MR. I/We really appreciate your advice. Its pretty amazing your willingness to coach us up like this. My new game is to try to analyze the video before you to see if I am able to learn, my version of a crossword puzzle.
My take: I am a total windmill, which really surprised me. My swim thought is "over the barrel", somehow resulting in the straight arm - clearly this is not ideal. Apparently my barrel too far away. I got some cords, but I am awful at them so far, so will study. I had a wetronome on for the video so I know I was stroking at about 60-61, which feels pretty easy, I guess because my catch is so slow. A a CSS of 1:49/m, my sweet spot is supposed to be ~65, so planned to increase that over time. I have tried 70+, its a huge struggle, I think because of the slow catch. I think I am crossing over too, even though I am thinking 'go wide' during the stroke. Plan to focus on that - but not sure how. I have a snorkel, will use it, but until I saw these vids, I really thought my alignment was going to be better, which is clearly a delusion. Alas, I must not forget Dougie Bob. Getting very happy with my core work and balance, but still the butt is dragging sometimes. I too saw the late breath, and admit, with all of the other swim thoughts going on I forget to exhale and breath fast.
Thanks for the feedback again. You're right this will be a long and slow process. I plan get back to swimming 3x a week but with a focus on drills to work on my balance. It's hard to only focus on a couple technique fixes at a time...typically I'm thinking about too many focus areas. I plan to take another video in ~8 - 10 weeks and see some improvement. Thanks!
Hello EN - As many, I have been reading and watching this forum amazed and interested. David, Mike and others - Thank you for the time and superb guidance that you share here. I have finally gotten around to having some videos done. I look forward to your feedback. I need to get faster and much more efficient Thanks! Giselle
Hey Giselle, congrats on a great race at Choo (listened to most of the podcast). I hope you're looking forward to next October as much as I am.
I only have a few minutes, so this will be a bit brief. By and large, you have a really nice stroke. Balance is good (should try to get the feet a bit higher with less kick), you breathe bilaterally and rotate well to both sides, stroke rate appears to be a bit above 60. Now the constructive stuff . . .
You over-rotate your shoulders a bit at entry and enter really early (in line with nose). You want to relax the shoulder some, let the arm come over the top, and enter the hand at about where the elbow will be when the arm is fully extended (12-18 in in front).
Normally, with early hand entry, the arm will drive down into a straight-arm pull. But your hands enter downward, then come up and outward (watch your underwater video - the hands come in down-up-out before engaging the catch). That's almost certainly slowing you down. Below you can see the really high hand at extension. Should be closer to a foot under water, with elbow breaking at this point.
Another view of the really high hand.
As expected, the early entry is made possible by a rotated shoulder, which causes you to enter with the thumb. Very common cause of shoulder pain/injury. Again, relax that shoulder a bit, reach another foot, enter with the fingers with a spear-like motion. Think "hydro" with the hand entry - you want to enter in a way that doesn't generate much bubbles and doesn't push water with either the palm or the back of the hand. The "spear" concept has always worked for me.
You do keep a relatively high elbow through the catch, but you can break that elbow earlier. Below, many coaches want that hand in closer to the body, smaller angle than the ~120 you've got here, engaging the chest/back muscles to squeeze the imaginary balloon. You're still using mostly shoulder muscles at this point. Also, you can see the late breath (you should have been able to see that right hand catch, but it's already long gone). Left hand entering early, with thumb, going straight down (reverse handbrake, with back of the hand creating resistence).
Below, you don't get a lot of pop as your right hand moves from shoulder to hip (this is a power phase during which you should be using those big muscles). You're pretty passive, not generating a lot of power. Honestly, this is where you'll gain most speed. You finish pretty wide instead of next to the hip. Thumb-zipper drill is easy/effective. You can see the left hand has changed course from going down and is now in full handbrake mode (this time using the palm as the brake), possibly breaking the surface.
Below, again, really nice catch position, but this is where you want to engage the big muscles, bring that hand in, and squeeze the balloon. Right hand entering early and down. Also, as you can see above, below and in the videos, you hold your breath, make a big exhale right before exiting the water, get both eyes out and breathe late. This, along with handbrakes, causes upper body to rise, which requires a big kick to fight back and keep balance.
Below, you can see the right hand over-extension, up and out wide. The elbow is in the right place, but the hand should be a foot lower, going over the barrel with the elbow popped, grabbing big water with the forearm and beginning to pull.
As expected, big scissor kick, which is un-hydro and a big energy drain. This is almost certainly a byproduct of holding breath/breathing late and your legs just developing a natural defense mechanism. Snorkel work is a really easy way to address, as you can swim without thinking about breathing and focus only on the kick. Speaking of, 2.4 miles is a long way to go with a powerful 6-beat kick. There is precisely 0 % chance that Kona will be WS-legal, so developing a two-beat kick (and the improved balance required to do it) should be a big priority for you this year, IMO.
That's what this amateur sees. Looks like a lot, but many of them are pretty easy tweaks.
Hi Mike - Thank you so much for listening to the podcast and your insights to help my swimming. Yes, I'm looking forward to an amazing Oct. but I'm also a little scared about the amount of swim relearning I have to do. Agree 0% WS. I have some f/u questions which I will post after I process this info.
