I have been endeavouring to improve my freestyle stroke for some time and am now confused. I am hoping someone may have some advice.
For years I just swam thinking all I had to do was rotate my arms and kick to get to the other end. Once I could get to the other end I began to focus on technique.
I read Terry Laughlin's total immersion aiming to increase stroke length by fully extending the leading arm and practising front quandrant swimming by only commencing the catch and pull when the other arm "caught up" to the leading arm.
I have also been in a technique class however they suggest the leading arm should not be extended but should remain curved as the leading hand enters the water. They suggest the catch and pull should commence as soon as the leading hand enters the water. This is a completely different technique to that explained in Total Immersion.
I understand there are different techniques and suspect it is a matter of identifying what works best for the individual. I would be interested in other swimmers views and which technique they prefer.
Regards - John
Parents
Former Member
Actually if you time Thropes stroke and speed of his hand during recovery you will find
I'm correct. You also see the same stroke style in many tall males, even as far back as Jim Montgomery.
In one of Docs last talks he stated that what he thought he was seeing in the water wasn't quite correct. The “s” pattern happens due to the position of the hand in relation to the mid line. Since the body has some rotation the distance the hand is from the midline changes. At the entry the rotation is at it’s max so the hand appears to be close to the midline. As the opposite arm recovers the body is at it’s flattest and the hand appears to be farther away from the midline. In an ideal stroke the hand would stay in the same place and the body moves past the hand, just like when you get out of the pool by pushing on the deck, your hand doesn’t move your body but your does. Due to drag force not lift force.
Most likely at slower speeds lift has more effect on propulsion and at faster speeds it is drag forces. Sculling vs. swimming.
The other portion of this discussion was “drills” which TI is very big on. For learning “gross movements” drills are fine. But as a form of true training it has never been shown that what you do at slow purposeful effort has any cross over to improved fast performance. This is not only true in swimming but every other sport.
The only way to master technique is focus on technique while swimming at race or near race pace effort.
Drills are not the answer.
Actually if you time Thropes stroke and speed of his hand during recovery you will find
I'm correct. You also see the same stroke style in many tall males, even as far back as Jim Montgomery.
In one of Docs last talks he stated that what he thought he was seeing in the water wasn't quite correct. The “s” pattern happens due to the position of the hand in relation to the mid line. Since the body has some rotation the distance the hand is from the midline changes. At the entry the rotation is at it’s max so the hand appears to be close to the midline. As the opposite arm recovers the body is at it’s flattest and the hand appears to be farther away from the midline. In an ideal stroke the hand would stay in the same place and the body moves past the hand, just like when you get out of the pool by pushing on the deck, your hand doesn’t move your body but your does. Due to drag force not lift force.
Most likely at slower speeds lift has more effect on propulsion and at faster speeds it is drag forces. Sculling vs. swimming.
The other portion of this discussion was “drills” which TI is very big on. For learning “gross movements” drills are fine. But as a form of true training it has never been shown that what you do at slow purposeful effort has any cross over to improved fast performance. This is not only true in swimming but every other sport.
The only way to master technique is focus on technique while swimming at race or near race pace effort.
Drills are not the answer.
