My freestyle technique, what needs work?

Former Member
Former Member
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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  • Ahhh finally. I love your stroke. Your stroke count is misleading since it is tightly related to both the count of SDK and the efficiency of every SDK undulation. So it doesn't mean as much than for instance mine since I love breathing so much that I don't SDK :( So. Do you define your stroke as EVF? How was the transition? You certainly don't look like a dropped elbow swimmer to me, reach on water seems good. Do you use full blown very high and early vertical forearm or just manage to pour a bit of EVF to it? Any record of injuries? My SDK efficiency drops off rapidly with distance -- it works but the cost is fairly high. I also started swimming underwater on a couple of those turns, which is what I get for not racing since the mid '80s. I have been working on EVF, trying to hold onto it when I sprint. I think it is definitely more efficient and I can get more power to the water, but I tend to revert to my old stroke during a race. No injuries yet, and (with the speed suits) I'm fairly close to my college times while doing only 20% of the yardage. My recovery time sucks, though.
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  • Ahhh finally. I love your stroke. Your stroke count is misleading since it is tightly related to both the count of SDK and the efficiency of every SDK undulation. So it doesn't mean as much than for instance mine since I love breathing so much that I don't SDK :( So. Do you define your stroke as EVF? How was the transition? You certainly don't look like a dropped elbow swimmer to me, reach on water seems good. Do you use full blown very high and early vertical forearm or just manage to pour a bit of EVF to it? Any record of injuries? My SDK efficiency drops off rapidly with distance -- it works but the cost is fairly high. I also started swimming underwater on a couple of those turns, which is what I get for not racing since the mid '80s. I have been working on EVF, trying to hold onto it when I sprint. I think it is definitely more efficient and I can get more power to the water, but I tend to revert to my old stroke during a race. No injuries yet, and (with the speed suits) I'm fairly close to my college times while doing only 20% of the yardage. My recovery time sucks, though.
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