I was cruising the Internet last night and somehow got on the subject of straight-arm recovery (SAR). You know, like Janet Evans and a few other prominent swimmers. The most recent being YouTube - Swimming - Go Swim Straight Arm Freestyle with Scott Tucker.
From what I read, SAR may help to reduce shoulder strain in older swimmers (i.e., me) and those with less flexible shoulders, so I gave it a try this morning just for fun.
I have to say, I like it better than high-elbow. I did several 25 sprints using both techniques and found I wasn't any slower using SAR, and I might actually be slightly faster.
The thing I was really struck with is how effortless it felt to swim SAR as compared to high-elbow (for me anyway), and I also found my pull to be more complete. With high-elbow, I have a tendency to shorten my stroke a little bit and not follow-through completely. With SAR, this isn't the case for me.
I was just curious as to how many others in Masters-land regularly swim using straight-arm recovery.
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Chris,
Well said. The Michael Phelps experiment should have put this issue to bed. SAR is simply not as fast, right? As for open water, the arguments for it sound legit to me.
Why is phelps the deciding factor in what works or doesn't work for other people? Just because it doesn't work for him, doesn't mean that it won't work for others.
Chris,
Well said. The Michael Phelps experiment should have put this issue to bed. SAR is simply not as fast, right? As for open water, the arguments for it sound legit to me.
Why is phelps the deciding factor in what works or doesn't work for other people? Just because it doesn't work for him, doesn't mean that it won't work for others.
