Freestyle Swimming Stroke

Originally posted by Johnathon 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. Total Immersion teaches that your leading arm should begin to drop when your recovering hand reaches your ear. "Front Quadrant Swimming" simply means that you should always have one arm in the quadrant bounded by a vertical plane going through your shoulders and the surface of the water. What you are describing sounds like what is called a "catch up" stroke. Bob

Unfortunately, too much time is focused on the kinesiology of swimming instead of the kinesthesia of swimming. For me, the best thing I found was to try and always maintain constant pressure on the stroking hand, for if there isn't pressure, you're moving water backwards and you're not moving forwards. Practice practice and practice developing this "feel" for the water, which I call the "sweetspot" of swimming. Discover this "sweetspot" and you got it made. clyde

many elite swimmers have a slight pause on the front ent of their strokes, they place their hand/arm in the water fully extend begin their pull the pause cleans the air bubbles off the swimmers hand and arm ande

Thorpe did not do too badly in the 100 in Athens (Bronze medal) His 'middle distance catchup' seemed to serve him well there too. My guess is that he probably got more satisfaction with that performance than out of winning the 200 or 400. Especially when people said he would never be fast with his stroke. Wish I could do a 'slow' 48-something 100m , like his..... Ian (no relation to Good or Evil).

Certainly it's important to have a long stroke and try to stretch out the front hand entry... i.e "catch". This has been taught for 30 years or more and is really not an innovative techique. After all, the longer and thinner the vessel, the faster the vessel. Ian Thorpe has a good example of this quasi "catch up" style, and it serves him very well for middle distance events. However, do note that during fast sprints this philosophy can lead to a slower turnover than desired. There is a point where one must sacrafice a portion of the front of the stroke for a more rapid turnover. Being able to maintain the catch and turn up the revolutions at the same time is the trick. Note, Evil Paul Smith's 50yd free record from Indy in the 40-44 age group (20.9). He worked on changing to a somewhat faster turnover that year and he sacraficed a portion of his huge catch. Its hard to find the inbetween point when you turn up the volume. John Smith

Originally posted by TheGoodSmith "Also, Jonathon, remember that there are as many different explanations of swimming as there are at least the number of coaches." I couldn't agree with you more. Coaching swimming... as with many sports.... has an "art" factor or shall we call it an "intuition" or "subjective" factor. We see this a lot in taper philosophies and a coach's ability to "read" people during taper and make strategic decision on rest and recovery. Everyone is different physically. When you get to the most elite level, subtle refinements and changes in stroke mechanics between competitors are usually, in my opinion, not as important. It's the core of talent (i.e. genetics) combined with mental toughness and background training that really make the difference....... not the smaller differences in stroke techique. John Smith John, How is that we agree on almost everything? I am tall & thin. I was really a runner who could swim pretty well. I had several unimportant coaches when I was a kid. I got a good coach after I was out of college & my swimming really. that was when I really began to improved and understand swimming. I still put in a lot of yards daily and it has mad me tough and actually helped my stroke.

Originally posted by craiglll@yahoo.com Brilliant! Also, from a few entries above, have you read Swimming into the 21st Century. A really good look at the kinesthesia of swimming. Thank you, just put in my order to Amazon for the book plus the new book BREAKTHROUGH SWIMMING. clyde

The main reason you see a slight catch up stroke with some elite swimmers is due to the length of the swimmers arms. The longer the arm the greater distance it has to travel. Thorpe for example takes about 1.4 seconds to complete the under water portion of his stroke. His recovery is about 6ths of a second, moving through air is much easier than water. He actually has to wait to finish his stroke. So the taller swimmers frequently have a slight pause in the stroke, a longer arm takes longer to complete the stroke. You rarely see the pause in elite level women. The catch up stroke is a good drill. But really should only be used as a true racing technique for a 6’ft 7’’ knuckle dragger, like Evil Mr. Smith. Most mere mortals should attempt to eliminate the pause, thus avoiding de-acceleration in the stroke. The constant pressure on the water as explained by the Good Mr. Smith is for most swimmers the best advice. As for T.I. great marketing! Fish do not swim on their side and neither should you!

Originally posted by TheGoodSmith Certainly it's important to have a long stroke and try to stretch out the front hand entry... i.e "catch". This has been taught for 30 years or more and is really not an innovative techique. After all, the longer and thinner the vessel, the faster the vessel. Ian Thorpe has a good example of this quasi "catch up" style, and it serves him very well for middle distance events. However, do note that during fast sprints this philosophy can lead to a slower turnover than desired. There is a point where one must sacrafice a portion of the front of the stroke for a more rapid turnover. Being able to maintain the catch and turn up the revolutions at the same time is the trick. Note, Evil Paul Smith's 50yd free record from Indy in the 40-44 age group (20.9). He worked on changing to a somewhat faster turnover that year and he sacraficed a portion of his huge catch. Its hard to find the inbetween point when you turn up the volume. John Smith Brilliant! Also, from a few entries above, have you read Swimming into the 21st Century. A really good look at the kinesthesia of swimming. Also, Jonathon, remember that there are as many different explainations of swimming as there are at least the number of coaches.

"Also, Jonathon, remember that there are as many different explanations of swimming as there are at least the number of coaches." I couldn't agree with you more. Coaching swimming... as with many sports.... has an "art" factor or shall we call it an "intuition" or "subjective" factor. We see this a lot in taper philosophies and a coach's ability to "read" people during taper and make strategic decision on rest and recovery. Everyone is different physically. When you get to the most elite level, subtle refinements and changes in stroke mechanics between competitors are usually, in my opinion, not as important. It's the core of talent (i.e. genetics) combined with mental toughness and background training that really make the difference....... not the smaller differences in stroke techique. John Smith