End of Controversy - No catch-up or straight arm catch

Former Member
Former Member
I know everyone has been watching the Olympics and if anyone sees someone (in any stroke and at any distance) not showing an Early Vertical Forearm (EVF) stroke please point it out to me. In the men’s 400 Fr Relay, Lezak’s better EVF stroke helped him touch the wall before Bernard who dropped his elbows in the last few strokes. These Olympic Games should put to rest the controversy of the catch-up stroke (never once performed by any freestyler in these Olympics). So what you see someone do in a drill (catch-up) is not done in competitive swims when it counts!! The high elbow at the front quadrant of every stroke is so pronounced that every lay-on-a-straight-arm proponent has to become a convert (I know it’s not ever going to happen). I’m anxious to hear the rationalizations and support from the opposition. If you’re watching with your eyes open, there’s no catch-up and no straight-arm catch - PERIOD!!! If you want to make significant gains in your swimming focus on improving your Early Vertical Forearm technique. Improving your EVF should take about 6 to 8 weeks and when that becomes better you should focus on improving a good streamlined position by spending as much time as possible on your side while making sure that your catch begins early. Of course athleticism goes hand in hand with improvement. But you get my drift. Nuff-said.
Parents
  • Sorry you people who call front quadrant swimming a catchup stroke it is not. Just because you see something and give it the wrong name does not mean you are right. If your coach told you they were swimming catchup front crawl, better change your coach. It seems like purely semantics to me, George. What do you consider to be a catch-up stroke? To me a catch-up stroke means there's some kind of pause out front before initiating the catch where the recovering arm is "catching up." The recovering arm doesn't have to catch all the way up. Why don't the women gallop? Good question. I don't really know. I have noticed that more women seem to breathe bilaterally and this probably has something to do with it. Why this is the case, though, I have no idea. This reminds me, did anyone else notice Lezak breathes every stroke even for a 100?
Reply
  • Sorry you people who call front quadrant swimming a catchup stroke it is not. Just because you see something and give it the wrong name does not mean you are right. If your coach told you they were swimming catchup front crawl, better change your coach. It seems like purely semantics to me, George. What do you consider to be a catch-up stroke? To me a catch-up stroke means there's some kind of pause out front before initiating the catch where the recovering arm is "catching up." The recovering arm doesn't have to catch all the way up. Why don't the women gallop? Good question. I don't really know. I have noticed that more women seem to breathe bilaterally and this probably has something to do with it. Why this is the case, though, I have no idea. This reminds me, did anyone else notice Lezak breathes every stroke even for a 100?
Children
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