Hey guys, my apologies to those of you getting sick of critiquing people, :laugh2: I just joined a masters team this week and I've gotten some really good instruction on the *** stroke and free, but have a couple questions and a video on which i'm hoping to get some feedback. On the free, the coach is advocating pressing down with the whole arm and then pulling the water underneath me with the forearm just about parallel to the pool floor. He even said to almost touch my opposite hip with my hand (I understood that as crossing the midline on the pull). Is this kind of old school or is there something I might be misunderstanding? It felt very weird trying that, very different from what I had been (unsuccessfully) striving for before. I'm kind of trying to combine elements of what he is saying with what I have read and watched in videos. He was very helpful in getting me aware of my balance and body position. On the *** stroke he was very helpful as well with the arm pull, I did much better after his instruction. One interesting thing he advocated was bringing the legs up during the pull and kicking while arm shooting, so my feet should be back together once my arms were in streamline. What I have seen in videos of olympians shows a kick that is a little more delayed; the legs come up to the butt during the shoot, then the arms are in streamline before the actual squeezing of the legs/feet. Can someone comment on this?
I think I may have screwed myself by doing so much reading and watching videos for 3 years before getting a coach. I would have been less confused during practice. That said, the net effect has been positive.
Here is a freestyle video from today. I definitely see flaws; left arm is weird, probably too high, so I have trouble catching. I look uncomfortable and twisted when left side is down. I'm still not getting the forearms very vertical, right arm in particular probably pulls too low. I wonder if I need more shoulder strength and/or more internal rotation of the shoulder. I've been working really hard on narrowing my kick amplitude, but some strokes forget. I also have problems with the kick rhythm. Please critique and offer me drills you would do when I do practice on my own (have Masters just 3 days a week). Thanks a bunch.
YouTube - Swim Dec 9
First thing I see right off is that your pull is way outside your centerline. Try to get a little more body roll to get your catch more in front and continue the pull (almost following the black lines on the bottom of the lane) straight down your body to finish past your thigh. With more body roll and extension in front and back you'll be taking much less stroke per length of the pool.
I thought that I was rotating past 45 degrees, but are you suggesting rotating almost completely to my side? I see how that would bring my lead arm more underneath me/toward center.
Perhaps in my attempt to get a better catch I've been extending a little wide, like KPN. Maybe too wide. When you talk about pulling down the center line, do you mean the hand? I would think the forearm and elbow especially will be well lateral to the middle. You can't pull with a high elbow without the elbow going wide.
Some olympians do seem to pull down the middle more, but there are others like Kara Lynn Joyce who pull a lot wider. I'm still trying to find what works best for me. The interesting thing is that in the past experimentation would completely mess me up for weeks, but now I can tweak things much more easily without long term effects.
First thing I see right off is that your pull is way outside your centerline. Try to get a little more body roll to get your catch more in front and continue the pull (almost following the black lines on the bottom of the lane) straight down your body to finish past your thigh. With more body roll and extension in front and back you'll be taking much less stroke per length of the pool.
I thought that I was rotating past 45 degrees, but are you suggesting rotating almost completely to my side? I see how that would bring my lead arm more underneath me/toward center.
Perhaps in my attempt to get a better catch I've been extending a little wide, like KPN. Maybe too wide. When you talk about pulling down the center line, do you mean the hand? I would think the forearm and elbow especially will be well lateral to the middle. You can't pull with a high elbow without the elbow going wide.
Some olympians do seem to pull down the middle more, but there are others like Kara Lynn Joyce who pull a lot wider. I'm still trying to find what works best for me. The interesting thing is that in the past experimentation would completely mess me up for weeks, but now I can tweak things much more easily without long term effects.
