My swim video

Tom Box

I'm posting this in the hopes I get some feedback from the house!  Feel free to view and give me some constructive criticism.  The last couple views are in slo-mo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2BFceFYQII

Dave Campbell

Doesn't look too bad Tom. I'd say a some things to focus on are: 1. You are dropping your left elbow as you are pushing down with the left as you breath on the right side. Basically using it to support yourself as you get your breath. Work on bi-lateral breathing. Your right elbow stays higher early and gets a better catch. Your left hand is too high in the water as your begin the pull, so its first move is down, as opposed to catching water and pushing it backwards. 2. Your head is high and that is sinking your hips and feet. Work on looking down more and pressing your chest deeper to raise your feet. 3. Your not rotating very much, swimming a bit flat. Do the switch drills in the EN video found in the wiki. 4. Work a bit on the timing and try to get a little more front quadrant. In other words, accelerate your recovery hand to get your recovering hand back out front earlier as your pulling arm is in action. Will also raise your feet.

What is your swim golf score. Time to do a 50 yard in seconds added to your stroke count? Do 4 of them with 15 seconds rest between and get your average? There are instructions in the wiki I think, but shoot to get it down to 72. Drills help get the score down.

A few minor tweaks and you'll be set.

jreville

Dave makes several good points. You are swimming flat. Your rotation when you breathe to the right is good but you're flat when the right arm enters. Try to rotate in a similar fashion the other way even though you're not breathing on that left side. Also, to get your hips and legs up, think "swimming downhill". Your reach shouldn't be at the surface but several inches (6-12) below the water. Picture in your head that your are swimming downhill and you reach downhill, just below the surface. I also think you could reach more with each stroke - which happens with rotation - and this will extend your finish a little. Finally, always keep your elbows up. By entering the water with your hand and thinking "downhill" your hand will begin the pull below the elbow. Then all you have to do is keep it there. Never lead with the elbow. You are very smooth in the water.

Paul Hough

My lousy swim times aside, even I can see that you are dropping your left elbow more and getting a weaker catch on that side. Your height is a real advantage and gives you a long keel in the water.

bob hiller

Tom, I think your stroke is pretty good and your 35' at Florida 70.3 reflects that.  I agree with the others that your primary area for improvement is getting a better catch (the beginning of the pull with your hands) and keeping your elbows higher.  Those go hand in hand.  You may want to do some single arm drill work and actually watch your hands and elbows every now and then.  when you do these, breathe on the opposite side of the arm you are pulling with.  e.g., breathe to the left when you are pulling with your right arm.  put your other hand down by your side when you do this drill.  you may want to do 75 yard swims.  1st length left arm only.  2nd length right arm only, then 3rd lap regular swim to incorporate the drills right away.  maybe do 4x75 yds after your normal warmup.  

it also looks like stretch cordz could help you strengthen all the muscles needed to be able to get a good catch and keep your elbows high -- shoulders, lats, pecs, upper arms and abs.  finally, although he kept his elbows insanely high, you may want to search Youtube for video of Ian Thrope swimming freestyle.  You will see his forearm and upper arm are an extension of his hand -- a great paddle to pull a lot of water.  Good luck.

Tom Box

Thanks everyone. This is good advice. I did notice my poor catch especially on the left with the extremely low elbow but hadn't notice the rotation issue. Looks like I have some things to work on and will concentrate on the catch, rotation and get after it with the cordz. Thanks Bob for the one arm drill advice. I will add that to my workouts. I will check out the Thorpe video too.

Mike Roberts

Tom,

Thanks for sharing.  Looks pretty good, and you got some great advice above.  That L elbow drop should be easy to fix. The stretch cords can really help with high-elbow work.  Sheila has a good video or two on YouTube.  It also looks like you rotate pretty well on your breathe side, but flat on the other.  A snorkel would help with a lot of this.  It will allow you to keep your head down (legs and hips up) and steady, you can see and focus on both arms in the catch and part of the pull, and you can focus on building even, fluid, bilateral rotation.  If you don't want the snorkel, try breathing every 5 or 7 strokes . . . this allows the same thing, just without the oxygen.  Based on the video, I suspect you've had a few crooked open-water swims, with one arm rotating and reaching more than the other.  Creating more balanced stroke = straighter = faster when there's no black line to follow.

