I suspect many people (myself included) view the arm
recovery in freestyle as time to give the recovering arm
muscles a little rest.
But consider the possible advantages of working the recovery
a bit harder. (This is at speeds less than sprinting)
(a) The recovering arm could be back in streamline sooner
so less form drag.
(b) The recovering arm will be more free of bubbles
when beginning the catch,
(c) The recovered arm can begin to catch as soon as
the pushing arm leaves the water.
(d) The energy cost of a fast recovery isn't that high.
The recovering arm moves through air not dense water.
(e) Front quadrant swimming is still achieved without introducing
any delay in the pulling arm i.e. you are not waiting
for the recovering arm to "catch-up" before staring the
pull.
Any Comments?!?
Former Member
If your arm moves faster above the water the energy is actually transferred to the arm underwater which makes the psi increase. www.ifkb.nl/.../propellingeff.html
It is that your body moves faster through the water with more pressure at he catch but the hand does not move through the water at all, it is stationary (hold that imaginary wall) at about 25 pounds pressure per sqare inc. which is the limit before slippage, most swimmers only produce about 20 psi which means they will never achieve top speed. Don't get me wrong my stroke is long, I front load, and I stretch out as far as I can, I even front quadrant swim. Very light pressure til I get to the catch then max it to the finish. I do not cocentrate on anything to increase speed but think roll the shoulders faster and I swim faster.
The direct to the catch was for me a resting stroke.
I think the original idea was most similar to the old military saying, 'hurry up and wait'.
Get your recovering arm out in front so it can sit there a little bit longer. Seems about as fruitful as speeding to the next red light in town. You burn more fuel but you don't get to where you are going any quicker.
Originally posted by 330man
I think the original idea was most similar to the old military saying, 'hurry up and wait'.
Get your recovering arm out in front so it can sit there a little bit longer. Seems about as fruitful as speeding to the next red light in town. You burn more fuel but you don't get to where you are going any quicker. That is exactly how the Japnese swimmers swam in the 1956 Olympics that hand was held in front until the other hand started the recovery stage, winner of the 1500m was Japanese and that is how he swam.
Quoting free142 from Ireland, "...view the arm recovery in freestyle as time to give the recovering arm muscles a little rest."
A coupla thoughts about these introductory words about the arm in recovery. As for giving the recovering muscles "a little rest", it has always been my impression that this is achieved by employing a "ballistic" recovery. That is, the entire effort is employed at the position of rearward extension, hurling the hand and arm forward as if throwing a ball, and so being completely relaxed at the same time. Anything other than "ballistic" seems to me to require an effort to hold back on the muscles that would rather be free.
Otherwise, this "cycling" has the stroking arm working hard as it works against the resistance of the water, while the recovering arm is being held back with some effort through the "nonresisting" air as it is being extended. Thus, the "energy cost of a fast recovery" would be less rather than more by a significant amout.
And what better time to throw in the thought that when the hand has a thumb-first entry, in swimmers jargon, the elbow is already a "high elbow", and, thus, no more thought need be given to the "dreaded dropped elbow syndrome".
HOw would you deal with the rotation of your body? The underwater hand would still require the same rotaion but the recovering arm would be turning quicker, and therefore, the shoulders woudl get out of sequence.
