I'm a straight arm flyer and lead with my wrists. I was told by a very knowledgable person that this might be hard on the shoulders if you're not flexible (Although personally I am very flexible and loosey goosey, so I don't feel like I'm straining anything.)
So do others think straight arm fly is actually hard on the shoulders? Should we be leading with the elbows instead of the wrists? This seems odd to me. From what I can tell, Michael Phelps has a straight arm fly. I'll have to look at Crocker again. Thoughts?
Parents
Former Member
I'm mostly a straight arm flyer too I suppose....As I have mentioned before in other threads, I like to think of my arms as being like the oars on a row boat....They only clear the water by about an inch or two and they sweep around quickly during the recovery phase much like oars do (and I try and keep my recovery as smooth and energy efficient as possible too)....oars are straight last time I checked. One reason for utilizing this kind of recovery is so that you do not have to lift your front end up very high out of the water to take a breath....I believe in grabbing quick breaths and keeping my head down and body postion as level as possible with the water....then I let my kick drive the stroke and if you time the kick(s) correctly, the propulsion from your second kick should keep your forward momentum going while your arms quickly sweep around during the recovery phase....thats the idea in theory anyway.
Bork
I'm mostly a straight arm flyer too I suppose....As I have mentioned before in other threads, I like to think of my arms as being like the oars on a row boat....They only clear the water by about an inch or two and they sweep around quickly during the recovery phase much like oars do (and I try and keep my recovery as smooth and energy efficient as possible too)....oars are straight last time I checked. One reason for utilizing this kind of recovery is so that you do not have to lift your front end up very high out of the water to take a breath....I believe in grabbing quick breaths and keeping my head down and body postion as level as possible with the water....then I let my kick drive the stroke and if you time the kick(s) correctly, the propulsion from your second kick should keep your forward momentum going while your arms quickly sweep around during the recovery phase....thats the idea in theory anyway.
Bork
