10 Swimming Myths Debunked

Here's a better pic, of what I think Gary is saying, more drag vs. less drag.

Your statement about the release is what I suspected, that you should sweep your hand out (have it act like a wing again) and slide it out of the water. ! Can someone add some clarity or pictures of this idea? I have always been told to push back toward my suit, but now it seems that people want to not push so far back?

In addition to a plot of velocity against time, a plot of the first derivative of this would also be interesting. This gives the slope of the graph, i.e. the acceleration. To me, knowing where in the stroke you are accelerating and when you are decelerating might be more interesting than velocity. Man, I've had more opportunity to use my math degree in the last week on this message board than I've had in 15 years in the working world.

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. If this position is the where the highest speed is attained then what difference does the explanation make? What am I not understanding? One could easily draw this conclusion: focus on drag reduction more than power generation to increase your speed. But either way, I also have a problem with the explanation. I have a home-made Velocity meter (don't ask). If I do one arm freestyle with a pull bouy (thereby eliminating the power of the opposite arm and the kick) the results are the same: I go my fastest at the end of the stroke.

Just remember that the hand moves very little in the water during the underwater pull....in a circle of about 2 ft diameter. Gary Are you saying that from start of the catch/pull to the release point, the arm only moves about 2ft?? So, it would feel like the catch would start way out front and that one should release the water as the pulling arm travels past the shoulder area?

So how does one incorporate this into a drill?

Propulsion (power and acceleration) and speed (velocity) are different things, and the swimmer's max values for each occur at different points. Furthermore, peak drag happens shortly after max speed and if your mortal, and can't maintain speed efficient enough through this point, then your better off minimizing towards the front quadrant for efficiency. Was that the main point?

(Sorry, don't know how to quote your pic.) I'm not sure this is what Gary is trying to tell us. I think pwolf66 has it correct... There are two different instances where Gary is talking about arm sticking out. One is in the full stroke, where the arm is extended forward having least drag. That one is a bit of a no brainer. That's not what I was trying to illustrate. The other part instance is where he was explaining to Scott what happens during passive drag, just as an argument for bent elbows, one with arm extended out at 90° having more drag, vs elbow bent at 90° having less drag. It's the second one I'm trying to figure out what he meant.

Little question for Gary, Your proposal sounds very interesting. However, it goes against that of Ernest Maglischo, who is also known for having stick to the use of both the Forward Velocity and the Hand Velocity monitoring using scientific means, for what.... around 30 years now? How do you explain this difference between your position and his'? In his mind, and fairly consistently across all editions (Swimming Faster 1980, Swimming Even Faster 1993 and Swimming Fastest 2003), the portion of the pulling path that is the most propulsive is the upsweep, which in all cases never begins until you reach mid body line. And quite frankly I do hope that it remains true since the whole arm (from shoulder to fingers) is in a far better position (safer) at this point to apply peak torque. Again, not trying to criticize your proposal here. Just trying to understand the discrepancy that exists between two swimming bodies that both use science to assess changes in velocity. The thing I like about your proposal though, is this suggestion that distance swimmers would benefit from a slightly higher turnover / shorter stroke. Not talking about huge difference here, but 1 stroke or 2 per 25m at a higher rate definitely works well for me. It allows me to keep a better form throughout the event. For instance, I can race most of a full 1500 at 15strokes per 25m (lower turnover rate). It's a huge risk though. Because if I loose a stroke during the event, it is going to be because of technique related muscle fatigue. Then even if I increase the turnover, it's too late. My form degraded. If I start the same event on 17strokes per 25m at higher turnover, no way that my form will degrade. I will finish the event at this stroke count. Easier to achieve even splits in other words. I know Ernie...but truthfully, never read his book. So rather than try to debate him or his philosophy, let me try to defend my position. 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...or twice as much time in the front quadrant as the back quadrant. From a practical standpoint, I don't know why we would spend twice as much time in a position of lesser propulsion. Further, from a physiological and anatomical standpoint, there are many more muscle groups acting on arm/hand in the front quadrant than in the back quadrant. In fact, the tricep is about the only muscle still working a the end of the underwater pull. What is a bit confusing is that the body speed is slowest as the arm nears the end of the front quadrant. But this is not because the power is low there. It is because the frontal drag force is so high at that moment from the upper arm...even the higher power cannot overcome the increased drag. Gary

Again, Gary, thanks for the very helpful discussion. I got back in the water just over two years ago and basically had to relearn freestyle. I found just what you said, that pulling straight back from the initial entry with a high elbow, trying to "anchor" the forearm into the water, then keeping the elbow away from the side in the back half of the stroke is more efficient for me. However the upper arm needs to move during the stroke, mechanically there is no other way. To minimize drag, I could see keeping your upper arm pointed ahead might help, but to accelerate your "anchor" you need to move your upper arm in a way that will maximize the force you can exert. Ian Thorpe does this beautifully, as does Grant Hackett -- both are very efficient and delay moving their upper arms to the side during their pull. Your statement about the release is what I suspected, that you should sweep your hand out (have it act like a wing again) and slide it out of the water. From a fluid mechanics standpoint, it is the difference in velocity that causes drag forces that both allow and inhibit your movement through the water. In a solid, the force is proportional to displacement, in a fluid the force is proportional to velocity. So generating hand speed (and, mechanically, arm speed) while minimizing form drag by good body position should provide the highest peak speed. Great! Now I need to figure out how to swim more than 50 yards ... I'll look forward to further myth-busting! Right you are. People tend to get the propulsive drag force confused with the frontal drag, both acting at the same time. Hand/forearm speed and surface area are what generate the propulsive drag force (propulsive power). Like in many cases in swimming, reaching the optimal position of the arm underwater involves compromise between power and frontal drag. More on this to come. Thanks for your input. Gary