End of Controversy - No catch-up or straight arm catch
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
Former Member
Early Vertical certainly doesn't mean a rushed stroke, in fact, the setting up of the vertical forearm position is the slowest part of every stroke. After the forearm gets vertical it should make the transition into the power phase where the greatest drag force is applied to the water. From the power phase and into the transition to the completion of the stroke, the hand sculls in toward the midline of the body and into water that isn't as turbulent. The arm stroke of most swimmers has gone from a full extension of the forearm to shorter exit of the hand. I know everyone will be watching more from great swimming from China and like I said. we'll know a lot more about important propulsive cues.
Again, no swimmer in the Olympics waits for their hand to catch the other hand (catch-up stroke) , in any and all events. The hand for nearly every swimmer enters the water as the other is in an EVF or in the power phase. The EVF of each swimmer varies and it is one important variable separating each swimmer. The effective catch is one of the reasons Lezak won. After watching the video of Lezak, his left arm certainly shows a more pronounced EVF on his last stroke to the wall compared to the Frenchmen.
Early Vertical certainly doesn't mean a rushed stroke, in fact, the setting up of the vertical forearm position is the slowest part of every stroke. After the forearm gets vertical it should make the transition into the power phase where the greatest drag force is applied to the water. From the power phase and into the transition to the completion of the stroke, the hand sculls in toward the midline of the body and into water that isn't as turbulent. The arm stroke of most swimmers has gone from a full extension of the forearm to shorter exit of the hand. I know everyone will be watching more from great swimming from China and like I said. we'll know a lot more about important propulsive cues.
Again, no swimmer in the Olympics waits for their hand to catch the other hand (catch-up stroke) , in any and all events. The hand for nearly every swimmer enters the water as the other is in an EVF or in the power phase. The EVF of each swimmer varies and it is one important variable separating each swimmer. The effective catch is one of the reasons Lezak won. After watching the video of Lezak, his left arm certainly shows a more pronounced EVF on his last stroke to the wall compared to the Frenchmen.