For now, just wanted you to know I appreciate your input. And, please tell me what do you think are the Top 3 Things I should work on over the next four weeks to begin to improve my speed and efficiency and what to do (drills, cords, snorkel, others) Cheerfully Giselle
When I decided to seriously address my form 2.5 yrs ago, I took some advice and started with the kick. Going from 6 to 2 beats was going to take a while, and it was likely to impact the rest of my stroke. Was told it would take 6-8 weeks to ingrain the new kick, but it was 90% there in 4 weeks. Zoomers were critical for me. I started by focusing on one arm/leg at a time: on the way down, as I speared with the L arm, I kicked down with the R. Made sure to engage the core so I could feel the downward kick help the R hip rotate up while connected (via core) L shoulder rotated down. On the return, I focused on R arm/L kick. It was extremely awkward for me at first, and there were swim sessions where I totally failed and gave up. When I made real progress after a few weeks and removed the zoomers, I could feel my feet/hips sink a bit with less help from the kick, which forced me to move to Stage 2:
Balance/alignment with reduced kick: You have a good low head position, so you really just need to focus on exhaling early, pressing that T (imagine top crossbar of the T runs from armpit-collarbone-armpit) down at all times. Engage core (imaginary quarter squeezed in the top of the b-crack), create a taut teeter-totter that lifts the legs when the front end is pressed down. When you think you've got this mastered, bind your ankles and really make it hard to keep balance. This is the biggest barrier to fast swimming for most, so this is critical.
Third, with zoomers still on, just do some pretty standard catch-up drills. Perhaps on the way down, lift your head out altogether with R arm extended and L hand at hip, stroke with the L and watch the fingers (not thumb) enter in line with your L shoulder, parallel to your R elbow. Switch arms halfway down or at the turn. Then do it with your head under water (wear snorkel to really allow visual focus) and watch each hand spear the water a foot in front, at 10-20 degrees downward, and extend in line with the shoulder, with hand drifting downward to 6-8 inches under water. Think "straight spear," not the meandering down-up-out movement you tend to do. When you start to get good at this, start focusing on high-elbow break as soon as your lead hand reaches extension. Eventually you can use the catch-up to work on hand entry, extension, elbow break, catch, pull with chest/back (squeezing balloon in armpit), narrow push finishing next to hip.
But nobody wants to do drills all day. Although my number of "issues" has been reduced, I still address them every time I swim (I do it during races too). I start at the top of my stroke and work my way down to the toes (and I frequently combine 2 or 3 of them and focus on all of them at the same time). Here's an example you could do, addressing one at a time:
5x100 as:
-Down focusing only on hands (enter with fingers a foot in front in line with shoulder and spear to 6-8 inches below water at extension)
-Back focusing only on elbow breaking at extension, with hand/wrist drifting down, going over the barrel
-Down focusing on constant exhalation
-Back focusing on quick breath, getting head down in time to see opposite hand catch
5x100 as:
-Down focusing on bringing catch hand under your body, using big muscles to squeeze the balloon
-Back focusing on strong water push down along your hip (can feel water rush by hip and thigh)
-Down focusing only on the quarter in the crack, pressing down on the T of the teeter-totter to maintain constant balance (i.e., feet up)
-Back focusing only on the kick - from the hip, toes pointed, L kick-R hand, R kick-L hand.
You'll likely find that some of it is easy and already part of your stroke, so you may only have to focus on 5 things. My upper body issue is late breathing and rotating to the non-breathing side, so I can focus all at once on exhale-head down to watch other hand catch-drive breathing shoulder down. Lower body, it's really just core, so I can focus on nothing but the quarter.
Ultimately, think about this just like the bike: when we get in a good aero position on the bike, with fast wheels, helmet, etc., we've conquered maybe 10% of the speed mystery. The remaining 90% is power (FTP and good riding).
In the water, the catch/pull is the power generator and is the big differentiator between the 1:02 swimmer and the :50 swimmer. But unlike on the bike, power is only 20% of the speed puzzle in the water. Because water is so much denser than air, 80% is hydrodynamics. Once you get a taught, balanced and aligned boat up on top of the water, that is when the application of power will generate the real speed gains.
Easier said than done, but this is how I tackled (and continue to try and tackle) it.
- The 2 beat kick is difficult, I am faster with a pull buoy than when I try the 2 beat. Having a hard time keeping my feet quiet. Also, it is resulting in a significant scissor kick and a much more forceful kick than I ever had done while 6 beating. Thigh muscle is actually getting tired in a way I have never felt. - I believe I have mostly cured the cross over with snorkel. Win. - I have spent the most time on the high elbow catch, and I am definitely faster as a result. I have a significant imbalance, R stronger than L. I am really feeling the deltoids though - chest/lat never get sore. I have not yet re-videoed myself, I am pretty sure I am way better, but I thought the delts were the 'small muscles' I was not supposed to feel fatigue there. - Lastly, I am faster, but much more tired. My 100's today were 1:29-1:30/100y today. That is a 8 sec improvement from my CSS test 3 weeks ago. But there is no way I could go longer than 500 with the 2 beat, and Im not sure how long I could go with the 6 beat - shoulders fatigue out.
@Doug, sore delts is a hallmark of new high-elbow swimming. Unlikely to get sore in the chest, maybe in the lats. But make sure you're not straining with each pull. Looking for smooth as you rotate and pull yourself through the water.
