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!
Parents
Former Member
I find that little bump interesting, is it typical of other elite swimmers?
If it is the catch then it is interesting that she decelerates afterward. I wonder if she is sculling there or just not able to apply enough power while in that position, or if that is a spike in drag, or if it is kick related, or... Lindsay – Here are some of our findings after testing many swimmers. Let’s use the telemetry I posted earlier on the elite swimmer, and let me say again, these are general findings.
As the stroke cycle begins, and the hand/arm enters the water and starts the pulling pattern, velocity tends to progressively decline to the minimal point in the stroke cycle somewhere under the shoulder. (As the tracing I posted demonstrated) Sometimes we do see a small velocity increase “bump” about halfway through this pulling phase, and then another decline. But generally, as the arm moves somewhere under the shoulder, this is the point where minimal velocity is attained.
We believe this is caused by the drag of the arm as it moves underneath the body. As the stroke cycle begins, the hand/arm progressively moves down, and under the body. This movement under the body, progressively creates increasing drag, and as the telemetry shows, the velocity decreases to the minimal velocity position somewhere under the shoulder. It happens to almost everyone. Using the telemetry I posted of the elite sprinter, notice the difference between the maximum velocity and minimal velocity points for each stroke cycle. Better swimmers have a smaller max/min variation in velocity than swimmers that are slower, and that might be obvious. However, many slower swimmers we have tested can generate similar peak velocity values, but their max/minimum velocity difference is much greater. In addition, that difference between swimmers can be very small when looking at one stroke cycle. But during a race where swimmers are using stroke rates between 50 and 60 stroke cycles per minute, that small difference becomes cumulative, and can define from a swimming perspective differences in performance.
The “bump” in velocity that you referred to that occurs about halfway through the initial pulling phase, is really up for debate, and I think is hard to precisely define. We suspect that it is not caused by the arm, but possibly the body of the swimmer moves momentarily into a position of decreased drag in the water, and thus the velocity makes a momentary increase.
The other reason why we feel drag is the major player is if you look at the image of the telemetry when maximum velocity is attained, there is much less arm surface area under the body. One arm is outstretched just getting ready to start the next pull, and the other arm is partially out of the water, with only a small portion of the hand/arm still in the water,
So the stroke correction would be to try to get the arm though the pulling phase while minimizing the amount of max/min velocity difference, being especially focused where the minimum velocity phase occurs. (Somewhere under the shoulder) Obviously we believe any swimmer can achieve optimal results by incorporating Velocity/Video Telemetry technology into their daily training plan.
Budd
I find that little bump interesting, is it typical of other elite swimmers?
If it is the catch then it is interesting that she decelerates afterward. I wonder if she is sculling there or just not able to apply enough power while in that position, or if that is a spike in drag, or if it is kick related, or... Lindsay – Here are some of our findings after testing many swimmers. Let’s use the telemetry I posted earlier on the elite swimmer, and let me say again, these are general findings.
As the stroke cycle begins, and the hand/arm enters the water and starts the pulling pattern, velocity tends to progressively decline to the minimal point in the stroke cycle somewhere under the shoulder. (As the tracing I posted demonstrated) Sometimes we do see a small velocity increase “bump” about halfway through this pulling phase, and then another decline. But generally, as the arm moves somewhere under the shoulder, this is the point where minimal velocity is attained.
We believe this is caused by the drag of the arm as it moves underneath the body. As the stroke cycle begins, the hand/arm progressively moves down, and under the body. This movement under the body, progressively creates increasing drag, and as the telemetry shows, the velocity decreases to the minimal velocity position somewhere under the shoulder. It happens to almost everyone. Using the telemetry I posted of the elite sprinter, notice the difference between the maximum velocity and minimal velocity points for each stroke cycle. Better swimmers have a smaller max/min variation in velocity than swimmers that are slower, and that might be obvious. However, many slower swimmers we have tested can generate similar peak velocity values, but their max/minimum velocity difference is much greater. In addition, that difference between swimmers can be very small when looking at one stroke cycle. But during a race where swimmers are using stroke rates between 50 and 60 stroke cycles per minute, that small difference becomes cumulative, and can define from a swimming perspective differences in performance.
The “bump” in velocity that you referred to that occurs about halfway through the initial pulling phase, is really up for debate, and I think is hard to precisely define. We suspect that it is not caused by the arm, but possibly the body of the swimmer moves momentarily into a position of decreased drag in the water, and thus the velocity makes a momentary increase.
The other reason why we feel drag is the major player is if you look at the image of the telemetry when maximum velocity is attained, there is much less arm surface area under the body. One arm is outstretched just getting ready to start the next pull, and the other arm is partially out of the water, with only a small portion of the hand/arm still in the water,
So the stroke correction would be to try to get the arm though the pulling phase while minimizing the amount of max/min velocity difference, being especially focused where the minimum velocity phase occurs. (Somewhere under the shoulder) Obviously we believe any swimmer can achieve optimal results by incorporating Velocity/Video Telemetry technology into their daily training plan.
Budd
