I am trying to improve my freestyle. I have been working on balance,timing,counting strokes.
When watching videos of world classs swimmers, I noticed that on swimmers like Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, that their arm in the water is fully extended(straight) and angled below the corresponding shoulder. It looks as though the arm that is about to catch the water is angled to where it points towards where the pool wall and pool bottom meet. Not pointed directly down but not pointed directly straight out from the shoulder to the wall.
It seems like most of the best freestylers have their extended arms pointed below their bottom shoulder at an angle before the pull. This also appears to only happen once they have finished the rotation to that side.
Has anyone else noticed this or am I way off?
Thanks,
David
Parents
Former Member
Problem is that at these speeds, for most of us, technical deterioration quickly kicks in, probably as a result of small muscles fatigue (those small muscles responsable for maintaining proper technique). We quickly loose distance per stroke and must start applying greater loads of efforts in order to keep the pace.
Challenge is to mainain a steady distance per stroke throughout the set
posted by Solar Energy
I have been focusing a lot on this very aspect myself....I like to have a longer swim somewhere in my workouts (sometimes wearing hand paddles and sometimes without paddles)....I start of slow and try to really tune into the feeling of "smooth efficiency" and catching as much water as possible....long underwater dolphin kicking and tight streamlining off of every turn until I feel I have reached a comfortable "groove".....then I gradually try and pick up the pace every 100 or so untill I am moving at a rate that is beyond anerobic threshhold to maintain for too long ....while still trying to maintain the same overall "groove"...the same distance per stroke...streamlining...etc...
Newmastersswimmer
p.s. I really like your forum name Solar Energy.....I am a big supporter of Solar Energy myself....My feeling is that we should put more focus on utilizing Solar Energy in more creative ways (and environmentally safe ways) as opposed to many of the other directions being explored today....there is soooo many possibilities for doing this.....Why put so much into nuclear energy (or more specifically fusion such as cold fusion research ...etc) when we have a naturally occuring thermonuclear power plant at our disposal that has enough thermonuclear fuel to supply all of our energy needs and much much more for millions and millions of years?? Anyway, for all those of you who may think I went "way off topic" with these final remarks, ...We were discussing "energy efficiency" in this thread right?....just not exactly in the same way as I'm referring to here....just a small accidental oversight on my part is all ..so relax...LOL!!
Problem is that at these speeds, for most of us, technical deterioration quickly kicks in, probably as a result of small muscles fatigue (those small muscles responsable for maintaining proper technique). We quickly loose distance per stroke and must start applying greater loads of efforts in order to keep the pace.
Challenge is to mainain a steady distance per stroke throughout the set
posted by Solar Energy
I have been focusing a lot on this very aspect myself....I like to have a longer swim somewhere in my workouts (sometimes wearing hand paddles and sometimes without paddles)....I start of slow and try to really tune into the feeling of "smooth efficiency" and catching as much water as possible....long underwater dolphin kicking and tight streamlining off of every turn until I feel I have reached a comfortable "groove".....then I gradually try and pick up the pace every 100 or so untill I am moving at a rate that is beyond anerobic threshhold to maintain for too long ....while still trying to maintain the same overall "groove"...the same distance per stroke...streamlining...etc...
Newmastersswimmer
p.s. I really like your forum name Solar Energy.....I am a big supporter of Solar Energy myself....My feeling is that we should put more focus on utilizing Solar Energy in more creative ways (and environmentally safe ways) as opposed to many of the other directions being explored today....there is soooo many possibilities for doing this.....Why put so much into nuclear energy (or more specifically fusion such as cold fusion research ...etc) when we have a naturally occuring thermonuclear power plant at our disposal that has enough thermonuclear fuel to supply all of our energy needs and much much more for millions and millions of years?? Anyway, for all those of you who may think I went "way off topic" with these final remarks, ...We were discussing "energy efficiency" in this thread right?....just not exactly in the same way as I'm referring to here....just a small accidental oversight on my part is all ..so relax...LOL!!
