I learned to swim as an adult a couple of years ago. When I started the front crawl, I would focus on being "long" in the water - i.e., really reaching with the forward hand on each stroke, and not pulling until the trailing hand entered the water (the TI front quadrant swimming concept).
But over time, my shoulders would bother me. And I recently learned that swimming with high elbows (envisioning your arm going over a barrel) is better for your shoulders. I was definitely dropping my elbows before.
The problem I'm having is that when I swim with high elbows, I feel like I'm not as "long" in the water, that I get less glide, and that generally, I have to work a lot harder (though my shoulders feel better). One obvious thing I've noticed is that with a high elbow stroke, I can't seem to keep my leading arm out in front until my trailing arm catches up.
Any thoughts? Thanks.
Edit: I should add that I'm a recreational swimmer, so technique that is easier on the shoulder is preferred to a technique that may be better for competitive swimmers but is more stressful to the shoulder joint.
Parents
Former Member
The problem I'm having is that when I swim with high elbows, I feel like I'm not as "long" in the water, that I get less glide, and that generally In this particular case, what you feel is of no interest compared to the actual result of this change.
And this actual result can easily be monitored with distance per stroke. This should therefore be your main point of focus while modifying this particular aspect of stroke mechanics.
For what it's worth, most of the time when I fall in an endless argument with any TI representative (including the guru himself), this is my main complain, and they don't seem to understand it, hence the fact that I am not keen to recommend this approach to swimming.
Swimming long, by over focusing on front quadrant often has a detrimental impact on articulations (elbows and shoulders). This is due to the fact that in swimming the freestyle, the catch phase should be made with less pressure than the propulsive phase that follows the catch (catch isn't supposed to be seen as a propulsive phase).
Listening and reading Total Immersion, front quadrant/longest possible distance per stroke is supposed to make swimming feel easy. Well I have news for them, performing a 1500 race is not easy, has never been and will never be (if beating your personal best is the goal). And over the years, I found out that finding your best *gear ratio* that is the optimal DPS (distance per stroke) / Stroke Rate combination can make it feel little easier by unloading the huge stress put on articulations as a result of wanting to swim tooooooooooooooooooo looooooooooooooooooooong.
I don't totally disagree with this way of swimming, because some have success with it. But I don't think that the majority of swimmers can tolerate this (I certainly can not).
If you want a more balanced approach to freestyle, regarding this distance per stroke / Stroke rate paradigm, just switch to SwimSmooth (www.swimsmooth.com)
Charles
Reply
Former Member
The problem I'm having is that when I swim with high elbows, I feel like I'm not as "long" in the water, that I get less glide, and that generally In this particular case, what you feel is of no interest compared to the actual result of this change.
And this actual result can easily be monitored with distance per stroke. This should therefore be your main point of focus while modifying this particular aspect of stroke mechanics.
For what it's worth, most of the time when I fall in an endless argument with any TI representative (including the guru himself), this is my main complain, and they don't seem to understand it, hence the fact that I am not keen to recommend this approach to swimming.
Swimming long, by over focusing on front quadrant often has a detrimental impact on articulations (elbows and shoulders). This is due to the fact that in swimming the freestyle, the catch phase should be made with less pressure than the propulsive phase that follows the catch (catch isn't supposed to be seen as a propulsive phase).
Listening and reading Total Immersion, front quadrant/longest possible distance per stroke is supposed to make swimming feel easy. Well I have news for them, performing a 1500 race is not easy, has never been and will never be (if beating your personal best is the goal). And over the years, I found out that finding your best *gear ratio* that is the optimal DPS (distance per stroke) / Stroke Rate combination can make it feel little easier by unloading the huge stress put on articulations as a result of wanting to swim tooooooooooooooooooo looooooooooooooooooooong.
I don't totally disagree with this way of swimming, because some have success with it. But I don't think that the majority of swimmers can tolerate this (I certainly can not).
If you want a more balanced approach to freestyle, regarding this distance per stroke / Stroke rate paradigm, just switch to SwimSmooth (www.swimsmooth.com)
Charles
