Video technique review

Steve, You are crossing over on the left, and you are over rotating on your breath. I am not sure which one is causing which, but try the one goggle technique for breathing, and try widening your entry on the left side. You want your mouth to be touching water, one goggle to be completely submerged, but I think your right cheek is feeling air when you breath which is bad. As for the entry, try entering at about 10 o'clock. When you video tape it, it will probably be a good, right in front of the shoulder hand entry. Overcompensate mentally to accomplish what you actually want physically. Technique critique is not my strong suit, so if someone contradicts me... :blush:

Hi mate, thanks for the clips There are good things with your stroke. I tried to find faulty undisciplined kicks, couldn't find much of these. You use a 6beat that is relatively compact and seems efficient. My focus went immediately, well on the first clip, on this left hand cross over distraction. To me, the fact that you cross is a distraction more than anything else. On the third clip, you almost corrected it and I am not sure that it had any impact on SR or DPS (therefore no impact on speed). OK. So where did my focus go. Not that easy to explain. OK. Let me try. The mission given to each of your arm (that includes the hand) is to be careful in taking a significant catch, then accelerate the hand so that most of the power or torque or strength be put during the second half of the pulling. Right now, that just doesn't seem to happen. Often we look at world class swimmer footage and think that they glide in the front doing nothing. It's often a false impression. They do starting preparing their catch very slowly. What I mean in using the word *Careful* is that upon entry, you hand HAS to carefully find the ideal catch position, that is well aligned relative to the shoulder, with the elbow slightly bent. Bare in mind that you want to use both the big lats muscles AND your own body weight to pull harder when you're ready to apply force (torque or power -- whatever). This picture here shows your right hand path upon entry. First: pic20.picturetrail.com/.../377199209.jpg So far, not that bad although by the look of your it, arm over extended, I'd say you're already late in preparing for the high elbow catch. But it ain't so bad so far. Now look at this one: pic20.picturetrail.com/.../377199144.jpg Too wide. Instead of being regrouped along with the core body/lats etc (similar to a group of US Marines ready to attack), your right arm ends up isolated far out in the right field. Being alone like this, he can't count on heavy artillery support (power coming from the lats and body rotation). I believe you may be doing this to counter balance your breathing action. The left hand. GBrain has mentioned cross over so I won't comment this. First it's worth nothing that your two arms show different flaws. It's normal since you always breathe the same side (or so it seems). On your left arm pulling, you're late on catch. I see 2 dimensions only (one is missing). First a glide in the front then a sudden (way too sudden) acceleration. This is what I call being late on catch. Too long of a glide, no more time to be *Careful* in performing a your catch. The missing dimension is therefore this acceleration that should begin very slowly upon hand entry. You're a very good swimmer already. This problem is common to a lot of master swimmers, it probably comes from the will to swim best possible distance per stroke. This will often translate into wait time in the front. 1-arm drill with the other arm on the side is amazingly efficient in improving this. If I was you, especially if you've been swimming this way for long, I would book kilos of this. Often, going 100m per arm is not overdoing it. Then gradually your brain will connect little more with the only arm pulling. The absence of contribution from the other arm will FORCE you to find a smarter pulling pattern. Also, you should consider breathing both sides. I am not talking about bilateral breathing here. Just to breathe sometimes left, sometimes right. One arm drill should be done breathing sometimes same side, sometimes opposite side of the arm that is pulling.

i concur with g. the left crossover is the most obvious thing i would work to change. here are a couple of ideas: breathe both sides equally. any pattern that is comfortable but put in equal time on both sides. enter your hand with fingertips down (not thumb down, as your left hand does). let your wrist and forearm follow your fingers through the hole they punch in the water's surface. swim holding a golf ball in each hand (it may help to extend your index finger) focus on your finger following a line parallel to, and outside of the line at the bottom of the pool (shoulder width) a six beat kick is great, but it has to be in sync with your stroke to be effective. it was hard to tell if your arms and legs are working together.

This is what I did this morning: - 25M SDK from wall - 100M one-arm free (left) - 100M one-arm free (right) - 100M bilateral - 50M bilateral - 50M roll-over drill (stroke on sixth kick) - 50M bilateral - 50M boardless flutter-kick from wall - 500M with 2-beat (could not keep up bilateral breathing) - 50M boardless flutter-kick from wall - 100M with 2-beat - 25M without kicking, head under, concentating on hand entry position and catch - 25M bilateral at about 90% effort (about 4 breaths) - 25M head-up free (kayak) with 4-beat - 25M SDK This is a typical distance for my workouts, rarely over 1500M at a time. However, I'm just now starting to include kicking sets so I actually feel like I worked hard today. Nevertheless, I might get another swim in this evening. Another thing, the one-arm free really stressed my left shoulder supporting muscles. Not only did they burn, but they ached. This shoulder has been through hell (numerous full dislocations) and this might be a clue as to why my there's such unsymmetry to my style. I have learned to naturally protect this shoulder with whatever I do to prevent injury and I am wondering if my stroke style makes perfect sense for this. If this is the case I will have to cautiously see how much I can correct the stroke without placing the shoulder in a vulnerable position and keep it there. One thing I really fear for my first meet is starting from the block and having it dislocate in the first meter of a 50 then crawling out the pool to shock bystanders from the sight. I would hate to ask the referee if I can start off the wall:cane:. But on the other hand - there's nothing like living on the edge. Anyhow, I will get some more footage in a week or so to see if I improved ... and maybe edit the footage before posting this time.

