Newbie question - and sorry for my lack of technical terms :-)
When I watch a lot of lap swimmers they seem to be swimming "flat" i.e. chest pointing at bottom of pool and with the only "rotation" being the head turn to breathe.
However, I picked up Janet Evans' Total Swimming book and she says that for freestyle, the body is constantly rotating 90 deg facing left of pool and 90 deg facing right of the pool. And after pushoff, the only time the chest is parallel to the bottom of the pool is at the precise moment between rotating from one side to side.
I'm confused - are there just different schools of thought? Or is one used more for racing and the other for laps?
Parents
Former Member
I don't know of any elite swimmers that swim freestyle with no rotation, there are several advantages to rotation in terms of streamlining and ability to utilize muscles. There are hundreds of videos on youtube.com of elite swimmers, check some of them out and see for yourself.
I don't know of any elite swimmers that swim freestyle with no rotation, there are several advantages to rotation in terms of streamlining and ability to utilize muscles. There are hundreds of videos on youtube.com of elite swimmers, check some of them out and see for yourself.