Very predictable that ditching a powerful 6-beat will cause balance issues. Balance is not something you fix. Like medicine, you will practice it for as long as you swim. It's unnatural to bury your head low in the water and away from its oxygen source. But you should be able to swim 25 without kicking at all and still keeping your feet up - connect upper and lower with core engagement, push down with the head and chest, lift the connected feet. You may need a snorkel at first b/c breathing is often a balance wrecker. When you can master this with a tiny 2-beat or no kick, bind your ankles and try it. I can almost gurantee that it'll be a train wreck at first. I still need a buoy to keep bound feet up, but I continue to work on it. But you have to get balance in line before going to a 2-beat.
@Robin, I'm far from a kick expert, but I've heard that swimmers just naturally trend to 6-beat, as 1-2-3/spear, 1-2-3/spear. 4-beat is doable, but the big advantage of 2-beat - besides reducing power output by 66% or 50% (economy) - is the assistance with rotation. With one kick per stroke, you can be in total coordination with the hips and shoulders. A second or third kick with a 4- or 6-beat defeats that to some extent.
I've uploaded a couple videos of today's session (after a 2h run, so I think I was tired)
Any feedback very much appreciated!
To give some perspective: HIM swim 37' (back in 2012), IM swim 1:13 (in 2014)
Definitively some cross-over going on. It seems to me that my elbow is high enough, rotation and head position ok? Maybe I should start the pull earlier???
@Catherine Jadot, thanks for cranking this
thread back up. It reminds me that I need to get back to the pool and I
need to get some video done as well. You have a very nice, smooth stroke,
which reflects in your pretty fast HIM and IM swims. The fact that you're
balanced, smooth, rotate well and have really good rythym and timing put you
ahead of the curve and will allow you to drill in on a few smaller things:
1. Thumb entry. Like Attila mentioned in your other
post, you want to enter with your finger tips. Thumb entries are a recipe
for injury. It's pretty evident in the pic below. Otherwise, you
enter at about the right place. Should be pretty easy fix with some
practice and focus.
2. Cross-over. You spotted this yourself. I think
if you fix #1 and enter fingers first and extend straight in front of each
shoulder, you'll fix this as well. If you struggle with the fix, use a
snorkel and focus on nothing but hand entry with finger and downward extension.
3. Exhale. Like 90%+ of us, you hold your breath under
water. The photo below is about 1/10th of a second before Photo #2.
Clearly, no exhalation going on. Start exhaling as soon as you're
done inhaling. BTW, if you ever need a pick-me-up to make you feel better
about your swimming, look at the train wreck a few lanes down from you.
Below, 1/10th of a second later, you can see the explosion of
air as you lift your head. You should already be inhaling at this point
with only one eye out of the water. But you're still exhaling, so the
inhalation has to wait, you keep rotating, your head gets too high, etc.
That said, you're breathing really isn't that bad, just needs a minor
tweak. And, like me, you seem to be more effective breathing to the L
than to the R.
Below, other than the train wreck still in progress a few
lanes down, you can see the result of the late exhalation: both eyes out,
top of your head acting a bit like a snowplow against the leading edge of the
water (slowing you down), and there's no way you'll have your head back down in
time to see that L arm catch and pull. Speaking of, you want to enter
each hand on a downward angle such that the hand is continuously
dropping/sinking until full extension, with the hand maybe 8-12 inches below
the surface at full extension (with elbow up closer to the surface).
Below, your elbow is fine, but the hand is too high. That said, you
do not put up a hand brake like a ton of folks do, so this is indeed
nit-picking.
Below, you can see a sample of all the good stuff going on.
Other than your R hand entering with the thumb, your R entry is at the
correct spot, you're entering on a downward angle (but you'll quickly flatten
out and keep the hand up high), your head is down (not acting like a snow plow
against the leading edge), L arm is pulling water straight back with both the
hand and the forearm, hips up near the surface. This is what makes you
fast. Ultimately, the power that really separates the super fast from the
merely fast is the use of those chest/back muscles to pull water with that L
arm below (as if you're popping a balloon in the armpit). Dry-land band work
is extremely beneficial in developing those muscles.
4. High elbow. Most of us can always work on
flexibility to engage the high elbow earlier. Below you can see the R arm
in the catch/pull phase with a straight arm, exerting force a little downward
instead of backwards. You're using shoulder muscles at this point, but
this isn't too bad because you do break the elbow right after this. But
if you broke the elbow just a bit earlier, you could engage those stronger chest/back
muscles to pull a bit earlier. I think if you fix most of the hand
entry/sink issues above, you'll naturally engage the high-elbow catch a little
earlier.
4. Don't quit. At the end of your pull, instead of pushing water straight backwards and down your leg with your palm,
you do a passive karate-chop through the water, getting zero propulsion.
You're giving away a few % of power/speed each stroke. Easy fix
with focus/practice.
5. Kick. Because your late breathing isn't bad, you
don't have to use a powerful scissor kick to get you back to balance. Which is great. And you
have a pretty efficient/effective 6-beat kick with pointed toes. It does,
however, sap a lot of energy for not much propulsion in return. After
you've conquered the thumb, cross, late breath, high hand and hip push issues
above, you may want to try moving to a 2-beat kick and see if it works for you.
Keep up the good work. Come back and share how/whether
you're able to conquer these little issues and get even faster.
@Mike Roberts !! Thank you so much for your detailed feedback! You have no idea how excited I am to see what I can improve!!
I went to the pool yesterday and focus on my hand entry/cross-over and exhaling sooner. Interestingly enough I was a little slower but I think it's because I was more focus on my form that adding power to my pull.
I think I will try to correct these 3 points (cross over, hand entry and exhaling) and then add #4, 5 and 6.
I will post updates and more vids!
