I have been studying videos of swimmers and find what was once called the "S" stroke has almost disappeard.
I have noticed that flyers use it. But crawl swimmers have modified it so much that it is almost gone.
Has it been replaced completely or was it an optical illusion? Did underwater film show us it did not exist.
The pitch of the hand is ineffective unless it's moving toward or away from the mid-line (sculling).
Huh? Please explain.
I understand what you're saying with the "quiet water" thing. When you start pulling, you accelerate the water behind your hand. To create additional propulsive force you need to find additional quiet water to accelerate. If you just continue to push on the already accelerated water you don't produce any additional force. However, your hand is already describing more or less an arc when viewed in a sagittal (i.e., "side") plane. So aren't we already getting that effect even without the "S" pull?
I just looked at Cecil Colwin's Breakthrough Swimming to see what he says about it. Not to say his view is definitive, but here's a quote:
Although the swimmer tries to pull in a direct backward plane, the rotation of the body on its long axis causes the hand and forearm to move laterally inward and outward under the torso. This action produces a natural sculling effect as the hand pitches inward across the body and then outward to round out the stroke at the side of the body...
The pitch of the hand is ineffective unless it's moving toward or away from the mid-line (sculling).
Huh? Please explain.
I understand what you're saying with the "quiet water" thing. When you start pulling, you accelerate the water behind your hand. To create additional propulsive force you need to find additional quiet water to accelerate. If you just continue to push on the already accelerated water you don't produce any additional force. However, your hand is already describing more or less an arc when viewed in a sagittal (i.e., "side") plane. So aren't we already getting that effect even without the "S" pull?
I just looked at Cecil Colwin's Breakthrough Swimming to see what he says about it. Not to say his view is definitive, but here's a quote:
Although the swimmer tries to pull in a direct backward plane, the rotation of the body on its long axis causes the hand and forearm to move laterally inward and outward under the torso. This action produces a natural sculling effect as the hand pitches inward across the body and then outward to round out the stroke at the side of the body...
