Everyone who watched coverage of the World Championships this year no doubt noticed Michael Phelps new distinct lope in his freestyle. I know a lot of other swimmers do this too, and their freaking fast, so this morning I asked my coach about it. She looked at me quizzically and said it's a very bad habit to have and if you don't do it naturally just forget about it.
But, Phelps didn't have this very obvious lope up to now, and he just broke 5 world records with it. So it doesn't seem like it can be that bad. I'm not to prove my coach wrong, I'm just curious.
So if anybody knows anything, please share. Why does it make some fast and for others it could be considered a bad habit? What's the trick to learning it? If it is a bad habit, why did Phelps bother to pronounce it?
I love the Scottish announcer in the Athens vid. I kept expecting him to say something like "Phelps has been setting world records since he was a wee bairn." :)
After watching the two videos the thing that struck me the most about the difference in Phelps' stroke is how high his elbows are now on his recovery. I'm guessing he's doing this to get his arms into a higher elbow position on the catch (EVF, if you will). I think Phelps has always loped, though. Maybe it's more pronounced now. Honestly, I think swimmers should strive for a symmetrical stroke, but there's nothing wrong with loping for those who succeed with it. Yes, you need to be careful about what's going on with your shoulder and not leaning on it to much, but I don't think there's any evidence I know of suggesting lopers are more prone to injury. I think the proof is in the pudding that you can swim very fast with a loping stroke. There have been lots of great swimmers with this kind of stroke.
I love the Scottish announcer in the Athens vid. I kept expecting him to say something like "Phelps has been setting world records since he was a wee bairn." :)
After watching the two videos the thing that struck me the most about the difference in Phelps' stroke is how high his elbows are now on his recovery. I'm guessing he's doing this to get his arms into a higher elbow position on the catch (EVF, if you will). I think Phelps has always loped, though. Maybe it's more pronounced now. Honestly, I think swimmers should strive for a symmetrical stroke, but there's nothing wrong with loping for those who succeed with it. Yes, you need to be careful about what's going on with your shoulder and not leaning on it to much, but I don't think there's any evidence I know of suggesting lopers are more prone to injury. I think the proof is in the pudding that you can swim very fast with a loping stroke. There have been lots of great swimmers with this kind of stroke.
