Just went to a PT who advocates swimming within the scapular plane. Doing all strengthening exercises within the scapular plane (never doing I, T's, or Ys above shoulder level, which I have, alas, been doing). No need, in his opinion, to do internal rotation with therabands; external rotation just 3/4 from front to 45 degrees past waist). No need for overhead rotation exercises; just stresses the shoulder joints.
What does scapular swimming mean? He demonstrated. No high elbows. No EVF.
Use rotation; use lats; use core. Let your arms swim wide and pretty straight during the recovery, but relaxed, with the momentum of your rotation. Don't bend your arms as you pull through the water. Let your lats/core/rotation/and your entire arm be your anchor. (If the lane is crowded he tightens up his recovery a little so he doesn't whack people.)
He was a national champion backstroker/Division I college swimmer. His way of swimming seems revolutionary. He said this is how Janet Evans swam, how Natalie Coughlin swims, how Torres swims, and how Phelps changed his recovery of fly, from bent elbow recovery to swinging over the water momentum recovery.
He says it could avoid a lot of shoulder problems. For me, it will mean relearning to swim.
Hum di dum. Any of you guys ever heard of this approach? At least in demonstrating, his freestyle pulling arm never had a high elbow or bend; he said he was much faster doing backstroke this way and that if I could learn how to do it correctly, I probably would be faster too. And that it would take the stress off my shoulders.
So the idea is never let the arms get above the scapular plane of the body. I need to e-mail him about breaststroke, because I don't see how you can pull without either a fair amount of internal rotation or using high elbows.
Always learning....
ElaineK -
Ah - the subtlety of our sport is what makes it interesting. Admittedly, the swimmer in the video is younger and still has some range of motion that we lose as we get older. We also have to acknowledge that the elite athlete has physical assets that slower swimmers do not.
Having said that, look more closely at the body position while the arm comes over the top. The arm is, for the most part, on the frontal plane of the body. His body stays rotated until his arm has passed forward of the shoulder and then he rotates onto his stomach and to the other side. This is the relationship that most coaches and swimmers miss.
For alot of reasons, most swimmers do not stay on their "pulling side" long enough which makes this kind of recovery possible. Two of the reasons are: their head is too high and/or they are trying to pull to the outside to get a "high elbow" catch. The latter reason results in early rotation onto the stomach which messes a good recovery.
Full disclosure - I believe in keeping the pull side of your body lower than the recovery side until your hand passes your hip. Some people might call it late breathing. I just think it brings hip rotational power into play and connects the legs to the arms through the hips.
This part is so hard - coaching through the internet. As I watch your 3-23-19 video, it is my opinion that you are rotating back towards your stomach too early in the pull. I would try to pull deeper (think about reaching to the bottom) and "stay" on your pulling side longer (until your pulling hand is past your hip). Try to imagine swimming from side-to-side and avoiding time on your stomach.
If what you did today felt better, that is a good thing. As I get older, I think more about what feels good instead of what goes fast. Afterall, swimming every day means it has to be enjoyable and rewarding. Anything that gets in the way of those two things is counter-productive no matter how technically correct it might be. :)
As hard as it is to coach on the internet, it is equally hard to interpret internet coaching and trying to simulate it in the pool.
Good Luck and let me know how it goes.
Paul
ElaineK -
Ah - the subtlety of our sport is what makes it interesting. Admittedly, the swimmer in the video is younger and still has some range of motion that we lose as we get older. We also have to acknowledge that the elite athlete has physical assets that slower swimmers do not.
Having said that, look more closely at the body position while the arm comes over the top. The arm is, for the most part, on the frontal plane of the body. His body stays rotated until his arm has passed forward of the shoulder and then he rotates onto his stomach and to the other side. This is the relationship that most coaches and swimmers miss.
For alot of reasons, most swimmers do not stay on their "pulling side" long enough which makes this kind of recovery possible. Two of the reasons are: their head is too high and/or they are trying to pull to the outside to get a "high elbow" catch. The latter reason results in early rotation onto the stomach which messes a good recovery.
Full disclosure - I believe in keeping the pull side of your body lower than the recovery side until your hand passes your hip. Some people might call it late breathing. I just think it brings hip rotational power into play and connects the legs to the arms through the hips.
This part is so hard - coaching through the internet. As I watch your 3-23-19 video, it is my opinion that you are rotating back towards your stomach too early in the pull. I would try to pull deeper (think about reaching to the bottom) and "stay" on your pulling side longer (until your pulling hand is past your hip). Try to imagine swimming from side-to-side and avoiding time on your stomach.
If what you did today felt better, that is a good thing. As I get older, I think more about what feels good instead of what goes fast. Afterall, swimming every day means it has to be enjoyable and rewarding. Anything that gets in the way of those two things is counter-productive no matter how technically correct it might be. :)
As hard as it is to coach on the internet, it is equally hard to interpret internet coaching and trying to simulate it in the pool.
Good Luck and let me know how it goes.
Paul
