To "S" or Not to "S", that is the question

Should you use the "S" pull technique or not?

A locker-room regular who was trained in an elite youth swimming program and is now getting back into swimming as an adult told me today that he understands the going theory on freestyle pulling is to pull straight through rather than using the old stand-by "S" pull. I had not heard this before. I've certainly noted the differences ("s" uses only a little more than half the stroke the sequence following the "s" motion and can lead to a faster stroke down to the hip ... after the "s", while the straight pull uses the full motion of the stroke*), but am not familiar with the research.

Anyone care to enlighten the group?

* These are my observations.

Old Guy Tying New Stroke? Beware!

OK, so I'm not Michael Phelps.  But I do have a bit of his ego and I thought maybe I could try his freestyle stroke.  No, not the one on the TV commercial where he plows through pavement.  That's for the younger crowd.  I'm talking plain old throw yourself up with each stroke like the a butterfly to get more reach and more body whip with each kick.  Where did I land?  On the couch for two days - unable to move.  I learned my lesson, or so I thought.  That was a year or more ago.  But yesterday, I recalled a recent reply to that post where I first pointed out MP's freestyle leap.  That reply suggested opening one's fingers to make the water slide through faster.  Sounds logical (after you get past the part about giving up on cupping the water to get more pull).  Well I tried it.  Naturally, my arms came through the water faster - so did my elbow and almost instant tennis elbow pain that throbbed until I was about 3/4ths through my workout.  So as for radical new stroke technique?  It doesn't look good for moi.  I guess I'm stuck in the slow lane with the guy in the waterproof leg cast.

Freestyle - It's NOT supposed to be like Butterfly

During my kicking set, I was watching a swimmer in a lane near me do some freestyle. Her technique needed work, but she wasn't a bad swimmer. But her errors were so common, they screamed blog post!

Today, I'll focus on the one that really stuck out to me. Poor energy conservation. Conservation of energy is key to swimming any distance at all without tiring. This is especially true for occasional swimmers who haven't built up any distance in their routines.

In the case of the swimmer I was watching, she was retrieving her arm from its pull, by pulling it out of the water from the back, near her thigh (good so far) and sweeping it forward via a long arc, as one might do with butterfly (think how both arms sweep out in butterfly ... this swimmer was doing this same thing, just one arm at a time). This is where I contend she was wasting energy.

It's natural to do the sweep thing, but not the best way to use one's energy. I contend that for freestyle, it's best to bring the back of one's arm as close to the head as possible, and drag the finger tips across the water. Doing so eliminates the additional weight of holding one's arm out.

You can try this on dry land to see what I'm talking about. Simply hold your arm out for fifteen seconds (feel the weight of your arm?). Now (warning: this is awkward) try holding the back of your arm next to your ear with your hand pointing forward for the same length of time (see, I told you this was awkward! ... it's not so in the pool, really). Feel the weight of your arm now.

Which did you find heavier? If you found the head/ear position lighter, try out that stroke in the pool. You may find that you use less energy over time and can thus go further with less fatigue. Hope this helps. Good luck!

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Finally, I must apologize for focusing this blog's content of late on the silly and odd. I've not kept to the promised theme of swimming dynamics. Reason, quite frankly, is that it's just easier some times. Writing about swimming dynamics sort of gets old after a while, hence the silly posts. If you've stuck with me through the long haul, thank you!

Easy way to Rotate your Body in Freestyle

5/26/11 Edit: OK, I am going to be the big man (never wasn't) and admit the advice I posted near the bottom of this post - on how to rotate - is wrong. It's been a while, so I'm not certain, but I want to believe my idea was to get novice swimmers to see what rotation felt like. I guess I overstepped and implied that one should do this as "proper" technique. They should NOT. Thank you to those who commented that the advice is poor - I respect your years of tenure. Note to readers, if you read the post below, please read the comments(aside from my first reply) and you'll see how wrong my advice apparently was.

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One secret to swimming faster freestyle is to rotate your body. Rotation can be a challenge for some but after reading this tip, you'll see that it was never supposed to be hard. The tip is quite easy to understand and do.

First, what is body rotation and why rotate in the first place? Optimally, when not in a rotation, the swimmer's body should be straight and parallel to the surface of the water and the bottom of the pool so it can stream through the water with less resistance. Rotation is when the body (maintaining the parallel) turns to the side, giving the body even less resistance.

I've used the pencil analogy in previous posts, but for this example I'm going to suggest using a ruler. Hold the ruler by either end with the length of the parallel to the floor and with the scale so it is facing the floor. Now turn the ruler so the scale faces the wall. Now turn it down to the floor again and make the scale face the opposite wall. Now imagine doing that with your body in the pool. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. That is rotation.

So why should you rotate? Rotation puts your body in position to have less resistance as it passes through the water. Notice from the ruler demonstration that when the scale is facing the wall, the shape of the ruler is more like a knife (or a fish). This position also puts you in position to have a more powerful pull stroke.

So, how can you guarantee you'll rotate? This is the easy part. Standing, put your arms over your head extended straight out, fingers pointing up. Now cross your arms at the wrist so the cross is directly over your head (keep arms fully extended). Note how each hand is extended beyond the center point. Now put one arm to your side and leave the other where it is. Now switch them.

Now just do this in the pool. When you extend each arm ahead, be sure to reach beyond the center point where the wrists would cross if they were there together.

What this does. The extended reach past the center point will force your body automatically into the rotation you are wanting to achieve. If you don't find yourself rotating enough, extend your reach further (i.e. hyper-extend). Enjoy!

Michael Phelps Freestyle - What exactly is going on?

