Myth #5. The reason we pull freestyle underwater with a high elbow is to increase the surface area of our arm.
Forgive me. In case you hadn't noticed that I am preaching high elbows a lot, there is a reason. At the end of each camp at the Race Club I always end by prioritizing the 10 or so points that I make to improve speed and efficiency. The top three are 1) High elbow 2) High elbow and 3) High elbow. Dropping the elbow is like taking a drag suit into competition...only worse, because you don't feel or see what is happening to you...until your tongue is hanging out.
So when I ask campers and coaches, why the high elbow, I usually get increased power or increased surface area. I don't think either one is right.
We all know from throwing on a pair of hand paddles (which, by the way, my coach Flip Darr, reinvented in 1967...Ben Franklin was the first to use, I believe) we get a surge of power from the added surface area. So by creating EVF, do we also increase the surface area of our pulling arm?
First, the only area that matters is the part of the arm that ends up creating propulsive drag, which is the hand and forearm, so we can forget about the upper arm for this argument. Now the question is do we have more surface area of the hand/forearm in the EVF position than we do in the deep arm/elbow position?
We are really talking about the surface area projected onto a plane perpendicular to our long axis, which is the area creating the propulsive force in the backward direction. In theory, one could argue that a poor swimmer leads so much more with the elbow in the dropped position (the hand/forearm creates a forward angle at the elbow joint) that the surface area is reduced.
But with reasonable swimmers that is not what you see. From head on or from the rear, you don't see much difference in the surface area of the forearm/hand regardless of whether it is in the dropped position or the EVF position. The surface area of the arm remains the same.
Therefore, I rest my case. The reason we like the EVF position is to reduce drag....and drag remains the #1 enemy of the swimmer.
Gary Sr.
Parents
Former Member
I don't think anyone argues that you get more surface area with the high elbow. You start pulling earlier with the high elbow, i.e. pulling yourself from farther in front. Some argue that you use larger muscle groups with the high elbow. Not so sure about that. I think you use similar muscles but, as metioned in another post, more leverage with a higher elbow.
I can tell by what hurts after a workout that high elbows and dropped elbows use somewhat different muscles, or at the minimum hits them at different angles.
I think high elbows also encourage shoulder hyperextension, and works in the lats and surrounding muscles. Especially in less experienced swimmers.
With top swimmers, hyper extending the shoulder may be second nature.
With us mere mortals (not just motals like Gary Hall Sr. but most of us dead in the water average swimmers making up the bulk of the USMS), where working the whole shoulder, upper body quadrant assembly so to speak, is not ingrained yet, dropped elbows seem to encourage getting into the windmill-like motion centering on the shoulder joint as focus of all the forces.
I've seen many swimmers, even a lot of our fast sprinting people not usining much in a way of shoulder lift. What is interesting to see is a well rounded swimmer, with a lot of history competing in USA swimming championships, and becoming a masters swimmer, swim next to them. They can go just as fast, and look like they are putting in half the effort.
I don't think anyone argues that you get more surface area with the high elbow. You start pulling earlier with the high elbow, i.e. pulling yourself from farther in front. Some argue that you use larger muscle groups with the high elbow. Not so sure about that. I think you use similar muscles but, as metioned in another post, more leverage with a higher elbow.
I can tell by what hurts after a workout that high elbows and dropped elbows use somewhat different muscles, or at the minimum hits them at different angles.
I think high elbows also encourage shoulder hyperextension, and works in the lats and surrounding muscles. Especially in less experienced swimmers.
With top swimmers, hyper extending the shoulder may be second nature.
With us mere mortals (not just motals like Gary Hall Sr. but most of us dead in the water average swimmers making up the bulk of the USMS), where working the whole shoulder, upper body quadrant assembly so to speak, is not ingrained yet, dropped elbows seem to encourage getting into the windmill-like motion centering on the shoulder joint as focus of all the forces.
I've seen many swimmers, even a lot of our fast sprinting people not usining much in a way of shoulder lift. What is interesting to see is a well rounded swimmer, with a lot of history competing in USA swimming championships, and becoming a masters swimmer, swim next to them. They can go just as fast, and look like they are putting in half the effort.
