I have 2 questions for the group. 1) has anyone ever experienced fatigue/tightness of one stroking arm, while the other side seems to be relaxed/loose? My left arm seems to get tight and my upper back muscles seem to tighten from time to time when I swim freestyle...not all the time but enough to make me wonder why.
Any thoughts/suggestions?
2) This has been a topic of debate with a friend of mine and myself. He believes that a person should slip their hand back into the water fairly soon as the recovering hand passes the head and drive it to the catch position through the water.
I use to be a believer in this until the last year or so, when I finally realized that it is more difficult to stay relaxed. I am starting to think the recovering arm should enter farther down the pool.
What do you all think? Soon as it passes the head or farther out over the water?
Thanks,
John
I used to think the late entry was the way to go. Now I try to use an earlier entry. My take on it is this. During the brief extra time that your arm is out of the water the rest of your body has to sink a little to displace the volume of your arm. My guess is that your legs will ride slightly lower in the water on average with a later entry. During the underwater phase of the recovery your arm provides a better streamline than a slightly sagging back end.
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I used to think the late entry was the way to go. Now I try to use an earlier entry. My take on it is this. During the brief extra time that your arm is out of the water the rest of your body has to sink a little to displace the volume of your arm. My guess is that your legs will ride slightly lower in the water on average with a later entry. During the underwater phase of the recovery your arm provides a better streamline than a slightly sagging back end.
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