The first loss of a master is memory, the second...I forgot. I probably have already asked this question, but here goes:
Does anyone bring their arm straight down and out after the grab? I am talking no sculling, no lateral movement, just bringing the arm straight parallel with the line maintaining the elbow high position. This would be to avoid crossing the midline with your forearm. Even though I breathe on the left, I still rotate fully to the right (a learned and trained and voluntary movement), but even so my right forearm tends to the middle, while my left arm has less pull and is erractic. When I learned the crawl it was from watching Tarzan movies, later when I was 16 and in a USA high school they taught the S shaped movement or the straight down and back. In those days the breathing was to one side. Last question: aside from timing both methods, what are your preferences on the long dolphin versus "less dolphin" emerging sooner method of starts and turns on a 50 meter short course freestyle race? Thanks, billy fanstone
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Ok, so maybe I got this problem in my head, more because my coach told me I was crossing the middle with my forearm. The same thing happened when I read that swimming fast short distances (50?) some of the elite didn't complete the cycle, recovering from waist line. In practice I usually try to memorize a certain movement to make it last into the real race. It does seem that if you cross your arm you aren't pushing much water back as opposed to straight down. However in straight down you are pushing some water "down" versus "backwards", although keeping your elbow high eliminates much of this. I guess there are different ways of swimming the free style. There is Hacket, then you got Popov doing a complete cycle, then you have Janet Evans doing it all wrong! The other day in a series of tempo (?) 50s I tried to vary my style and eventually the fastest was the "swim as fast as you can, don't give a damn about style", as compared to reaching out, completing a full cycle. Maybe the difference is that the fast guys can complete a full cycle fast and us slower guys have to take short cuts...take care, billy fanstone
Ok, so maybe I got this problem in my head, more because my coach told me I was crossing the middle with my forearm. The same thing happened when I read that swimming fast short distances (50?) some of the elite didn't complete the cycle, recovering from waist line. In practice I usually try to memorize a certain movement to make it last into the real race. It does seem that if you cross your arm you aren't pushing much water back as opposed to straight down. However in straight down you are pushing some water "down" versus "backwards", although keeping your elbow high eliminates much of this. I guess there are different ways of swimming the free style. There is Hacket, then you got Popov doing a complete cycle, then you have Janet Evans doing it all wrong! The other day in a series of tempo (?) 50s I tried to vary my style and eventually the fastest was the "swim as fast as you can, don't give a damn about style", as compared to reaching out, completing a full cycle. Maybe the difference is that the fast guys can complete a full cycle fast and us slower guys have to take short cuts...take care, billy fanstone
