Theories a new look to an old thread

The paddle wheel idea that pushing water straight would make something (a vessel) go forward, worked for paddle-wheel boats. Moving water straight back is a great way to show how drag forces can propel a swimmer forward. In the early 70's the great swimming researcher, James E. Counsilman showed underwater video of great swimmers as they moved through the water. He showed that the hand moved in a sculling (back and forth) motion as it moved backward. Moving water with a hand that is pitched, toward the midline of the body from a position outside the shoulders, is a great way to show how lift forces (Animated Demonstration of Bernoulli's Principle) > home.earthlink.net/.../venturi.html It's important to note that Dr. Counsilman's underwater video showed that great swimmers entered and exited their hands near the same point. This demonstration showed that great swimmers were able to catch water more effectively than slower swimmers. Great swimmers moved their body over their hands vs. pushing water at high velocities past their bodies (swooshing water isn't good). Doctor Counsilman also showed that every fast swimmer tended to look as if the hand and arm were moving over a barrel during the first quadrant of each stroke. This "over the barrel" motion is now called the catch or Early Vertical Forearm (EVF) position. The EVF is common and has been common among long course, short course, and open water championship swimmers. The under water video given at the end of this thread, shows all four competitive strokes from champion swimmers with an EVF. There has been discussion about Drag vs. Lift forces and which one predominates in competitive swimming. It seems that not only lift and drag forces are common during fast swimming but eddie currents (turbulence all around a moving body), frontal resistance, air turbulence (on the hand and caused by the feet), and vortexes (tunnels of swirling air and water) behind the hand as it pushes water back. Now, I'll try to give my two cents and show how these theories can be used to help you swim faster (not necessarily in order but I'll try). Eleven coaches at the Senior Nationals in Irvine California were asked, "what would they teach first when coaching the freestyle. Nine of the eleven said the "catch" or EVF. The ability to reach and acquire a hand that is below the elbow as early as physically possible, will help you swim faster. The fact of the matter is that this skill is difficult to teach and was once thought of as a gift only talented swimmers could acquire. Today, not only do we know that's not true but new EVF equipment and training strategies are proving that anyone able to learn can improve their EVF. Next, streamlining is another skill that allows swimmers to reduce frontal resistance. TI is wonderful at helping swimmers combat frontal resistance and thus helps them attain body position while swimming and in and out of walls that will help them swim faster. Next, Lift vs. Drag. Drag can be thought of a couple of positive ways. Drag is the ability to leverage water or hold it at any given time. The time however when drag forces are exerted can be help or hinder a swimmer. So, knowing when and where to leverage water during the stroke is critical to swimming fast. Most swimmers exert pressure with a straight arm in the first quadrant of the stroke. This pressure lifts the body up and not forward, so the use of drag forces during the transition from the fourth quadrant to the first is not good according to this coach. There has been more than a few good coaches that contend otherwise so I'll let you decide. Let me use the example of someone with "swimmer's shoulder" putting on the largest set of hand paddles and trying to swim. The injured swimmer would be exerting pressure at the start of the stroke and the fulcrum area would be so close to the shoulder (head of the humerus) that more injury is likely to occur. I know this is a gross example but swimmers who love to feel that pressure at the start of their stroke aren't developing good habits (just my opinion) Next, as the hand enters the water, just outside the shoulder it moves into an EVF for good swimmers, a late vertical position for mediocre swimmers, and the slowest swimmers would be so late, they would drop their elbows so the hand catches very little water. After an EVF position is reached the hand begins to gain unwanted vortices of turbulence behind it and must move toward the midline and into water that is more still so it can maintain drag forces. This is where the appearance (my opinion) and wrongfully so, that sculling or lift forces begin to contribute to freestyle propulsion. I believe drag forces play a predominate role during the freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly. I also believe that drag forces play more of a propulsive contribution during the breaststroke than most coaches are lead to believe. So, if you want to swim faster, work to maintain an EVF and keep leveraging the water by moving the leveraged water into still water via a sculling motion. DO NOT scull toward the midline too quickly and most definitely not until an EVF is acquired. Next, the need to remove air from the hand is important and this process occurs during the transition from the fourth quadrant to the first. At this time I should describe the quadrants and what each includes. I]Each competitive stroke can be separated into various parts. If we use four parts or quadrants we can dissect each stroke into a front quadrant where propulsion occurs, a second quadrant where the finish or completion of the stroke occurs, a third quadrant where the recovery is initiated, and the fourth quadrant where the recovery makes the transition to the entry. An over the water recovery during the breaststroke should be encouraged when the swimmer effectively cleans all the air from their hand before the begin pulling in the first quadrant. When swimmers show coaches that they can't effectively remove air bubbles from their hand, they should be told to use an underwater breaststroke recovery. Moving water into the wall can be attributed to the movement of a swimmers body and the turbulence that body brings to the wall. I tell swimmer to take the width of their body and double it (really a little less) and during a turn, they should get under that distance to avoid the turbulence and resistive force they brought to the wall. So getting deep during a turn is important. Next, the distance the hand moves toward the body during the sculling motion as it moves backward and to the finish of the stroke is important. The eddie currents moving around the body are currents and that's not "still" water. So, if the hand moves too close to the belly or the hips, they reduce leverage or the ability to effectively leverage water. I tell swimmers, especially butterflyers to scull away from their hips as they finish their stroke. I will often catch novice freestylers moving their hand to quickly toward the mid-line and too close to their body. I've enjoyed talking about theories and applications of those theories as it relates to faster swimming. I'd enjoy to talk more but I've decided to write an article on the topic of propulsion and hope to have it worthy of this forum. Good luck to you and to you in the New Year. Coach T.