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
Former Member
I think to many have the idea the only true way to swim is not to experiment with what they think is a brand new concept. My brother Tom who was considered to be one of the top marathon swimmers in the world experimented with going directly to the catch, no reach and found it was not as hard on his shoulders and back muscles. He found that his stroke rate increased (faster turnover) but it lessened the strain.
I have watched many swimmers who extend the arm forward the hand lifts, points up then the elbow drops, this is not good. On the recovery they forget to keep the elbow high, it drops and the hand skims the top of the water with the elbow droping while moving forward.
This being a masters board, i think I need to interject here. Just this year I have had to help two separate people complaining of neck pain when swimming.
In both cases they had read on the internet about having an early catch and decided to implement it.
One guy had to hold at about 2000 yards per week, the other lady had to stop swimming all together.
In both cases they did not have the flexibility to have an early catch without injuring themselves. Specifically their levator scapulae was doing a lot of work to internally rotate their shoulder. in these cases they did not have the flexibility to internally rotate at the shoulder joint itself and had to rotate their entire shoulder complex forward to get into the early catch position.
This might be cool for kids to do due to good flexibility, but those of us with a few more grey hairs need to be careful when doing these specific things, realizing that going for that early catch can make our shoulder problems worse.
Ok how do you test for the flexibility to use an early catch?
Ok how do you test for the flexibility to use an early catch?
Technically you would do an internal shoulder rotation test. Position yourself like a scarecrow with forearms vertical, then holding your humerus still, rotate your forearms forward in the saggital plane without moving your scapula at all. The amount of rotation below vertical is your internal rotation.
You'd probably be looking at 10 degrees or more to feel real good about it.
Functionally though, go and swim with an early catch. If it hurts, back off, if not proceed.
The threat of injuries are in ignorance of the problem, now that you know what can happen and what brings it around you'll be fine. The issue is when someone adopts this style without knowing the problems it can cause.
Technically, an Early Vertical Forearm isn't a style of swimming it's a function of propulsion. The two forces that are primarily responsible for propulsion are drag force and lift force. Fluid dynamics and Bernoulli's equation can get very complex (Sorry George) but it's important to know that the continuity of fluid or it's density stays constant when the flow rate stays constant. You want to create the highest drag force possible and still maintain a constant flow rate and an EVF position helps you do this. So, EVF is a position that allows for the most efficient leveraging of water. Sweeping the hand back and forth is commonly called "sculling" and also produces propulsion but it primarily compliments drag forces by moving the hand into still water. I know this seems a bit much but EVF is not foreign to any swimmer even if they think it is. In other words, how early or to what degree you move your forearm and hand vertically is a question, but there is not a question that every swimmer uses drag and lift forces inherent in an early vertical forearm position. Every swimmer uses the principals of an EVF whether they want to admit it or not.