Again thanks a lot, Mike and @Attila Matyas for your invaluable input You guys rock!!
This is one of my favorite discussions! I've learned a lot. I just bought the best training supplement ever. I now own a GoPro Hero 5. It's fully waterproof and it came with a small adjustable tripod. This allows me to drop it into the water and film myself whenever I want. I've been making a short recording almost every workout to see if I'm actually fixing mistakes in my stroke. The hardest thing for me to overcome has been the ability to see what I'm doing as I swim - I really can't see how horrible I actually am, but with 30 seconds of video in the middle of the swim session, it becomes obvious. It's been a big help!
Hi all...yesterday (swim 3 of the out season for me after basically not swimming since IMOO) I had my sponsor and better half record me at the pool. His first attempt of swimmer video so excuse the lack of finesse!
Stats: IM times from 1:01 (CHOO) to 1:16 (IMAZ) usually top 10-15 in AG (50-54) PR was 1:08:xx at IMLP in 2011 when my tri coach was a former swimmer.
Half IM times from 34:xx to 40:xx
I am a decent swimmer with out many gears that seems to swim longer with out losing speed much. I also seem to swim better in OW vs. pool times.
Currently swimming about 1:52-1:56 per 100yds with no volume as of yet.
A race is IMLP and goal is beat my younger self in overall time. I know my swim will probably not be as good as 11 as I was in pretty good swim shape and haven't seen that time since other than at the river assisted choo race.
@Tom Glynn, this is a GREAT IDEA! Will use the tripod of the GoPro to film myself! Genius
@Trish Marshall, if you had good form in 2011, it will come back quick! If the video won't upload here, upload them on youtube and share the links. You can publish the videos as "unlisted" if you don't want random people to accidentally find it.
ok, unbeknownst to me, my swim buddy grabbed a few videos.. I had no idea. This was roughly 3700 yards in to a swim where he already beat me up with 10x200s hard.. apparently new forums do not allow videos, here are the links edit the first link is different than the video shown below it (2 videos) <a rel="nofollow" href="https://youtu.be/prD7i_rRwiI">https://youtu.be/prD7i_rRwiI</a><br> https://youtu.be/mWswxdZZ1Oc
Here are my two Lincolns. You've got pretty good form, right there in line with a typical 1:08-12 IM swimmer. Stroke rate is right at 60spm. Trying to increase that by even 5 strokes will help, especially in current swims.
You rotate well to both sides, which is a good attribute to have. You also breathe by rotating your head, without too much lift. You can still get that head/chest quite a bit lower, so that you can lift the feet without having to kick so much.
Below, you body looks pretty straight and balanced, and your R hand is entering in a good place, with a good downward angle. But you also get a preview of what the L arm is doing (pushing down with a straight arm and low elbow).
And below you can see the R hand/forearm continuing downward, ready to make a good catch with the elbow above the wrist and fingertips. Although I can't confirm without good underwater video, the R side appears to make a pretty good pull too. Below you can see that your R side is about to start pulling while your L is finishing - pedal is on the gas at all times. Of course, that's just one side of the stroke.
When you breathe to your R, all hell breaks loose with the L side. Very typical. Although the screenshot below sucks, you can see that unlike the R angling downward, the L extends flat out into the water (and crossing over past the mid-line to the R side).
Below is another angle where you can see the classic low-elbow entry and extension, which will lead nicely to a low-elbow catch. You can see your fingertips right at or above the water (should be 10-12 in under water at that point, already grabbing a bunch of water). That's a hand-brake that lifts you up and slows you down. You get your arm into the proper pull position eventually by pushing straight down on the water (see again above in Photo 1), which causes you to bob up in the front more, sink more in the back. Most likely, you're doing this subconsciously in order to lift the front quadrant to assist with the breath.
Below you can catch a glimpse of four areas of potential improvement. First, you've got the L arm extending across the mid-line at the surface, heading who-knows-where. You want it closer to the red star, about 10-12 inches down. But think about that for a minute! Without cement walls and a black line to follow, every other stroke in OW is taking you R instead of straight. That can add up to a lot of extra yardage. Second, the low elbow/high hand is pretty apparent. Third, you've got a disconnect between your shoulders and hips at the core. This allows you to meander left and right like a snake, but you want to be one connected, semi-rigid boat skulling near the top of the water. Gotta engage the core, swim like Superman (chest out, shoulders back). Fourth, you've got the compensator - the big scissor kick! Nice rooster tail, BTW. Watch the videos again, and you'll see it only appears every other stroke. So, when your L hand extends at the surface and pushes down, the head/shoulders pop up, the feet sink, then you get back into position via a big energy-sapping and non-aero kick.
This is all very common and doesn't cost you a ton of time because you've learned to adapt. But you can definitely get faster and straighter, especially in OW. To fix the L entry/catch, get a snorkel. At a minimum, do a lot of 5- and 7-stroke breathing during WU and focus on hand entry (enter about where the elbow would be if you extended it straight out on top of the water, in line with with the shoulder), entry angle, elbow always above the wrist above the fingertips, and get your L and R power systems in sync. Band work is surprisingly effective here.
When you breathe, get the head/chest lower in the water, which will bring the feet up if you're engaging the core. Exhale as soon as you take a breathe, then try to get your head down after each inhale in time to watch the L hand catch under water (make it a game and see if you can see every L catch during a 100, etc.).
It may take a while, but be focused and tenacious during every single swim wko. Oh, and come back frequently with video to gauge your progress.
