Youtube Video

Like others have said, you are not rotating and swimming on your side. Do this 6 kick switch drill. Here is Popov doing it. YouTube- Alex Popov Roll Over Drill Here is a breakdown of the freestyle technique. YouTube- Popov - What's the Limit? (Part 3) YouTube- Popov - What's the Limit? (Part 4)

Hey Steve, I have a few hopefully helpful comments... One thing I notice is that your elbows are collapsing near the end of the stroke. If you look closely at Popov's freestyle, his initial catch is fantastic -- he plants his entire forearm into the water and propels his body by his arm. OK, a handful of people can do that, but it shouldn't keep us from trying! Your elbow drops just after your catch, perhaps due some to flexibility. My shoulders are pretty tight which I notice more in backstroke. Your head position is good and your alignment looks straight (your spine is straight, as it should be!) but then your elbow comes pretty close to your body in the last half of your stroke. This makes your hand slide through the water and you loose propulsion. I'd suggest trying to keep your elbow away from your body as you rotate your hip. Think of the sequence as plant and throw...plant your hand and forearm as an anchor into the water, then throw your hip as you accelerate your hand past it. Your shoulders and hip should rotate as a solid body, and your spine should remain straight as you move your body by your hand. But keep your elbow out and high, that should help. You should probably be looking at 14 to 15 strokes per lap instead of 18 to 20 with no increase in effort. Keep your core muscles engaged during the stroke so you have something to pull against, and see if that helps. Cheers and happy new year...

I'm not seeing an S-pattern on the arms. It's still paddle-wheel. I don't agree with Sharpsburger that you need to be pulling in a S pattern. If you goal is S pattern, than follow his tips, but if your goal is I pattern... Paddle wheel is when you pull in a straight line with with no elbow bend. In your last video, you have started to bend your elbow. When you are paddle wheeling your hand moves in an arc from start to finish of your pull, but what you want to do is get your palm facing backwards then pull in back in a straight line (I pattern) or follow Sharspburger's instructions for S pattern. They both catch the same, but with an I pattern you will want to enter wider, because you don't outsweep at the beginning of the stroke. I think you need to focus on one thing at a time. Keep working on catching the water early, you are on the right track with that. The next step is rolling you body. Body roll is important to lengthening your stroke so you get more distance for the same amount of effort. S pattern vs I pattern is probably something you will decide based on what is most comfortable.

If you do want to try an S-pattern, a nice drill to accustom your elbow to the bend is to swim with your thumb drawing a line from your nose to your navel. Then when you add the wider and deeper catch back in, and sweep your thumb to a position below the Y of your sternum, you should be doing a comfortable S. qbrain, do you think it's possible to get as much power and speed from an I pattern as from an S pattern? I know some sprinters now use a shortened straight-arm stroke, which is powerful but very energy-intensive. But this is the first time I've heard anyone actually recommend pulling straight back with a bent elbow. (But mind you, I've been out of the pool many years, and am new to swim forums.) I don't see how that could be as powerful or streamlined as an S stroke. I'd think if you had 2 swimmers otherwise equally matched, the S stroke would win every time.

Thank you qbrian, steve, rtodd, pwolf66, sharpsburger, and fritznh. The clips of Popov and Thorpe are excellent! Summer league and winter AAU age group untill 14 or 15 years old or so I can't remember exactly when. No high school or college swimming. My stroke dates to 1962 when I learned to swim. Hence the battle with rotation. Quote from qbrain: "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." Your advise was well taken, they helped as much (time) as they could spare then recommend I sign up with another former IUer Gary Hall Sr. at the Race Club. Doc Hall said to forget about hip and body driven free and to focus on shoulder driven rotation. It turns out that my rotation was coming from my arms pushing on the water to rotate my core -- I was doing it backwards! You can see in the last clip (77) the difference it makes. Unfortunately, swimcation is over and I am back in frozen Indiana. It will probably be some time before there is an opportunity to take more video. The amount of energy wasted using arm driven rotation was considerable since it now seems much much easier to swim. Now I need to "grind it in" (c) Ande The staggering differences between self perception and reality are the reason feed back from you all is so very valuable. Happy New Year all!

qbrain, do you think it's possible to get as much power and speed from an I pattern as from an S pattern? Yes, more actually. And I think several swimmers here have converted to I from S recently, myself included. I am not talking about the windmill nonsense sprinters are doing at the end of a 50, I am talking about a straight line from entry to exit point through the water. I am pretty sure we are talking about the same thing, just want to be clear.

Here is my first attempt at Breaststroke, Danville Masters meet had 25's!: YouTube- Breast25.wmv

Steve, Sorry I did not help you with your strokes . Next time, let us know who you are and I will assist you with your stroke. I do a lot of drills to help you feel the stroke. In addition, Chris Colburn, who is an excellent coach, was also there. Send me an email, you are welcome to swim with us if you want. Thanks for coming to our meet. Nadine

That was quite good. Excellent turnover. Basically 17 seconds with a pullout disaster. You can be under 30 with starts and turns.

Thank you Nadine and Chris and all for an excellent experience. Without 25's I wouldn't have tried anything except 50 free. No apology for not helping me since I didn't ask for any help and thanks for the invite to your social and sorry we couldn't make it. Rtodd, What is a pullout disaster? How about that , I am actually good at something!!! Whoohoo! :bliss::bliss: It doesn't make any sense though, *** is what I swim to recover from free. Just slow heads up breaststroke/sculling until I catch my breath and heart rate comes down.