Most important phase in swimming???

I answered this along the lines of "if I sucked at everything else, which would make me go fastest?" I think more than anything else what matters is how your strokes transmit force against the water. That occurs catch to finish. Your hands could enter sloppy, your kick could be bad, etc. but if you transmit power well you'll move forward quickly.

Its really impossible to say that one aspect contributes the most to swimming because it depends on the level of the swimmer and what the event is. The one which creates the most propulsion is clearly the catch and then subsequently the pull, because once you catch a lot of water, it is pretty easy to move it back, but catching that water is what is difficult. After your arms can bring you up to a certain speed, it is much more worthwhile to learn to apply that force smarter, that is, cut through the water with shoulder rotation and streamline. Depending on the event, I think the kick has different importance, Cullen Jones couldn't kick like Laure Manadou and expect do do nearly as well, just like it is impossible to meet a good breaststroker who can't kick. So all in all, it is impossible to say if one aspect is the most important, that is a question for individual swimmers based on their certain skills.

I watched a video today of construction workers digging out a foudation for a home. It was done by a couple of workers one who was in a hurry and one that was slow and methodical. The fast worker was doing more than the slow worker at first but like the hare and the tortoise the slow worker accomplished more volume in the end.

I think you could have a poll like this for all 4 strokes and the outcome would be completely different for all 4. Maybe you could do one for each? In the meantime I decided to vote for streamline, or the glide between strokes. It might not be the most crucial for me as a *** stroke swimmer, but I find that that is where I can loose of lot of speed that I just carried off the wall and have tried to continue with my kick and pull.

Would have voted for core body position. Not the streamline but sucking in the gut and having a tight core or vessel. Then go from there. Guess that's not a phase. Need to lock and load before I can get moving properly. When I'm swimming with an arched back with gut out and head up, I'm just spinning and going nowhere.

You kick freaks are out of your minds. A good kick will certainly make a good swimmer great, but it's all about the arms. I have dragged my feet to some fairly respectable times over the years. And I can't tell you how many of you non kicking naysayers I've blown by the last 5 yards by ratcheting up my kick and won races the last 30 years....so please....keep up with your two beat foot draggin!! :) For me swimming is such an all body experiance that I simply can't say that it is any of the single things George lists, I beleive each in its own right deserves time and focus through lots of drill work but just like a great kick, if you can't put the whole thing together non of it matters. Interesting however that the list did not include core development/integration since in all sports its the single biggest source of power ties all things together?

Is it not surprising how polls can be so wrong. Now I do not want to get into politics.

Paul you are right it is not just one thing it is all of the above and many more. The kick is very important to me and I do and have kicked like hades in a 50, 100, and 200. But when I swam in the marathon races I found that a hard furious kick is not important and it only balances. I never kick hard in training and never swim at top speed during training, but in a 50 or 100 race fly or free it is a very kick oriented event for me. The kick in the sprint is what gives you a fast time. The faster the kick is, the faster your stroke is, the faster your time is.