@Mike Roberts - thank yu master! Lots to work on!! underwater video with a go pro coming soon.. this explains why i often drift to the right of course in OWS..
It's December, so time to work on weaknesses! For me, it's my annual attempt to fix my swimming. Believe it or not, my swimming has actually improved fairly significantly this year!
From the video, it appears my hips/legs are still sinking a bit. I've gotten feedback that my shoulders are really tight and inflexible - limiting my reach. Kick seems a little big too.
Tom, your stroke looks a ton better. Congratulations on the hard work and results. This all reminds me that I should get back to the pool soon. Only a couple of observations - take them with the usual grain of salt.
When breathing, you keep your head up too long, over-rotate a bit to the left, which causes your R hand to cross the middle. The net effect is you're bending some, making you go a little left, and then a little right to straighten out, every stroke cycle. Straight is better . . . and faster. Better rigidity in the core will help too.
Above, your R arm is fully engaged in the pull before your eyes are down from the breath. Every time I swim, I go in with some cues, and one of them is "head down, watch the opposite hand catch," and I focus on that for the entire 25 or 50. It forces me to exhale fully underwater, grab a quick breath with one eye out only, and get down to see the R hand catch. When I do it correctly, it feels (to me) like my stroke and breathing are independent. When you exhale out of the water before inhaling, over-roll, two eyes out, and miss seeing the catch, the breath is affecting the stroke. And that will force you either right or (in your case) left. This is particular lethal in OWS where we don't have a black line to help us straighten out. Probably 90-95% of us do what you're doing above, and you'll see it in every triathlon.
Your feet aren't too low, but they can be higher. Your head is a little high above (see example at bottom to compare) while not breathing, but that's probably caused by the hand-brake you're employing. Your R arm is fully extended, and your fingers are actually piercing the surface and generating bubbles. This is textbook low-elbow swimming and over-gliding. You always want shoulder above elbow above wrist above fingers. Here, you're doing the exact opposite. The problems with this: (1) forearm is acting like a brake, slowing you down, and acting like a waterski and lifting the front quadrant; (2) it will now take many extra milliseconds to get your hand and forearm down into a good catch position before grabbing/pulling water (i.e., slower stroke rate) and (3) with a straight arm, the only way to get your hand/forearm down and ready to catch is to push straight down on the water, generating even more lift --> high head, sinking feet. At extension, the fingers should be 8-12 inches below the surface, elbow above hand and fingers. So, your hand is about a foot high at extension. Huge opportunity, pretty easy fix.
Those are air bubbles grabbed from above the surface, pulled straight down with straight arm, generating front-quadrant lift.
You can still see the bubbles indicating the downward force on the water, arm nearly straight, about to (finally) engage the pull with head still out breathing. More importantly, with your left arm completely above the surface, the only force being applied to the water is downward. Zero forward power (more about that below). Think about that: not only are you zig-zagging down the pool a bit left and right, you're also going up and down. That's a roundabout way of covering 25 yards or meters.
Above, your L hand actually enters on a pretty good downward trajectory.
But then it changes course and races for the surface. Hand-brake fully engaged, slowing you down and creating front lift/leg sink. And similar to the previous picture, there is absolutely zero propulsion - you are in full glide mode. The only force being applied to the water is the upward brake employed by the L hand. Your foot is completely off the accelerator. If you were going against a strong current above, you might actually lose ground during this power "pause" or "dead spot." No different than trying to bike up 14% and trying to coast for even 1/4 second - you'd be on the ground 1/2 second later.
Shorten the stroke, get lead hand down and in position to catch sooner, no gliding, pull through, repeat. Your stroke rate looks like it's in the 68 spm range, which is pretty good. But if you get that lead hand/arm in a catch position sooner, and without the up/down, you'll eliminate the dreaded dead spot (no power) and probably increase your stroke rate into the low- to mid-70s. The top OWS swimmers are usually 85-100sp . I have trouble getting above 75, which is why I often always struggle with rough water/current swims, but can BS my way through a fast swim if I don't have those obstacles. Someday I'll figure out how to swim in adverse conditions. Maybe.
Below, good high-elbow catch, no glide. Allowing lead hand to naturally sink, with high elbow, ready to grab and pull water way before you do. And you can tell from the L hand entry that he will be applying rearward force at all times - foot on the gas at all times. Head very low and core engaged, which naturally lifts the legs. In no-current water, this is faster than what you (and I) are doing. Against a current, it's a wipeout.
Wow, as always! I just took the video through slow-motion analysis to see your comments in action. Using the Hudl Technique app.
My head rotation is definitely tied to body rotation and I can see right away that needs to be independent. I'm never looking down like the picture you have at the bottom. That's an obvious and hopefully easy fix.
The fingers coming out of the water is something I've never noticed but it's there every stroke! I think it's caused by my attempt to increase my reach, getting away from a short choppy stroke I had before that was causing a ton of crossover.
The front arm going straight down, pushing upper body up is a tough one for me. I know it's an issue when I see a video but I don't notice it when I swim. Maybe driving the hand a little lower will make a difference.
Off to practice - you're analysis is awesome - thanks so much!
