Freestyle body rotation/getting power from the hips
Former Member
First of all, I don't know if these concepts are directly related. But I finally got some coaching tips and realize that I am plowing through the water like I am swimming like I am stroking with my belly on a surfboard. I have learned to get the high elbow recovery and now I feel the rotation of my body, or at least the potential for it to rotate.
So my question is, do I force my body to rotate more, or is this a natural consequence of doing other things correctly? I can especially feel it on my left/non-breathing side where I can force myself to over rotate beyond which I am doing.
The power from the hips part, I was told I need to do that, but I have no idea how to execute it.
Parents
Former Member
You can't keep a straight line backward because a vortex behind the hand reduces drag force, so the hand must move to and away from the midline of the body.
I suspect that simple geometry has more to do with this than vortexes. Consider the geometry of your shoulder, upper arm and elbow: simplify your shoulder to a universal joint fixed in space so that your upper arm can point off in any direction, the possible positions of your elbow are basically a sphere, or those parts of a sphere which aren't blocked by your body and range of motion limitations. You can't move your elbow in a straight line from over your head to by your side, the path will always be an arc. For your elbow to follow a straight line you would have to move your shoulder and body in unrealistic and clearly inefficient ways.
If you consider your hand and forearm as one big paddle attached to your elbow there is no reason to believe that it would follow a straight line, it's just not mechanically feasible let alone efficient.
You can't keep a straight line backward because a vortex behind the hand reduces drag force, so the hand must move to and away from the midline of the body.
I suspect that simple geometry has more to do with this than vortexes. Consider the geometry of your shoulder, upper arm and elbow: simplify your shoulder to a universal joint fixed in space so that your upper arm can point off in any direction, the possible positions of your elbow are basically a sphere, or those parts of a sphere which aren't blocked by your body and range of motion limitations. You can't move your elbow in a straight line from over your head to by your side, the path will always be an arc. For your elbow to follow a straight line you would have to move your shoulder and body in unrealistic and clearly inefficient ways.
If you consider your hand and forearm as one big paddle attached to your elbow there is no reason to believe that it would follow a straight line, it's just not mechanically feasible let alone efficient.
