Yet Another Video thread:
After seeing the swimtypes.com site, and being unsure of my classification I got a couple video clips of my stroke last night. Leaving aside the embarrassing swim cap positioning, the sloppy flip turn, and the not streamlined streamline, what are the things I should be working on? This is my 1500 stroke, although I actually went a little faster than I can maintain for 1500.
The first thing that will jump out at you is likely the dropped elbow in the extension phase. If you look carefully I do rotate the elbow up as I move to catch. I'm rather lacking in shoulder flexibility due to shoulder problems I had a few years ago, and straightening out the arm takes effort and rotating the elbow out at full extension bothers my shoulder.
Anyway, without further excuses:
YouTube- LP-end-00018.MTS above water end view
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YouTube- LP-side-00015.MTS underwater side view
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Rob, I think you are completely correct about the arm being too deep. I think with it being so nearly straight elbow position is subtle if not a moot point. If I can adjust to more bend then what my elbow is doing should become more obvious, whether it's right or wrong.
Until I saw this last night I would never have though I was swimming with such a straight arm. Seeing it I wonder if this explains a few things about my rather drastic drop off in speed as distance increases, and why I have to wait before loading my pull, i.e. leverage is really working against me.
Thanks!
In addition, your ankles need some flex. Are you a runner?
I used to be a runner but I stopped due to knee problems.
You are definitely right, I knew I didn't have flexible ankles but didn't realize just how bad it was. This goes a long way to explaining my meager ability to get any propulsion from kicking.
CouldBeBetterFly: I think your observation may mesh in with Rob's, with greater bend at the elbow the hands should get closer to the center line.
Thanks!
Lindsay,
I disagree and don't see your elbow come up unitl it is forced to exit the water. You have one of the deepest pulls I've seen. Your recovery looks good, body balance looks good and alignment looks good.
You gotta get an EVF.
Ok - not that I feel particularly qualified to critique your stroke, but my observation is that you seem to pull wide to the side of the body. I found I got a stronger pull when I concentrated on sweeping my hand in and pulling more down the midline of my body and kind of pulling my body through the water rather than pushing the water back....am I making any sense at all? - Not sure if this would aggravate the shoulder for you though?