Comments
My take: I am a total windmill, which really surprised me. My swim thought is "over the barrel", somehow resulting in the straight arm - clearly this is not ideal. Apparently my barrel too far away. I got some cords, but I am awful at them so far, so will study. I had a wetronome on for the video so I know I was stroking at about 60-61, which feels pretty easy, I guess because my catch is so slow. A a CSS of 1:49/m, my sweet spot is supposed to be ~65, so planned to increase that over time. I have tried 70+, its a huge struggle, I think because of the slow catch. I think I am crossing over too, even though I am thinking 'go wide' during the stroke. Plan to focus on that - but not sure how. I have a snorkel, will use it, but until I saw these vids, I really thought my alignment was going to be better, which is clearly a delusion. Alas, I must not forget Dougie Bob. Getting very happy with my core work and balance, but still the butt is dragging sometimes. I too saw the late breath, and admit, with all of the other swim thoughts going on I forget to exhale and breath fast.
@Mike
Thanks for the feedback again. You're right this will be a long and slow process. I plan get back to swimming 3x a week but with a focus on drills to work on my balance. It's hard to only focus on a couple technique fixes at a time...typically I'm thinking about too many focus areas. I plan to take another video in ~8 - 10 weeks and see some improvement. Thanks!
Hello EN - As many, I have been reading and watching this forum amazed and interested. David, Mike and others - Thank you for the time and superb guidance that you share here. I have finally gotten around to having some videos done. I look forward to your feedback. I need to get faster and much more efficient Thanks! Giselle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtR_OVpcQ1g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDeNgbRy5I0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbvpxeIn3xU
Hey Giselle, congrats on a great race at Choo (listened to most of the podcast). I hope you're looking forward to next October as much as I am.
I only have a few minutes, so this will be a bit brief. By and large, you have a really nice stroke. Balance is good (should try to get the feet a bit higher with less kick), you breathe bilaterally and rotate well to both sides, stroke rate appears to be a bit above 60. Now the constructive stuff . . .
As expected, the early entry is made possible by a rotated shoulder, which causes you to enter with the thumb. Very common cause of shoulder pain/injury. Again, relax that shoulder a bit, reach another foot, enter with the fingers with a spear-like motion. Think "hydro" with the hand entry - you want to enter in a way that doesn't generate much bubbles and doesn't push water with either the palm or the back of the hand. The "spear" concept has always worked for me.
You do keep a relatively high elbow through the catch, but you can break that elbow earlier. Below, many coaches want that hand in closer to the body, smaller angle than the ~120 you've got here, engaging the chest/back muscles to squeeze the imaginary balloon. You're still using mostly shoulder muscles at this point. Also, you can see the late breath (you should have been able to see that right hand catch, but it's already long gone). Left hand entering early, with thumb, going straight down (reverse handbrake, with back of the hand creating resistence).
Below, you don't get a lot of pop as your right hand moves from shoulder to hip (this is a power phase during which you should be using those big muscles). You're pretty passive, not generating a lot of power. Honestly, this is where you'll gain most speed. You finish pretty wide instead of next to the hip. Thumb-zipper drill is easy/effective. You can see the left hand has changed course from going down and is now in full handbrake mode (this time using the palm as the brake), possibly breaking the surface.
Below, again, really nice catch position, but this is where you want to engage the big muscles, bring that hand in, and squeeze the balloon. Right hand entering early and down. Also, as you can see above, below and in the videos, you hold your breath, make a big exhale right before exiting the water, get both eyes out and breathe late. This, along with handbrakes, causes upper body to rise, which requires a big kick to fight back and keep balance.
Below, you can see the right hand over-extension, up and out wide. The elbow is in the right place, but the hand should be a foot lower, going over the barrel with the elbow popped, grabbing big water with the forearm and beginning to pull.
As expected, big scissor kick, which is un-hydro and a big energy drain. This is almost certainly a byproduct of holding breath/breathing late and your legs just developing a natural defense mechanism. Snorkel work is a really easy way to address, as you can swim without thinking about breathing and focus only on the kick. Speaking of, 2.4 miles is a long way to go with a powerful 6-beat kick. There is precisely 0 % chance that Kona will be WS-legal, so developing a two-beat kick (and the improved balance required to do it) should be a big priority for you this year, IMO.
That's what this amateur sees. Looks like a lot, but many of them are pretty easy tweaks.
MR
Hi Mike - Thank you so much for listening to the podcast and your insights to help my swimming. Yes, I'm looking forward to an amazing Oct. but I'm also a little scared about the amount of swim relearning I have to do. Agree 0% WS. I have some f/u questions which I will post after I process this info.
For now, just wanted you to know I appreciate your input. And, please tell me what do you think are the Top 3 Things I should work on over the next four weeks to begin to improve my speed and efficiency and what to do (drills, cords, snorkel, others) Cheerfully Giselle
@Giselle,
When I decided to seriously address my form 2.5 yrs ago, I took some advice and started with the kick. Going from 6 to 2 beats was going to take a while, and it was likely to impact the rest of my stroke. Was told it would take 6-8 weeks to ingrain the new kick, but it was 90% there in 4 weeks. Zoomers were critical for me. I started by focusing on one arm/leg at a time: on the way down, as I speared with the L arm, I kicked down with the R. Made sure to engage the core so I could feel the downward kick help the R hip rotate up while connected (via core) L shoulder rotated down. On the return, I focused on R arm/L kick. It was extremely awkward for me at first, and there were swim sessions where I totally failed and gave up. When I made real progress after a few weeks and removed the zoomers, I could feel my feet/hips sink a bit with less help from the kick, which forced me to move to Stage 2:
Balance/alignment with reduced kick: You have a good low head position, so you really just need to focus on exhaling early, pressing that T (imagine top crossbar of the T runs from armpit-collarbone-armpit) down at all times. Engage core (imaginary quarter squeezed in the top of the b-crack), create a taut teeter-totter that lifts the legs when the front end is pressed down. When you think you've got this mastered, bind your ankles and really make it hard to keep balance. This is the biggest barrier to fast swimming for most, so this is critical.
