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
Former Member
I like the pull to follow the line on the bottom of the pool. Others will have it wider but I am in favor of an I stroke.
It is harder to do this if you are circle swimming. You can not get help from that black line.
I have sortof the same problem. I breathe to my right and left shoulder gets a little sore. The right one never gets sore. I think it comes from pushing down with your left arm to get a little more lift of your head when taking a breath.
Not sure how to correct this though other than trying not to do it...
You should not be "lifting" your head to breathe but turning it along with your shoulders and torso. The faster you're going, the less you need to turn the head, since your head will be creating a trough where you can open your mouth to breathe in ---below the level of the pool water.
i agree with geochuck that the I-Pull is where you want to be, generally.
i also agree with geochuck that you should definitely make some effort at bilateral breathing. in fact, i think that you should try permanently altering your breathing pattern to breathe every third arm stroke, at least until you get comfortable with bilateral breathing. if you breathe on the open side (not the armpit side) every third arm stroke, then you will have the ability to introduce more balance, as geochuck said, to your stroke. when you force yourself to become a bilateral breather, you force yourself to re-evaluate parts of your stroke that had theretofore become intuitive.
--Sean
Swimming world has a morning show interview with Ernie Maglischo that mentions the S-pull. He said that for a while they thought it was about sculling, but then they thought it was about applying a force over a longer path. It's worth a listen.
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?
I agree with Tracy. since I have similar problems with my left arm. I breathe to the right, every stroke.
Swimming world has a morning show interview with Ernie Maglischo that mentions the S-pull. He said that for a while they thought it was about sculling, but then they thought it was about applying a force over a longer path. It's worth a listen.
I'd say that most strokes (free) involve "some" sculling, even when they look like perfect EVFs and straight back pulls. As the body or torso rotates, the hand and forearm do a bit of sculling. Otherwise liners (and carriers) would be using paddlewheels ("Showboat" style) instead of screws.
I'd say that most strokes (free) involve "some" sculling, even when they look like perfect EVFs and straight back pulls. As the body or torso rotates, the hand and forearm do a bit of sculling. Otherwise liners (and carriers) would be using paddlewheels ("Showboat" style) instead of screws.
If humans had propellers we would no doubt use them. The science is now in and human hands make lousy propellers. One of the things that was overlooked for years is that human limbs and joints limit the movements we can make and that many movements are simply necessary to position body parts to where they can do some good. As you move your elbow from extended in front to extended behind it will follow an arc relative to your shoulder not a straight line, it's simple geometry. At full extension sideways is the only direction you can move.
Next time someone tells you that swimming propulsion comes primarily from sculls challenge them to a race, they scull and you swim, see who finishes a length first. If you really want to be picky both of you get on a surf board, one of you scull, the other paddle, the result will be similar.
Caterpillar action for sure Lindsay. But we do have to get the hand to the catch and out of the water at the finsh. The secret is in how we do these two things. It does give us lift if it is done right and it does help us move forward.
Swimming world has a morning show interview with Ernie Maglischo that mentions the S-pull. He said that for a while they thought it was about sculling, but then they thought it was about applying a force over a longer path. It's worth a listen.
that was excellent. thanks. for those that have trouble finding it, the site is here:
mms://208.106.250.220/MorningSwimShow/TheMorningSwimShowArchives/Monday(2008-05-05).wmv
Assuming Maglischo is right, then the current thinking on the S-Pull really erodes the distinctions between the S-Pull and the I-Pull quite a bit.
--Sean