If you've watched Michael Phelps with any sort of discerning eye this week as he cracks one world record after another, you'll notice that his freestyle is a bit unorthodox from the rest of his fellow competitors. Even the most untrained eye will notice that he comes up higher out of the water than everyone else (link has an embedded picture of what I mean).

What is it about this that gives him an edge over his competitors? Is this giving him an edge?

This has gotten me thinking a little bit outside of the box, so forgive this post if I am way off base, but I tried out the stroke and noticed something peculiar. If you pull yourself out of the water high enough, you can actually throw your hips into the stroke, much like one does in butterfly. If you add the hip action, you get the benefit of more body and leg power in the stroke.

Now I'm not saying Michael is doing what I describe above. I'm not sure it would even be legal, and there are countless judges and people more versed in stroke technique watching all over the earth this week and I haven't heard any complaints or protests.

All I'm suggesting is, that this extra lift up and out of the water before going into the reach may add to one's power in the stroke. Try it for yourself. It takes a little bit of coordination to pull it off, but I think you may be pleasantly surprised. Let me know what you find.

Freestyle Roll - When is too Much?

Rolling your body during freestyle (turning shoulder down toward the bottom of pool and hip to same) is one of those things seasoned freestyle swimmers do without much thought, but novices must learn through practice. A good roll can enhance your streamline profile and thus speed your way through the water. But what makes for a good roll? Is it possible to have too much of a roll?

Yesterday I was doing my laps and someone one lane over was doing the same. I noticed his roll seemed to be fairly extreme. When I do the roll I go only so far that my arm can extend as deep as possible. This swimmer was rolling so far that his arm was being forced away from the optimal depth. A little further and he could have rolled over onto his back. By going too far with the roll (past the optimal arm depth point) he was wasting energy and time when he could be getting through his stroke.

So when you are doing freestyle, be sure to roll, reach as deep as possible before going into your "S" pull, but don't over-roll - that's just self-defeating.

Fight Your Instinct toTwist

This morning I was reading the newspaper and a photo of a swimmer caught my eye. The caption said the person pictured was in a Masters swim program. Figuring the swimmer would have good form I studied the picture and was surprised to see she had her head turned to catch a breath of air, but her upper torso (waist up) was twisted so she could pick her head up (to breathe). Picking her head up???!!! A Masters swimmer should know better! She must be new to the program or doesn't listen well (we all know some of those). Well versed swimmers know to roll their bodies when they do freestyle and to allow their head to turn along with their bodies - as one (like you might turn a pencil when holding the eraser). For the less experienced, it's perfectly natural to attempt to roll and end up with an awful twist like the photo I described. It's got to hurt your back and cause undue strain and unnecessary "efforting". Follow my advice and use the straight pencil analogy. This will take some practice, particularly with keeping your head down while you breathe. You only want your mouth to come out of the water. Surprisingly, there is a small pocket of air that forms right below your forehead where you need to breathe (thank fluid dynamics for that or we'd all be twisting). Keep one eye under the water and the top of your head pointed at the wall ahead of you - and open your mouth in that pocket. This will eliminate the twist and I promise, your whole body will be happier for it.

FS Stroke Losing Power? Try this Simple Step.

Besides a huge kick, I'm finding nothing beats a full hand of water to get some instant speed and distance out of my freestyle stroke. "Full hand of water"? Yes, it's strange to write as it is to read, but I can't think of a better way of expressing what I'm talking about here. I'm referring to keeping the maximum amount of water in your palm as you go through the entire pull part of the stroke. Tip your hand just a smidgen and you'll lose pull power. This is because the water slips past your hand if you tip it - so don't tip. If this is a totally foreign concept, I encourage you to try the following. You can do this experiment in just about any body of water, including the sink or bathtub. With your body still (standing is ok), palm your hand and put it under the surface and pull it through the water so you pull as much of the water as you can. Now do it again, but tip your hand a little bit. Notice in the latter case how much less power you've created. Now try a full pull again, this time shape your palm in the water so you get the more pull. Keep trying various palm positions until you can't get any more power out of it. When you've reached the maximum, note the position shape of your palm. This palm position (shape) is what you want to use in your swim stroke (for both hands, of course). So, if you find yourself inexplicably losing power, think about your palm position. It's an easy fix and off you'll go! Enjoy.

Power Stroke

Power is always an issue with me. Either I've got it going or I don't. Today, as fortune would have it, I had it. I generally get it, when I'm swimming in a lane next to another good swimmer. Just the ambition to keep up or pass usually gets me going. Today, it was none of that. I just had it going and for some fortuitous reason, I made note of what I was doing. From time to time, during the swim, I slowed, and made note of that too. What I discerned was that when I forced my body to stretch out to its longest - from toe to fingernail - and when I combined that with a straight (freestyle) pull down to the vertical point (pointing at the bottom of the pool) before making the first move into any sort of s-stroke, was when I got the most power going. The exaggerated stretch made my stroke longer and in effect gave me a larger propeller. I experimented with the s-stroke too, noting that I could start it long before I reached the vertical point. This early s-stroke defeated the available power, while a delayed s-stroke enhanced it. Try it out and see if you get these results.

Excellent Smooth Swimming Video

Here is an excellent video I found on youtube.com which demonstrates what the narrator calls "smooth swimming". He recommends visualizing the perfect stroke. This video shows an Olympic Gold medalist doing the freestyle. The ease of his stroke is what I've been preaching on this blog for some time now. What jumped out at me was this swimmer's torso rotation highlighted by the near perfect perpendicular line that runs from his elbow (out of the water) down his arm to the line in the bottom of the pool. I tried it this AM and getting the back of my arm straight out of the water, perpendicular to the bottom of the pool took a lot of effort, but it eventually came. Try it yourself.