Newbie Questions and Answers

You just described me. My coaches kept telling me that I was dropping my elbow, but couldn't really tell me what I was doing to stop it. I recently started to feel the water more and have less slippage in the last half of the underwater stroke. How do I know that my elbow is dropping? I have very inflexible shoulders but have been working on it. 6 months ago, my hand entry would be near my forehead and because of my lack of flexibility would push my hand forward underwater into a kind of Hitler salute (palm down but below me). I know recover my arm completely above the water and my palm comes down on to the water. I think I went from one extreme to the other in trying to fix my elbow problem. I've been helping some triathletes here in Texas with this problem. Most every single one of them start the hand entry right by their ears or head instead of the arm entering straight ahead (at shoulder width with a longer reach). This creates a second problem to the slippage: it causes them to "fishtail" as they swim rather than more in a straight line. Once they started correcting this, they also started swimming forward and more straight AND with slippage reductions they travel faster. The fingertip drill helped them immensely, as did keeping an eye on their elbow being higher than the hand on the pull portion. I think for lots of people that dropping the elbow is just comfortable, but is a terrible habit. And it sounds as if you are making great corrections; way to go Bill! Donna

Dropped elbows during the catch phase. Every triathlete I have worked has this problem. Most swimmers I have worked with have had this problem and it is easily changed. The fast change is to swim with the forearms. If this explanation works for you problem solved. If not it takes lots of words to solve this when we are writing it out.

Dropped elbows during the catch phase. Every triathlete I have worked has this problem. Most swimmers I have worked with have had this problem and it is easily changed. The fast change is to swim with the forearms. If this explanation works for you problem solved. If not it takes lots of words to solve this when we are writing it out. True, George. I also had this group swim with fists and they realized the importance of the hand/forearm/correct entry was to the catch portion. One more set of e-z words to help with the dropped elbows: think of swimming with your forearm/shoulder over a barrel (exaggerated of course), but one gets the picture with that description. Dropped elbows=slow swimming. Always.

You know me I try to keep it simple. True, George. I also had this group swim with fists and they realized the importance of the hand/forearm/correct entry was to the catch portion. One more set of e-z words to help with the dropped elbows: think of swimming with your forearm/shoulder over a barrel (exaggerated of course), but one gets the picture with that description. Dropped elbows=slow swimming. Always.

Thanks, Barb!!! Actually, Slowswim there was a thread a little while back re: short axis. Allen summed it up best, I think, when he said that short axis strokes have more of an undulation than a see-saw. Short axis is kind of misleading... I really think people called it that just because it's the opposite of long axis (which is a VERY good description for the body motion in free and back.) forums.usms.org/showthread.php

Careful, too much slippage and you'll end up like me (if you're a chick of course!) :p :hug: :rofl::rofl: Donna

Slippage is when you lose the water that you have grabbed at the catch portion of the stroke and fail to push that grabbed water throughout the stroke. Thus, the grabbed water is "lost" and the arm goes through the underwater stroke portion quickly in order to get to the recovery portion and into the grab (pull) portion again. This is predominant in people who drop their elbows and who start the "S" movement too early in the underwater pull portion of the stroke. And many people equate the "S" movement with the outsweep and insweep which is incorrect. Donna

This is predominant in people who drop their elbows and who start the "S" movement too early in the underwater pull portion of the stroke. And many people equate the "S" movement with the outsweep and insweep which is incorrect. Donna You just described me. My coaches kept telling me that I was dropping my elbow, but couldn't really tell me what I was doing to stop it. I recently started to feel the water more and have less slippage in the last half of the underwater stroke. How do I know that my elbow is dropping? I have very inflexible shoulders but have been working on it. 6 months ago, my hand entry would be near my forehead and because of my lack of flexibility would push my hand forward underwater into a kind of Hitler salute (palm down but below me). I know recover my arm completely above the water and my palm comes down on to the water. I think I went from one extreme to the other in trying to fix my elbow problem.

A couple of weeks ago, I swam several 25s for time to get a seed time for a sprint meet. I learned several things from this experience, which I hope can save other Newbies some grief and pain. I'm not sure what went wrong, but I think it was a combination of two factors: (1) I wasn't nearly warmed up enough and (2) I tried to swim "faster" than my technique could hold up to. :doh: Anyway, I hurt myself - shoulders, upper back, neck. I swam through the pain for a week or so when everything locked up. Between anti-inflamatories, muscle relaxants, a massage, some chiropractic and a week off, I'm back to not hurting. BUT, I had hoped to swim my best in the upcoming meet and now I'm hoping just to swim without hurting myself (no 25s; I learned my lesson). I swam for the first time today (gingerly) and am totally cranked off at myself for messing up. :frustrated: Aquafeisty warned me of the dangers of swimming too hard to soon, and to be honest, I didn't think a few 25 yd sprints would count as too hard. So, my fellow newbies, before you do something like this (esp if you are swimming alone), consult with some of the gurus here on the correct way to proceed so you can do it without injury. :cane: