I recently posted these 10 myths on some triathlon websites and stirred up some good conversation. So here I go again.....
Myth #1 To go faster in swimming one must push out the back of the arm pull.
I believe this myth may have originated with an article that appeared some time in the 90's. The article showed a swimming figure mimicking Alex Popov's freestyle pull. It showed the figure with the left arm in front and the the right arm in back ready to exit the water for the recovery. A graph showed the velocity of Popov's body in the water as a function of the position of the hand. The velocity ranged from nearly 3 meters per second down to about 1.4 meters per second during a single pull cycle. The slowest speed occurred when the hand appeared to be at around the shoulder and the fastest speed occurred in the position shown in the figure. The author erroneously concluded that since the speed was so high as the right hand was about to exit, that this is where the most power must be....hence push out the back.
My study with the velocity meter doing freestyle concurs that it is these two positions that consistently show the highest and lowest velocities of the stroke cycle in freestyle (though I was seeing more like a 30 to 40% drop, not 50%). But it is not because of the power out the back that we see the speed highest in this position. It is because it is by far the position of least drag (most streamlined). The propulsive power in this position actually is derived mostly from the left arm out in front and the kick, with little or no power coming from the end of the arm pull. The propulsive power may be even greater when we see the hand at the shoulder (slowest body speed), but because the arm is jetting straight out, perpendicular to the body, the drag coefficient skyrockets and our speed drops instantly.
The harm that is done by pushing out the back is that it delays the recovery and slows the stroke rate. Most of the arm propulsive power is derived from the entry to the shoulder (called the front quadrant....about 1/2 of the total arm cycle time is spent there). So the sooner one can get the hand back to the front quadrant after leaving the shoulder, the better.
If you happened to be blessed with Mercury motors for legs, like Michael Phelps, Ian Thorpe, Gary Jr, Natalie Coughlin etc, then you can afford to use a slower stroke rate...but hold in front, not in back.
For the rest of us mortals, keep your arms moving faster and in the front quadrant. Think you can't do that for a 1500? Think again. Lot's of distance swimmers use high arm stroke rates. You just have to train that way and get fit.
Regards,
Gary Sr.
The Race Club
Parents
Former Member
I know Ernie...but truthfully, never read his book. He wrote 3 of them. Main features of the technical related chapters is that he classifies each portion of the cycle into phases, backed up with hand velocity analysis and forward velocity analysis. These two are tightly related since one can more easily explain the other. In other words, a hand that is traveling slowly in the water won't explain a peak in forward velocity, especially if the other hand is achieving a peak in velocity in the same time.
Each phase along with intermediate steps is illustrated with pictures taken under various angles. He was already doing this in 1980.
First, in the stroke cycle, a swimmer will spend approximately 1/2 of the entire cycle time in the front quadrant. The other half will be spent in the back quadrant and the above water recovery. That means we spend approximately 1/4 of the time in the back quadrant... That is a perfect example of one that explains the other.
Throughout the pull phase, then hand is constantly accelerating. There are probably 2 main reasons for this:
1. Easier to avoid pulling bubbles and troubled water this way
2. Safer for shoulder muscles in general, since the shoulder is in a vulnerable position with the arm stretched forward (way into the FQ)
Therefore your hand will undoubtedly spend more time in the front quadrant(**), being careful taking a safe and efficient catch. Bending the elbow for achieving a little bit of EVF, positioning the arm to pull water backward. Once it reaches near the end of the FQ, Lats are still involved followed later by triceps, your hands travels underwater so fast that it explains why less time is spent during this phase.
I agree with you that it's very hard to generate forward thrust during the final release phase, but my opinion, the most propulsive phase of the effective pulling path is the phase that comes before the release, and that comes after the catch.
(**) Not sure if I get the definition of FQ right though. For me, this FQ is stops at shoulder level. Passed shoulder level, you're into the back-quadrant. If I got that right, then somehow I'd say that little more than half of the pulling path is propulsive in the front-quadrant, and little more than half of the pulling path is effective in the back-quadrant. The peak velocity being achieved in the back-quadrant. Time wise (since it was your point), lots of time spent in FQ preparing what follows. But what.... Half of this time is lost creating drag and preparing for solid catch, whereas very little time is lost during release phase occurring in the BQ.
I know Ernie...but truthfully, never read his book. He wrote 3 of them. Main features of the technical related chapters is that he classifies each portion of the cycle into phases, backed up with hand velocity analysis and forward velocity analysis. These two are tightly related since one can more easily explain the other. In other words, a hand that is traveling slowly in the water won't explain a peak in forward velocity, especially if the other hand is achieving a peak in velocity in the same time.
Each phase along with intermediate steps is illustrated with pictures taken under various angles. He was already doing this in 1980.
First, in the stroke cycle, a swimmer will spend approximately 1/2 of the entire cycle time in the front quadrant. The other half will be spent in the back quadrant and the above water recovery. That means we spend approximately 1/4 of the time in the back quadrant... That is a perfect example of one that explains the other.
Throughout the pull phase, then hand is constantly accelerating. There are probably 2 main reasons for this:
1. Easier to avoid pulling bubbles and troubled water this way
2. Safer for shoulder muscles in general, since the shoulder is in a vulnerable position with the arm stretched forward (way into the FQ)
Therefore your hand will undoubtedly spend more time in the front quadrant(**), being careful taking a safe and efficient catch. Bending the elbow for achieving a little bit of EVF, positioning the arm to pull water backward. Once it reaches near the end of the FQ, Lats are still involved followed later by triceps, your hands travels underwater so fast that it explains why less time is spent during this phase.
I agree with you that it's very hard to generate forward thrust during the final release phase, but my opinion, the most propulsive phase of the effective pulling path is the phase that comes before the release, and that comes after the catch.
(**) Not sure if I get the definition of FQ right though. For me, this FQ is stops at shoulder level. Passed shoulder level, you're into the back-quadrant. If I got that right, then somehow I'd say that little more than half of the pulling path is propulsive in the front-quadrant, and little more than half of the pulling path is effective in the back-quadrant. The peak velocity being achieved in the back-quadrant. Time wise (since it was your point), lots of time spent in FQ preparing what follows. But what.... Half of this time is lost creating drag and preparing for solid catch, whereas very little time is lost during release phase occurring in the BQ.
