Awhile back I had tried to record myself swimming freestlye and ask around the net for commentary, but it was with a low-quality camera and only above-water footage. Not getting too much feedback at that time, I decided to buy a underwater HD camera and try to use that as a reference and improve my freestyle technique. Over about 40 days I have recorded ~16 sessions, and tried to gradually improve things. Here is what I have improved:
- No longer crossing over arms in middle (at least most of the time)
- Entry occurs when arms are more stretched forward, before my elbow was bent ~90 degrees for some entries
- Left pull is a bit more consistent, but still not a clean S curve like right arm (yes I'm right-handed)
- kick is a bit tighter and more controlled (though this probably still needs to be made even smaller, with less knee kick)
- neck angle when breathing is less extreme, before I was turning upwards much more than necessary
I still look straight down at the bottom when swimming much of the time, partially because if I look forward with a 45-degree angle I can't really see much anyway because my goggles get in the way, although I know doing this will make my breathing more natural, and possibly improve my posture overall.
I have been doing alot of catch-up with a pull bouy and that seems to have helped me control my upper body more. Also been doing alot of stretches to enable my foot to stretch to a greater degree, and doing a few laps with zoomers to help improve my overall kick form.
Anyway, the result of my recent training can be seen in the following video, where I edited together a few sessions together, and you can see my technique from a few different angles, both above and underwater.
YouTube- Jeff's Freestyle Technique 7/5/2010
I was concerned about doing too much endurance training with 'bad' form,but I think I am nearly ready to start doing less form work and a little more endurance training. However before that I really would like to get some critique from some masters swimming forum members.
If I were to point out my #1 problem at present, it is a lack of 'balance' in the water, though I am not sure exactly what that means or how to work on it. When I see videos of pro swimmers like Michael Phelps I am amazed by how their arms seem 'anchored' in front, whereas I have to struggle to even keep them straight. It takes a conscious effort to not cross over the middle, and even then I can't seem to keep my arms 'anchored' in front.
I do most of my training in a housing-development pool with no swimming friends, so any commentary would be very helpful.
Thanks very much!
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Former Member
With the Michael Phelps video I noticed his cadence rhythm wasn't symmetrical - isn't that relatively inefficient - even for one of the fastest swimmers in the world? Yes it is. It has been shown to be. But this issue would probably be caused by the breathing. Both arms kind of develop their 'specialized' way of pulling.
Some available data suggests that 1) breathing side stoking arm's acceleration (in velocity) is lower than the non breathing stroking arm, 2) this drop of velocity seems to be tied with a drop in body forward velocity as well at the same moment, for elite swimmers, especially males that breathe every 2.
@Chris, out of curiosity,
1. if one has 2feet long arm, and that the hand reaches 3m/s velocity, what would be a fair estimate of upper arm velocity? You suggest that it wouldn't have sufficient backward velocity to not at least break even in term of drag/propulsion ratio? Then your position probably makes sense (so would Gary's). Cheers now I understand! But...
2. that upper arm which won't end up as deep in EVF situation, will end up exposing itself on the side. What I mean here is that it has to be somewhere, and the forearm won't hide itself 'behind' it. You suggest that since it's not as deep (on the side) there would be less drag?
Anyway, I can only respect this cause really, I got no solid clue.
With the Michael Phelps video I noticed his cadence rhythm wasn't symmetrical - isn't that relatively inefficient - even for one of the fastest swimmers in the world? Yes it is. It has been shown to be. But this issue would probably be caused by the breathing. Both arms kind of develop their 'specialized' way of pulling.
Some available data suggests that 1) breathing side stoking arm's acceleration (in velocity) is lower than the non breathing stroking arm, 2) this drop of velocity seems to be tied with a drop in body forward velocity as well at the same moment, for elite swimmers, especially males that breathe every 2.
@Chris, out of curiosity,
1. if one has 2feet long arm, and that the hand reaches 3m/s velocity, what would be a fair estimate of upper arm velocity? You suggest that it wouldn't have sufficient backward velocity to not at least break even in term of drag/propulsion ratio? Then your position probably makes sense (so would Gary's). Cheers now I understand! But...
2. that upper arm which won't end up as deep in EVF situation, will end up exposing itself on the side. What I mean here is that it has to be somewhere, and the forearm won't hide itself 'behind' it. You suggest that since it's not as deep (on the side) there would be less drag?
Anyway, I can only respect this cause really, I got no solid clue.
