So I finally got some video of myself and my son up. This is the first time I'm seeing myself swim, and I'm horrified, lol.
My self-critique: Elbows not high enough, not extending arms very well, arms crossing midline a little on extension, and extending hand almost pushing water a little. Please feel free to add anything, and I'd appreciate advice on drills to address my specific weaknesses (and my son's).
www.youtube.com/watchwww.youtube.com/watch
My son's critique: Elbows drop some, he tends to pull a little too much to the outside rather than down the middle, and his left arm tends to go left on extension. Believe it or not he's much faster than the last time I posted video, he's gotten his 25m time down to 26 sec from 45 when the season started. Please add anything.
www.youtube.com/watchwww.youtube.com/watch
Thanks guys.
The attached frame illustrates the problem, with your right arm more than your left arm you pull your elbow backwards until it is over your body and bent at 90 degrees and then bring it straight forward over your body. Note how high over the water your hand is. The fingertip drag drill will keep your hand just above the water, reducing the rotation and keeping the momentum of the hand straight forward, which, combined with reaching further forward, will stop it from swinging into a crossover.
Also, look at your legs in this image, they are way too far apart with too much bend at the waste and knees. This will probably be toned down somewhat when your rotation is reduced, but you could try to consciously use a small quick kick.
Yeah, I see what you mean on the kick. I wonder if rotation primarily at the waist level while keeping my legs more vertical would work better for me. I know there are different schools of thought on this. The other thing with my kick, as I've mentioned before, is that I am totally lost on timing. I can do a two beat, where I basically downkick left rotate left, downkick right rotate right. But anything else feels awkward, to the extent that sometimes I feel like the lack of coordination between arms and legs affects my ability to keep the elbows high and catch water.
Do you think I'm overrotating, or is it just a matter of the recovery technique? You can see the degree of rotation in the underwater video. Perhaps doing the fingertip drill will lead me to the correct rotational degree as well.
The attached frame illustrates the problem, with your right arm more than your left arm you pull your elbow backwards until it is over your body and bent at 90 degrees and then bring it straight forward over your body. Note how high over the water your hand is. The fingertip drag drill will keep your hand just above the water, reducing the rotation and keeping the momentum of the hand straight forward, which, combined with reaching further forward, will stop it from swinging into a crossover.
Also, look at your legs in this image, they are way too far apart with too much bend at the waste and knees. This will probably be toned down somewhat when your rotation is reduced, but you could try to consciously use a small quick kick.
Yeah, I see what you mean on the kick. I wonder if rotation primarily at the waist level while keeping my legs more vertical would work better for me. I know there are different schools of thought on this. The other thing with my kick, as I've mentioned before, is that I am totally lost on timing. I can do a two beat, where I basically downkick left rotate left, downkick right rotate right. But anything else feels awkward, to the extent that sometimes I feel like the lack of coordination between arms and legs affects my ability to keep the elbows high and catch water.
Do you think I'm overrotating, or is it just a matter of the recovery technique? You can see the degree of rotation in the underwater video. Perhaps doing the fingertip drill will lead me to the correct rotational degree as well.
