Swimmer Video Star (Attempt)

Adding to LindsayNB's response, describing it doesn't get more clear than Glenn Mills' demonstration: www.goswim.tv/.../freestyle---high-elbow-catch.html Looks like the hand and wrist set up and catch properly, just the upper arm bone is orientated wrong. Bringing my shoulder up to my ear seems to get the elbows up for me.

Thanks so much! Your advice is more than I hoped for! Thats why I went to all the trouble to post my video. Your advice is a huge help. If I'm going to swim every day, and hope to compete, I want to get as efficient as possible! I will study your advice carefully, get to work and will post when I think I have made improvements. :bolt: Georgio

Hi Georgio, It looks to me like you are dropping your elbow, in the attached frame your hand is vertical but your forearm is horizontal. As the term Early Vertical Forearm indicates, you want your forearm to be closer to vertical at this point in your stroke. If you hold your arm straight out in front of you at shoulder height, with your palm facing down, and then bring your hand toward you, keeping your hand, elbow and shoulder all at the same height until your elbow is almost ninety degrees you should have a good idea of what "high elbow" vertical forearm should look like. The wrist and forearm should be aligned. If you hold your hand in place and rotate your arm so that your elbow is pointing downward that illustrates what a dropped elbow looks like. In the picture you can see that your forearm is pointing straight forward toward the camera and so it isn't providing any surface area pressing backwards on the water. If it were vertical instead of horizontal one whole side of your forearm would be pressing against the water, effectively giving you a bigger paddle (fingertip to elbow instead of just fingertip to wrist). I hope that makes some sense to you, good luck!