I would suggest developing a two-beat kick once you get rotation and balance in alignment.  It will save you a lot of energy (a six-beat or similar kick saps a lot of energy and doesn't provide any significant propulsion advantage vs a two-beat) and will allow you to focus more of your O2 in practice to the front quadrant. The two-beat can also help with rotation, getting the upper and lower body working in unison (as long as you engage the glutes - pretend you're trying to hold a quarter). Finally, it'll help in non-wetsuit races.  

Your stroke count also looked a little slow, so I timed the video in two places and got 52 spm both times. Based on your :35 HIM speed, you should probably be in the 60's. The two places where I've been able to increase stroke rate (from 48 to about 65) are at the front end (as soon as my lead shoulder has rotated and that hand is fully reached, immediately bring that hand and forearm "over the barrel" without any pause or glide) and the back end (pushing faster from armpit to hip, which is mostly speed work and conditioning).

Hope all your work leads to faster splits.

Mike

 

Mike Roberts

Tom,

Thanks for sharing.  Looks pretty good, and you got some great advice above.  That L elbow drop should be easy to fix. The stretch cords can really help with high-elbow work.  Sheila has a good video or two on YouTube.  It also looks like you rotate pretty well on your breathe side, but flat on the other.  A snorkel would help with a lot of this.  It will allow you to keep your head down (legs and hips up) and steady, you can see and focus on both arms in the catch and part of the pull, and you can focus on building even, fluid, bilateral rotation.  If you don't want the snorkel, try breathing every 5 or 7 strokes . . . this allows the same thing, just without the oxygen.  Based on the video, I suspect you've had a few crooked open-water swims, with one arm rotating and reaching more than the other.  Creating more balanced stroke = straighter = faster when there's no black line to follow.

I would suggest developing a two-beat kick once you get rotation and balance in alignment.  It will save you a lot of energy (a six-beat or similar kick saps a lot of energy and doesn't provide any significant propulsion advantage vs a two-beat) and will allow you to focus more of your O2 in practice to the front quadrant. The two-beat can also help with rotation, getting the upper and lower body working in unison (as long as you engage the glutes - pretend you're trying to hold a quarter). Finally, it'll help in non-wetsuit races.  

Your stroke count also looked a little slow, so I timed the video in two places and got 52 spm both times. Based on your :35 HIM speed, you should probably be in the 60's. The two places where I've been able to increase stroke rate (from 48 to about 65) are at the front end (as soon as my lead shoulder has rotated and that hand is fully reached, immediately bring that hand and forearm "over the barrel" without any pause or glide) and the back end (pushing faster from armpit to hip, which is mostly speed work and conditioning).

Hope all your work leads to faster splits.

Mike

 

Tom Box

Thanks Mike. Good stuff. Any suggestions on ways to develop a 2 beat kick? I tried it this morning and it wasn't pretty!

Mike Roberts

Hey Tom,

Don't worry, lots of people (including me) really struggle with it, especially if you've been swimming differently for years.  For me, when I slowed down the kick, I found that I naturally kicked with the same arm and leg (i.e., my L foot wanted to kick when my L arm reached).  So, I was fighting the rotation, not helping it. Not good.  After a couple of weeks of struggle, someone far smarter than me told me to use flippers and I'll figure it out in a couple of swims. Worked like a charm.  Probably took 6 weeks to really get it ingrained.  With flippers on, just do a Superman down the pool (both arms extended out front), When your R foot kicks (flick of the pointed toes from the hip), feel how it helps your hips (with glutes engaged) rotate to the L.  And the L kick helps R rotation. Once that clicks and you really feel the cross-body connection, start swimming (still with flippers) but focus just on one arm and one leg and their cross-body connection.  Thus, on the way down, all focus is on kicking with the R as your L arm extends.  Then switch - R arm, L kick.  The flippers will keep your legs up and will accentuate the power, such that you should be able to really feel how that R kick has become an integral part of the L rotation/reach.  After a few hundred, it'll probably click. Just be patient. 

I'm sure there are more formal drills or exercises, but ^^ worked pretty quickly for me.

Mike