End of Stroke

I don't understand the following comments: 1. "Too many swimmers focus on pushing their hand back at the end of the stroke, which just delays getting it back to the power position". 2. ""hand's aren't pushing back far enough" knowing it was obsolete " One of my favorite freestyle instructional videos of Lindsay Benco stresses "completing the stroke all the way past your hip". Has emphasis on this phase of the stroke become obsolete, and a quicker recovery considered more efficient? Also the coach yells, "Thumbs down your sides!" Does this still apply? Thanks for your advice, Georgio :drown: I think what Lindsay was saying was that the "new" way of swimming freestyle is to sweep your hand out, rather than to push your hand down to your suit. It is almost a karate chop motion, and it helps with getting your arms around for the next stroke. I would also expect that your hand speed is dropping as you try to shove the water back with just your arm, but you get actual propulsion out of sweeping your hand out. The "thumb down your sides" idea may be to keep your hands and forearms perpendicular in the water, rather than sliding through. Thinking about the sweeping motion at the end of the stroke helped me, especially with butterfly. Rather than "dead ending" my hands at my thighs, it felt a lot better when I swept them out at the end of the stroke. It also helped me get them around, though I still have trouble after 85 yards.

I don't understand the following comments: 1. "Too many swimmers focus on pushing their hand back at the end of the stroke, which just delays getting it back to the power position". 2. ""hand's aren't pushing back far enough" knowing it was obsolete " One of my favorite freestyle instructional videos of Lindsay Benco stresses "completing the stroke all the way past your hip". Has emphasis on this phase of the stroke become obsolete, and a quicker recovery considered more efficient? Also the coach yells, "Thumbs down your sides!" Does this still apply? Thanks for your advice, Georgio :drown: I think what Lindsay was saying was that the "new" way of swimming freestyle is to sweep your hand out, rather than to push your hand down to your suit. It is almost a karate chop motion, and it helps with getting your arms around for the next stroke. I would also expect that your hand speed is dropping as you try to shove the water back with just your arm, but you get actual propulsion out of sweeping your hand out. The "thumb down your sides" idea may be to keep your hands and forearms perpendicular in the water, rather than sliding through. Thinking about the sweeping motion at the end of the stroke helped me, especially with butterfly. Rather than "dead ending" my hands at my thighs, it felt a lot better when I swept them out at the end of the stroke. It also helped me get them around, though I still have trouble after 85 yards.