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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Former Member
I think y'all'll agree that Doc Counsilman described it best in saying that the freestyle recovery begins with pulling the hand out from deep in one's pocket, pitching it forward ballistically as with a baseball, and entering the water thumb first, (thus avoiding the dreaded dropped elbow with the commencing of the stroke). He was, of course, describing the recovery of the best swimmers as observed by underwater filming. Yes I agree 95-100% with this description. My only concern would be the thum first hand entry. It's great for someone capable of doing it without locking the shoulder but for others with maybe less fine coordination, I may prefer fingers first. Not "little finger" first, not "thumb first" but (the remaining) 3 fingers first.
That being said, at a high level (which is probably Doc's specialty), thumb first makes a lot of sense.
I think y'all'll agree that Doc Counsilman described it best in saying that the freestyle recovery begins with pulling the hand out from deep in one's pocket, pitching it forward ballistically as with a baseball, and entering the water thumb first, (thus avoiding the dreaded dropped elbow with the commencing of the stroke). He was, of course, describing the recovery of the best swimmers as observed by underwater filming. Yes I agree 95-100% with this description. My only concern would be the thum first hand entry. It's great for someone capable of doing it without locking the shoulder but for others with maybe less fine coordination, I may prefer fingers first. Not "little finger" first, not "thumb first" but (the remaining) 3 fingers first.
That being said, at a high level (which is probably Doc's specialty), thumb first makes a lot of sense.
