Freestyle technique

For those who don't have the chance to own a copy of Swimming Fastest (E.Maglischo), here's some of the Author's thoughts about this concept. Now, for the record, I still believe that some swimmers may have benefits in *thinking* hip driven like I said earlier. Is Body Roll the Source of Propulsion? In the last decade, there has been widespread acceptance of the belief that rolling the hips from side to side is the major catalyst for propulsion in the front crawl and backstroke (Prichard 1993). Several analogies have been cited from other sports to supports this contention. Proponents of this technique point to the fact that land athletes initiate the striking, swinging and throwing arm motions by first rotating the hips in direction of the motion, procucing a summation of forces, which begins in the legs, that gains force as it travels upward through the hips. ... These experts describe the application of force in swimming as one where rotation of the hips is transferred to the shoulders and arms, providing more force for the armstroke. ... This is a misinterpretation of the concept of force summation, however. What has been overlooked is that the relationship between arm movements and hip rotation in swimming is very different from that in land activities. For one thing, analogies that support the propulsive role of hip rotation take place on land, where the feet are planted against the ground so that the hips can rotate around this center of implantation without causing the body to fly off into space. Swimmers on the other hand are freely suspended in the water, so there is not center of implantation from which they can generate force. ... Because the concept is recent, research on the relationship of hip rotation to propulsive force is sparse. Nevertheless, that research does not support the concept that hip rotation increases propulsive force. In the first study (Payton, HJay, and Mullineaux 1997), to simulate front-crawl swimming, researchers constructed a model of the trucnk and arm. They concluded that body roll did increase the inward and outward velocitites of the hand but not the backward velocities. This means that body roll might increase the production of lift forces during swimming but would have no effect on the production of drag forces. If you believe, as I do, that drag is the dominant propulsive force, then an increase in the amount or speed of hip rotation would do little to improve propulsive force. ... The point I am trying to make is an academinc one. I believe that the arms and shoulders are the pistons that actually provide the force, and the body rotates both to improve the propulsive efforts of the limbs and to maintain good lateral alignment. In other words, the arms lead the swimmers' stroking efforts and the hips follow - not the other way around. Now for the record, Maglischo's approach to swim analysis is one that relies mostly on observation. He doesn't care much about feelings etc. That means that if there's any benefit in feeling that the rotation comes from the hips, well he missed it (and will probably continue to do so). On the other hand, his observations basically confirm that those swimmers (like me) who don't care one second about hip driven freestyle and can still manage to stabilize distance per stroke and achieve desired stroke rate certainly don't suffer from not considering hip driven freestyle. He also has a huge record of changing his mind on some key aspects of swimming from one edition to the other (Swimming Faster (1980), Swimming Even Faster ('93), Swimming Fastest (2003).

I make a joke occassionaly about the one coach who used to make comments here that he believes rotation was initiated from the big toes. Of course that was my interpretation of what he thought, not his.

I don't know about hip driven freestyle. I never think of it that way. I have tried it, though. Most importantly, in regards to a previous post, the importance of having a strong kick is not even debatable. It is a fact in modern swimming.

I thought the correct way was for the shoulders to follow the hips. In other words, the hips will initiate the rotation and the shoulders will be a fraction of a second behind. Perhaps this is what is meant by hip driven freestyle. But it is a bit of a misnomer because the term 'hip driven' suggests that the hips are the primary driving force behind the action. Perhaps it would be better if it were called 'hip initiated' freestyle.

Chris Vaanderkay mentioned he's starting to focus on sprinting now using more of a shoulder driven style than the hip version he uses in distance. So there ya have it I guess. Phelps tried the same thing for his 100 free and look how well that turned out... There are a LOT of factors that go into making a stroke change from hip driven to shoulder driven...and honestly I'm pretty skeptical of how successful adult/masters swimmers will be who try to make it. Bottom line is it can be a very frustrating experience slowing down and trying re-learn something...espcially for all thos folks who will already be in a deep depression over their times when they have to go reto with the suit changes in 2010! :) George..I simply don't understand how you can downplay kick so much when you see the number of eltite athletes like Phelps, Lochte, Coughlin, etc. who have clearly demonstrated how powerful a kick can be...does it generate more power than the upper body? I would say yes for these types of swimmers because they actually move faster underwater than on top...but for the vast majority of "mortals" out there that never develop it or have limitations with flexibility or body type that limit its effectiveness you would be correct.

Everything you do must be combined (a synergy). The USA National Team bio mechanics guru used to have a test for this - they measured the strength / force of your kick, your pull and your combined stroke ( I think it was done in Newton, but may be wrong). Let's say the pull was 100 and the kick was measured at 20, the great swimmers would have a combined measure of 120 or more. But many would have something less - indicating that the combination of kick and pull was not a good synergy.

If they are not put together correctly you could get all kinds of results. This is where a good coach comes in.

I do not believe kick sets are important. You must understand I was not the fastest guy on the street I was rated in the top ten 100m guys in the world for several years in the top 3 two years. Paul I don't downplay kick. Kick just will not do it all for you. I do not think kicking only drills make a sprinter faster (my belief). When training from 1952 to 1958 I only did my sprint training as full stroke. I was limited to how much training I could do eg 500yds a day speed work, 200 yard warmup and 300 yard cool down swims. If you wanted to see a kick you should have seen my kick. It was a very deep six beat. My toes would hit the bottom in a three foot deep pool and my heals broke the surface. Even though I did very little kick stuff they tested my leg strength at the British Empire games in 1958 and found my leg strength was beaten only by a South African wrester. The Australian heavy weight lifter was third in leg strength. I changed my kick for Marathon swimming, it was still a six beat but not as agressive. Phelps tried the same thing for his 100 free and look how well that turned out... There are a LOT of factors that go into making a stroke change from hip driven to shoulder driven...and honestly I'm pretty skeptical of how successful adult/masters swimmers will be who try to make it. Bottom line is it can be a very frustrating experience slowing down and trying re-learn something...espcially for all thos folks who will already be in a deep depression over their times when they have to go reto with the suit changes in 2010! :) George..I simply don't understand how you can downplay kick so much when you see the number of eltite athletes like Phelps, Lochte, Coughlin, etc. who have clearly demonstrated how powerful a kick can be...does it generate more power than the upper body? I would say yes for these types of swimmers because they actually move faster underwater than on top...but for the vast majority of "mortals" out there that never develop it or have limitations with flexibility or body type that limit its effectiveness you would be correct.

I do not believe kick sets are important. I guess that is why I used to swim 50meters scy dolpin kick underwater and beat full stroke free swimmers in a 50. That was how I trained for my butterfly. So...kick-only practicing is not important, yet that is how you trained for butterfly...:confused:

I'll tell you one thing, after learning to kick correctly (like several day's ago I started getting it down), there has been a huge amount of strain removed from my upper body compared to my former lazy 2-kick I've been doing since day one 15 months ago. I'm also swimming in a straight line unlike before. Not only is it like there's pushing help from behind when I get it down right (still mess up time to time), but my whole body - arms, legs, and all - seem to flow smoothly and efficiently. It's hard to explain but the only resistance I feel is from propulsive areas. But when I miss a beat and skip one kick or drop my hand too deep everything falls apart and it feels like before and I have to wait for the next set. If I get tired and become sloppy all the time I just leave the pool or do turn or dolphin drills.