Third, with zoomers still on, just do some pretty standard catch-up drills. Perhaps on the way down, lift your head out altogether with R arm extended and L hand at hip, stroke with the L and watch the fingers (not thumb) enter in line with your L shoulder, parallel to your R elbow. Switch arms halfway down or at the turn. Then do it with your head under water (wear snorkel to really allow visual focus) and watch each hand spear the water a foot in front, at 10-20 degrees downward, and extend in line with the shoulder, with hand drifting downward to 6-8 inches under water. Think "straight spear," not the meandering down-up-out movement you tend to do. When you start to get good at this, start focusing on high-elbow break as soon as your lead hand reaches extension. Eventually you can use the catch-up to work on hand entry, extension, elbow break, catch, pull with chest/back (squeezing balloon in armpit), narrow push finishing next to hip.
But nobody wants to do drills all day. Although my number of "issues" has been reduced, I still address them every time I swim (I do it during races too). I start at the top of my stroke and work my way down to the toes (and I frequently combine 2 or 3 of them and focus on all of them at the same time). Here's an example you could do, addressing one at a time:
5x100 as:
-Down focusing only on hands (enter with fingers a foot in front in line with shoulder and spear to 6-8 inches below water at extension)
-Back focusing only on elbow breaking at extension, with hand/wrist drifting down, going over the barrel
-Down focusing on constant exhalation
-Back focusing on quick breath, getting head down in time to see opposite hand catch
5x100 as:
-Down focusing on bringing catch hand under your body, using big muscles to squeeze the balloon
-Back focusing on strong water push down along your hip (can feel water rush by hip and thigh)
-Down focusing only on the quarter in the crack, pressing down on the T of the teeter-totter to maintain constant balance (i.e., feet up)
-Back focusing only on the kick - from the hip, toes pointed, L kick-R hand, R kick-L hand.
You'll likely find that some of it is easy and already part of your stroke, so you may only have to focus on 5 things. My upper body issue is late breathing and rotating to the non-breathing side, so I can focus all at once on exhale-head down to watch other hand catch-drive breathing shoulder down. Lower body, it's really just core, so I can focus on nothing but the quarter.
Ultimately, think about this just like the bike: when we get in a good aero position on the bike, with fast wheels, helmet, etc., we've conquered maybe 10% of the speed mystery. The remaining 90% is power (FTP and good riding).
In the water, the catch/pull is the power generator and is the big differentiator between the 1:02 swimmer and the :50 swimmer. But unlike on the bike, power is only 20% of the speed puzzle in the water. Because water is so much denser than air, 80% is hydrodynamics. Once you get a taught, balanced and aligned boat up on top of the water, that is when the application of power will generate the real speed gains.
Easier said than done, but this is how I tackled (and continue to try and tackle) it.
- The 2 beat kick is difficult, I am faster with a pull buoy than when I try the 2 beat. Having a hard time keeping my feet quiet. Also, it is resulting in a significant scissor kick and a much more forceful kick than I ever had done while 6 beating. Thigh muscle is actually getting tired in a way I have never felt.
- I believe I have mostly cured the cross over with snorkel. Win.
- I have spent the most time on the high elbow catch, and I am definitely faster as a result. I have a significant imbalance, R stronger than L. I am really feeling the deltoids though - chest/lat never get sore. I have not yet re-videoed myself, I am pretty sure I am way better, but I thought the delts were the 'small muscles' I was not supposed to feel fatigue there.
- Lastly, I am faster, but much more tired. My 100's today were 1:29-1:30/100y today. That is a 8 sec improvement from my CSS test 3 weeks ago. But there is no way I could go longer than 500 with the 2 beat, and Im not sure how long I could go with the 6 beat - shoulders fatigue out.
doug.
if having problems keeping legs up with fewer kicks, might there be a body position issue ? I put minimal energy into legs to keep horizontal.
I think I have a four beat kick. is that possible Mike et al ? with some scissoring (in a not so bad way, I think).
Very predictable that ditching a powerful 6-beat will cause balance issues. Balance is not something you fix. Like medicine, you will practice it for as long as you swim. It's unnatural to bury your head low in the water and away from its oxygen source. But you should be able to swim 25 without kicking at all and still keeping your feet up - connect upper and lower with core engagement, push down with the head and chest, lift the connected feet. You may need a snorkel at first b/c breathing is often a balance wrecker. When you can master this with a tiny 2-beat or no kick, bind your ankles and try it. I can almost gurantee that it'll be a train wreck at first. I still need a buoy to keep bound feet up, but I continue to work on it. But you have to get balance in line before going to a 2-beat.
@Robin, I'm far from a kick expert, but I've heard that swimmers just naturally trend to 6-beat, as 1-2-3/spear, 1-2-3/spear. 4-beat is doable, but the big advantage of 2-beat - besides reducing power output by 66% or 50% (economy) - is the assistance with rotation. With one kick per stroke, you can be in total coordination with the hips and shoulders. A second or third kick with a 4- or 6-beat defeats that to some extent.
I've uploaded a couple videos of today's session (after a 2h run, so I think I was tired)
Any feedback very much appreciated!
