Exercises to help you swim faster

I had a reply about the EVF pictures added to the thread "EVF resistance training for swimmers) that was very important because many swimmers don’t understand propulsive mechanics, so let me begin with the reply; "I understand the basic concept of EVF, but it seems all the exercises are working the wrong muscles. For example, the image with the small dumbbells seems like it would work my traps and middle deltoids, not my lats, pecs and rotator cuff. Same for many of the stretch cord exercises." Here it is my friends and I’ll try to be brief (George). “The rotator cuff, the muscles that stabilize the shoulder blade, trapezius, serratus anterior muscles, the muscles of the low back, abdominal, and pelvis that make up the “core” of the body (the abdominal and lower back muscles)” (1) are the EVF muscle groups and are responsible for holding the forearm and hand in a catch position. Doing or using pull-ups, push-ups, lat-pulls, hand-paddles, Vasa trainers, and other exercises and machines that strengthen the pull, are important exercises but without developing strong “catch” muscles, the most critical propulsive position in swimming can be greatly hindered or even lost. Pushing water faster without first establishing an Early Vertical Forearm does many things but two of the most counter-productive to swimming faster are as follows: 1) Upon entry, a fast pull either forces a dropped-elbow or if the swimmer locks their elbow and pulls with a straight arm a bobbing of the body. 2) A fast movement of the hand increases the vortex of water behind the hand and slippage or lost of drag/pressure. The EVF exercises are not to be done to replace a comprehensive strength training regime (see the thread EVF Resistance training for swimmers) and that must be made perfectly clear but they are critical for improving propulsion. When done at appropriate resistance levels, EVF isometrics, EVF stretch-cord, and EVF resistance exercises, can be done safely, relatively quickly (a few minutes a day). The article sited gives other important shoulder/rotator cuff drills that should become part of every swimmers training regime. So, swimming faster isn’t just about pulling harder it’s also about how you fundamentally set-up your stroke. Just like in most sports, with an improper set-up you may be setting yourself failure. Reference(1) “Shoulder Injury Prevention, A Series of Exercises for the UN-Injured Swimmer” Presented by USA Swimming and the Sports Medicine Task Force on Swimmer’s Shoulder April 2002