In freestyle, I tend to drop my elbow and enter the water with elbow and hand at almost the same time, which I know is not optimal. I understand that the current recommendation is a wider, lower, relaxed recovery -- with elbow not quite as high as previously taught. But the hand should still enter the water before the elbow.
Any recommendations on drills to improve my freestyle recovery while keeping my hand and forearm relaxed? Any online videos that might inspire me as I noodle around in our neighborhood pool while everyone's on vacation? (:
I'd like to avoid anything that could impinge my shoulder such as zipper drill and fingertip drag.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
Pretend as your hand enters the water it is going over a beer barrel and you are then trying the throw the barrel backwards.
You can try this in your neighbor's pool with a real beer barrel too, but you might not get much practice done before opening it.:)
Pretend as your hand enters the water it is going over a beer barrel and you are then trying the throw the barrel backwards.
You can try this in your neighbor's pool with a real beer barrel too, but you might not get much practice done before opening it.:)
At this risk of putting the song "99 Barrels of Beer on the Wall..." in my head, yes I will give this a try, thanks! (:
You are smart to keep the recovery wide and low. Think of our hand as a letter that you are inserting into a horizontal mail slot just ahead of our shoulder. No need for high elbows, just let the fingers enter first.
Good luck!
What is the rationale for a wider lower recovery?
Hey Allen -
I've always felt that many people carry the elbow soooo high that they jam up their neck/shoulder muscles and/or over-rotate. Wide and low loosens the neck and shoulder area up and can help reduce over-rotation.
Just my 2 cents.
Matt
