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
Former Member
It's interesting that good freestyle swimmers have their minimum velocity at the point the hand passes the shoulder because it implies that they aren't achieving net propulsion until this point, despite presumably having an early vertical forearm, thereby giving a clue as to how early EVF occurs. It's only a clue though as we don't know the drag profile. Minimal velocity while the arm is achieving EVF... these phenomenons are tied.
While you achieve EVF with the left hand/arm (all taking place in the front-quadrant of course), you're benefiting from the peak velocity achieved with the right arm. This "pull hard with the right arm while gently taking an EVF catch" principle is important since it allows for keeping the catch unloaded (or relatively unloaded).
Note (for the record) that Maglischo often blames these drop in velocity on shifts in angle of attack that the hand must do throughout the effective pulling range. The passing of the elbow underneath the body is also a major cause for the drop in speed that's occurring before the upsweep takes place.
Gary's point is that the peak power (velocity) can be achieved while the hand/arm is still in the front quadrant. That would imply that this peak velocity is achieved immediately after the catch phase (anything that comes before the catch can, in no way, be considered as propulsive, right?). I don't entirely disagree with this statement. I guess it's possible to achieve a lot of torque on the catch. But for this, you have to delay it a bit timing wise (so that you use the upward body rotation to facilitate power application), and I donno. Maybe for some, but certainly not for me. I prefer to take a catch little sooner, even if it costs me little bit of EVF and certainly little bit of Distance per stroke.
These studies and charts did more to cause and perpetuate the myths I am speaking about than anything else. First, the size of the sideview hand motion is grossly inflated compared to the images. Second, you cannot equate body velocities with power since the shape of the human swimmer and the frontal drag forces change drastically throughout the pull cycle. Third, you must really look at real video images of swimmers (not artist renditions) with the velocity meter and in order to most accurately analyze the arm pull, you must eliminate the kick by strapping a pullbuoy and band on the legs. Since the kick rate is 3X faster than the pull rate, it will throw a lot of artifact into the pulling analysis.
Gary Gary, in your opinion. If we focus on 1 arm. Say that we focus on the right arm/hand.
Is the peak velocity achieved during the downward body rotation (right shoulder moving down) or during the upward body rotation (right shoulder moving up)?
For me, the peak velocity is achieved during the upward body rotation. The timing of the arms is set relative to the body rotation.
Where you arm happens to be on the upward body rotation is a matter of taste I guess. I do realize that a lot of role models swimmers (Thorpe Hackett et al.), with their bullet proof shoulders like to extend their effective pulling range by delaying the catch (timing wise), thus grabbing more water. But 1. They still benefit a lot from the upsweep phase and 2. Not sure everyone can afford it.
I think you're being a little hard on Maglischo. He's been trying his best over time.
The part of this that I personally find interesting is the speed profile data and what it can tell us about swimming. To me the data seems to support the hypothesis that propulsion occurs primarily in the rear quadrant, or at least that propulsive forces outweigh drag forces primarily in the rear quadrant.
I'm ready to consider whether "in spite of" what the profile data shows, propulsion is primarily in the front quadrant, but if so it would be nice to have an alternate explanation for the velocity profile.
If my analysis of the velocity profile is plausible one can go on to try to determine if the deceleration in the front quadrant is due to high drag or low propulsion. Perhaps some analysis of the velocity of various body parts would be illuminating, e.g. if the rearward hand and/or forearm velocities relative to the body don't exceed the forward velocity of body through the water then they can't possibly be propulsive.
Anyway, hard data is so illusive in swimming that I think it is worthwhile taking a close look when some data presents itself, and where hard data contradicts one's hypothesis one should be open to adjusting one's hypothesis.
