Today one of my teammates, probably the fastest swimmer on our team, was telling me that I should think of aiming my hands toward the bottom of the opposite end of the pool rather than of reaching forward before catching. When I watched him swim, it still looked like he was extending forward, so I'm not sure if the move is just subtle or "a feeling" or if it is really a change of arm angle. When I tried to reach down, I felt like I wasn't getting full extension, but he said it looked better. I don't want to go through what feels like a fundamental stroke change unless I'm sure I understand what I'm supposed to be doing. Can someone enlighten me? Thanks!
It all really depends on what kind of Freestyle stroke you want to swim. The long - close to catch-up Thorpe like stroke is great for 200+ distance. But it will not work for most swimmers in a 50 or 100 (Lezak would be the exception). I read a comment by Matt Grevers that he actually had to re-learn his Freestyle by pointing his fingers down when entering the water instead of pointing them at the wall.
For the new straight- arm recovery (or close to it), sprinters enter the water ready to pull - they don't need to reach any more.
Here is a link to the very best underwater video I have seen - the 4x100 Free from Beijing:
www.nbcolympics.com/.../share.html
You can see almost an entire 50 from Sullivan right underneath him. 50 from Phelps sprinting. You can see somebody like Bousquet doing the straight arm recovery Free, Weber-Gale seems to almost shorten his stroke on purpose, and you get Lezak swimming almost catch-up on one side.
This sort of thing is what would be maddening to me if I were a coach. You have these world-class sprinters who have a lot of differences in their strokes...why? Erik says that "almost catch-up" is not good for the 50/100 but that Lezak is an exception -- why is that?
I am certainly not disputing anything Erik is saying...it just makes blanket statements that "one MUST do so-and-so" a little difficult to take sometimes, because there is almost always a high-profile exception. And sometimes what was once seen as an aberration (eg Janet Evans' straight-arm recovery) eventually becomes more accepted.
Throw in all the factors that Heather mentions...this is far from being an exact science yet.:frustrated: (That doesn't mean we shouldn't try, of course.)
It all really depends on what kind of Freestyle stroke you want to swim. The long - close to catch-up Thorpe like stroke is great for 200+ distance. But it will not work for most swimmers in a 50 or 100 (Lezak would be the exception). I read a comment by Matt Grevers that he actually had to re-learn his Freestyle by pointing his fingers down when entering the water instead of pointing them at the wall.
For the new straight- arm recovery (or close to it), sprinters enter the water ready to pull - they don't need to reach any more.
Here is a link to the very best underwater video I have seen - the 4x100 Free from Beijing:
www.nbcolympics.com/.../share.html
You can see almost an entire 50 from Sullivan right underneath him. 50 from Phelps sprinting. You can see somebody like Bousquet doing the straight arm recovery Free, Weber-Gale seems to almost shorten his stroke on purpose, and you get Lezak swimming almost catch-up on one side.
This sort of thing is what would be maddening to me if I were a coach. You have these world-class sprinters who have a lot of differences in their strokes...why? Erik says that "almost catch-up" is not good for the 50/100 but that Lezak is an exception -- why is that?
I am certainly not disputing anything Erik is saying...it just makes blanket statements that "one MUST do so-and-so" a little difficult to take sometimes, because there is almost always a high-profile exception. And sometimes what was once seen as an aberration (eg Janet Evans' straight-arm recovery) eventually becomes more accepted.
Throw in all the factors that Heather mentions...this is far from being an exact science yet.:frustrated: (That doesn't mean we shouldn't try, of course.)