Two things I've noticed: you do not complete your strokes properly (you do not push at the end of the stroke). I've had the same problem, you can improve it. your kick is too large and spread. It could be more compact and hard. Your stroke rate is comparatively high and stroke length is short. Most probably you swim sprint races.

This shoulder has been through hell (numerous full dislocations) and this might be a clue as to why my there's such unsymmetry to my style. I have learned to naturally protect this shoulder with whatever I do to prevent injury and I am wondering if my stroke style makes perfect sense for this. Ok, wow. That was important information. I think you need to find someone local to work with you on your left arm. If it is really a possibility that you can dislocate it from racing, you need to develop a stroke that is going to work for you and I don't think you can do that via the forum. A few hours over a month or two with someone who understands swimming and how the shoulder joint works should be able to help you. You need to have a discussion that involves lots of demonstration by both parties. Arm waving if you will.

Another thing, the one-arm free really stressed my left shoulder supporting muscles. Not only did they burn, but they ached. This shoulder has been through hell (numerous full dislocations) and this might be a clue as to why my there's such unsymmetry to my style. Steve, next time you attempt one-arm drill, could you try slowing down the pace and unloading the pull as much as possible? Slow down as much as possible and report back about any burning/aching sensations. Ah also, like GBrain mentioned, this is crucial information that you just revealed. Given this new fact, please start by distances that don't exceed 25m at the time per arm. Overloading the distances (durations) would apply only if you don't have a pre-existing condition/weakness. Thanks - this input is very interesting.

Ok, wow. That was important information. I think you need to find someone local to work with you on your left arm. It has been more than 5 years since my last dislocation. Weight training, therapy, and caution has been the factor of success. For instance fly and back will be strokes I won't attempt. One thing good is I can feel when the shoulder is in a vulnerable position and can recover position to safety in time like for instance, in the stroke, therefore allowing safe corrective movement changes. Unfortunately, the block dive wont allow any time to recover the shoulder to a safe position and if it decides to go, it will go out hard. Now I tried a couple dives off the side and everything is good but there would be no room for error. I can always dive with my left hand clutched to my right forearm for support, might not be streamlined but it will allow me to swim meets (haven't attended a meet yet). Perhaps surgery might be an option. But like you said, find someone knowlegable with swimming and shoulder problems. Steve, next time you attempt one-arm drill, could you try slowing down the pace and unloading the pull as much as possible? Slow down as much as possible and report back about any burning/aching sensations. Ah also, like GBrain mentioned, this is crucial information that you just revealed. Given this new fact, please start by distances that don't exceed 25m at the time per arm. Overloading the distances (durations) would apply only if you don't have a pre-existing condition/weakness. Thanks - this input is very interesting. Sure thing, I will take it easy on the left but continue on for the right. BTW, the right is my non-breather side so that will help learning to breath bilaterally. I really enjoyed the OAD (one-arm drill:D) and will definately incorperate this activity into my daily routine. It also worked my upper legs termendously. One question, it's causing my front half to porpoise above and below the surface considerably, is this a sign of doing it incorrectly or is it typical? I'll see if unloading will stop this. Thanks so much.

I almost feel like I'm cheating with all the tips (one thing good about the web), thank you for the suggestions qbrain, solar, and chaos! Plan: Do at least 100 one-arm drill each side Do at least 500 of breathing to both sides each day Concentrate on having one eye under water for breathing to minimize rotation Find and develop a catch (golf ball drill) Focus on 10:00 position for left arm so it will catch at least shoulders width Keep them coming.

It also worked my upper legs termendously. One question, it's causing my front half to porpoise above and below the surface considerably, is this a sign of doing it incorrectly or is it typical? Action/reaction principle applies 100% here. This is a sign that too much power is being applied - probably downward instead of backward. Believe me Steve, this progressive acceleration of the hand in FreeStyle is easier to understand than to feel/integrate. I am personally very aware of these things but still need to put some thoughts to it, especially when I become tired in a set. This is why OAD comes in so handy. It allows for optimal focus to be put in this crucial learning. When there's a little too much wait in the front followed by a sudden acceleration, some of this sudden acceleration results into power (or torque whatever) to being applied too early in the pulling - when the hand is still traveling downward instead of backward. Note that at this early stage, your shoulder is still in a weak/vulnerable position. So the consequences of this flaw can be chronic injuries (in some cases) as well as drop in speed. I'll see if unloading will stop this. I am encouraging you to 1) unload upon arm entry/catch and 2) learn to apply more power to the second half of your pulling path. Please for the next couple of weeks, be careful to keep the speed low while working on it. I know it's stressful to feel slow in a lane but by doing so you reduce the risk of irritating your left shoulder and allows for the learning to take place more rapidly. Gd Luck!