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!
If your arm is locked out straight you are not in a good position for the catch.
I think just prior to the hand dropping, you always see a locked out elbow.....no? I think I even saw this in underwater video of the 50M final. In sprinting it only lasts a fraction of a second.
Perhaps I overexaggerated to get my point across by saying this entirely happens above the surface because the swimmer was no where close to doing this.
If there is a slight bent elbow on hand entry, the elbow needs to be high enough so that the forearm is entering inline (parallel) with the body's axis. When there is a low arm recovery, a bent elbow on hand entry is a big no no because that means the forearm is presenting itself to increased drag (and you are probably on your way to crossing over the centerline). In the case of a very low arm recovery, I've seen swimmers lock their arm straight just above the water and the whole arm and hand goes in at the same time. I prefer a high elbow recovery, which alows the hand to enter first.
Thanks again everyone for the detailed comments! In particular, the problem with my recovery is much clearer to me now.
SolarEnergy, I am looking forward to your description of dryland exercises to fix this.
When I do arm stretches, especially the one where the hand goes down the back and the elbow points upward, my right side is especially stiff - I imagine this is from extra muscle there. I think this may be making my recovery harder, so I'll try to do more targetted stretches before practice, as well as be conscious that my elbow should lead my hand during the recovery.
I agree with the first statement and strongly disagree with the second. If your arm is locked out straight you are not in a good position for the catch.He did say "almost be locked out" :)
Ideally, when your hand enters, your arm should almost be locked out straight
In the multisport video the speakers left arm does the entry in and it goes up pushing the water with the palm in the wrong direction, so even experts make mistakes. That would be negative catch, or a push.:D
I don't like, is my opinion. Am I not able to give my opinion. He does not have to like anything that I say. Just tell me I am wrong and his stroke does not need any help.
No one exactly said you were wrong... its more that many of us feel it would have been best stated like this:
"I Don't like X and this is what I feel you can do to make it better"
I see you posted some helpful hints later - but you keep saying "more later" - You probably could have saved yourself some grief by combining a few posts. :)
Sorry to hassle! Your post just originally caught me off guard!
it is a great start.
I am very busy these days but will get back with my analysis of your stroke.
I can see that your stroke has great potential.
Did you guys all miss these? Give George a break. The OP asked for stroke advice, not for us to all sit around and sing "Kumbaya." OK, now I'm starting to sound like Geek...
Cool video- thanks! :cool: Does Mr. Smooth swim breaststroke??? :D
I wish they had done the same for the other strokes but almost everything on the swimsmooth site is freestyle. I think breaststroke would be hard to do because there are so many variations, you might need two or three stroke models.
Bill Boomer mentioned a nice little mnemonic, XYYI which indicates in the 50m the arm and leg strokes overlap making an X shape, in the 100m the timing doesn't have any overlap (push the needle, pull the needle. One of the Ys should be upside down) and in the 200 there is a prolonged streamline between the kick and the next pull. So you would kind of need three models just on that account.
Getting back on topic, while looking for something else I found this video clip on recovery technique drills that Jeff might find useful:
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