Youtube Video

Thanks Steve, 12 Mpix. To me it feels like I am holding EVF, the camera shows otherwise! :confused: Back to the swim lab. I am taking Ande's advice and have turned Christmas shutdown into a swimcation (c Ande). Here in sunny Naples FL the pool yesterday turned out to be a Councilman swimmer reunion. There was a 3 generation trio of women where the grandmother swam for Doc before NCAA sports, she didn't say when but she's 65, her daugher who swam for IU and her daughter who went to Councilman camps. Two guys from Chicago who swam for Doc sometime back when.

To me it feels like I am holding EVF, the camera shows otherwise! :confused: You are catching in the position but your pulling down from there.

Here in sunny Naples FL the pool yesterday turned out to be a Councilman swimmer reunion. There was a 3 generation trio of women where the grandmother swam for Doc before NCAA sports, she didn't say when but she's 65, her daugher who swam for IU and her daughter who went to Councilman camps. Two guys from Chicago who swam for Doc sometime back when. Uh... did you ask them to help you with your stroke? If you would have asked them to show you EVF, you would have gotten a better visual than we can provide. I bet at least one of them would have been proud to show off their knowledge. EVF is something you can work out out of the water, with the benefit of being able to stop, use mirrors, look around, etc. From a standing position, stand in superman (not full speed with fist, cruising speed with hands flat). Your hands are about shoulder width apart. Now drop one arm, so you can focus on just the other arm. Lock your wrist, there should never be any bend in the wrist (at least for this exercise). Now, the goal is to go from one arm superman to your palm facing the floor while keeping your hand as high off the floor as possible. That path with be the same path your hand takes in the water. For me, from superman, the hand travels down in an arch to palm down position at about 6'4" from the ground (I am 6'2"). My upper arm is in line with my head, and my forearm and hand are 90 degrees to my body. If superman is 12 o'clock, my elbow moves to 1 o'clock to allow me to keep my hand as high as possible. Once you are happy you are doing the right thing, you can do both hands at the same time. Then you can bend over and do them with stretch cords SLOWLY. The idea isn't really to build strength, but to become comfortable with the path your hand needs to take from superman to EVF catch position. Light stretch cords work the best because you are just looking for enough resistance so you have something to pull against. Once you figure it out and transfer it in the water, you will be able to tell a difference. One thing you will notice pretty quick is that you are using some new muscles ;)

Getting there. Try to make a deliberate pause at max extension. YouTube- Ian Thorpe swimming freestyle 5 - front view

That looks alot better to me too. You are actually moving faster than it appears, yards, right?. Like mentioned above, try crabbing water further out in front. Question, did you swim prior in life as a kid or in college or did you start from scratch, old, like myself?

YouTube- IMGP0077.AVI Steve, This video more than any of others shows me the following: 1) Get your head down, you're looking forward so your head is not in alignment with your spine and is causing your hips to drop putting you in an 'uphill' position (look at how far your rear is under the surface) 2) You are swimming extremely flat. Very limited shoulder roll and what hip roll there is is lagging your shoulder roll. I would suggest distance per stroke drills with fins where you focus on two things: 1) get your stroke as long as you can by reaching as far forward as you can. 2) 'riding the rails' - overexagerate your body roll so you are getting on your side at the end of each roll You arm position and catch are good but you are not getting any real power from them since you are in such an uphill and flat position.

Totally agree with Paul. You need to spend time with some Total Immersion drills.

Your catch looks better.

YouTube- IMGP0077.AVI

I'm not seeing an S-pattern on the arms. It's still paddle-wheel. Once you get a catch, which should involve some outward movement of the hand/forearm, you should be increasing the angle at the elbow and curving your hand inward and upward toward your body as you pull. Then as you transition to a push, pivoting outward again toward the exit alongside your thigh. You might want to try using a hand paddle with only the middle-finger strap attached. That will keep your hand oriented correctly toward the greatest resistance against the water. If you do otherwise, you'll find the paddle slips off of your hand. The underwater portion of your front crawl stroke, ideally, can be summarized as: * Hand slicing into the water, with forearm and elbow following in the same slot, shoulder extending to maximum reach. (If you hear a "plop", correct your stroke.) * Hand moving downward toward still water, thumb down. * Hand moving outward slightly to the "corner", elbow up. Hand now oriented toward back of pool. * Elbow bends as hand moves toward solar plexus, body rotates along long axis so that navel is facing bottom of pool. * At about crux of sternum, hand is at closest position to body, hand still facing back wall of pool. * Stroke transitions from pull to push, major power phase, thumb sweeping from sternum to hip. * Hand ends past hip, pinkie down, hand toward side of pool. * Recovery initiated from elbow, hand and forearm passive, like drawing a gun from a holster.