To give some perspective: HIM swim 37' (back in 2012), IM swim 1:13 (in 2014)
Definitively some cross-over going on.
It seems to me that my elbow is high enough, rotation and head position ok?
Maybe I should start the pull earlier???
@Catherine Jadot, thanks for cranking this thread back up. It reminds me that I need to get back to the pool and I need to get some video done as well. You have a very nice, smooth stroke, which reflects in your pretty fast HIM and IM swims. The fact that you're balanced, smooth, rotate well and have really good rythym and timing put you ahead of the curve and will allow you to drill in on a few smaller things:
1. Thumb entry. Like Attila mentioned in your other post, you want to enter with your finger tips. Thumb entries are a recipe for injury. It's pretty evident in the pic below. Otherwise, you enter at about the right place. Should be pretty easy fix with some practice and focus.
2. Cross-over. You spotted this yourself. I think if you fix #1 and enter fingers first and extend straight in front of each shoulder, you'll fix this as well. If you struggle with the fix, use a snorkel and focus on nothing but hand entry with finger and downward extension.
3. Exhale. Like 90%+ of us, you hold your breath under water. The photo below is about 1/10th of a second before Photo #2. Clearly, no exhalation going on. Start exhaling as soon as you're done inhaling. BTW, if you ever need a pick-me-up to make you feel better about your swimming, look at the train wreck a few lanes down from you.
Below, 1/10th of a second later, you can see the explosion of air as you lift your head. You should already be inhaling at this point with only one eye out of the water. But you're still exhaling, so the inhalation has to wait, you keep rotating, your head gets too high, etc. That said, you're breathing really isn't that bad, just needs a minor tweak. And, like me, you seem to be more effective breathing to the L than to the R.
Below, other than the train wreck still in progress a few lanes down, you can see the result of the late exhalation: both eyes out, top of your head acting a bit like a snowplow against the leading edge of the water (slowing you down), and there's no way you'll have your head back down in time to see that L arm catch and pull. Speaking of, you want to enter each hand on a downward angle such that the hand is continuously dropping/sinking until full extension, with the hand maybe 8-12 inches below the surface at full extension (with elbow up closer to the surface). Below, your elbow is fine, but the hand is too high. That said, you do not put up a hand brake like a ton of folks do, so this is indeed nit-picking.
Below, you can see a sample of all the good stuff going on. Other than your R hand entering with the thumb, your R entry is at the correct spot, you're entering on a downward angle (but you'll quickly flatten out and keep the hand up high), your head is down (not acting like a snow plow against the leading edge), L arm is pulling water straight back with both the hand and the forearm, hips up near the surface. This is what makes you fast. Ultimately, the power that really separates the super fast from the merely fast is the use of those chest/back muscles to pull water with that L arm below (as if you're popping a balloon in the armpit). Dry-land band work is extremely beneficial in developing those muscles.
4. High elbow. Most of us can always work on flexibility to engage the high elbow earlier. Below you can see the R arm in the catch/pull phase with a straight arm, exerting force a little downward instead of backwards. You're using shoulder muscles at this point, but this isn't too bad because you do break the elbow right after this. But if you broke the elbow just a bit earlier, you could engage those stronger chest/back muscles to pull a bit earlier. I think if you fix most of the hand entry/sink issues above, you'll naturally engage the high-elbow catch a little earlier.
4. Don't quit. At the end of your pull, instead of pushing water straight backwards and down your leg with your palm, you do a passive karate-chop through the water, getting zero propulsion. You're giving away a few % of power/speed each stroke. Easy fix with focus/practice.
5. Kick. Because your late breathing isn't bad, you don't have to use a powerful scissor kick to get you back to balance. Which is great. And you have a pretty efficient/effective 6-beat kick with pointed toes. It does, however, sap a lot of energy for not much propulsion in return. After you've conquered the thumb, cross, late breath, high hand and hip push issues above, you may want to try moving to a 2-beat kick and see if it works for you.
Keep up the good work. Come back and share how/whether you're able to conquer these little issues and get even faster.
I went to the pool yesterday and focus on my hand entry/cross-over and exhaling sooner. Interestingly enough I was a little slower but I think it's because I was more focus on my form that adding power to my pull.
I think I will try to correct these 3 points (cross over, hand entry and exhaling) and then add #4, 5 and 6.
I will post updates and more vids!
Again thanks a lot, Mike and @Attila Matyas for your invaluable input
Stats: IM times from 1:01 (CHOO) to 1:16 (IMAZ) usually top 10-15 in AG (50-54)
PR was 1:08:xx at IMLP in 2011 when my tri coach was a former swimmer.
Half IM times from 34:xx to 40:xx
I am a decent swimmer with out many gears that seems to swim longer with out losing speed much. I also seem to swim better in OW vs. pool times.
Currently swimming about 1:52-1:56 per 100yds with no volume as of yet.
A race is IMLP and goal is beat my younger self in overall time. I know my swim will probably not be as good as 11 as I was in pretty good swim shape and haven't seen that time since other than at the river assisted choo race.
Critique away! @Mike Roberts....I'm looking at you!
@Trish Marshall, if you had good form in 2011, it will come back quick!
If the video won't upload here, upload them on youtube and share the links. You can publish the videos as "unlisted" if you don't want random people to accidentally find it.
apparently new forums do not allow videos, here are the links
edit the first link is different than the video shown below it (2 videos)
<a rel="nofollow" href="https://youtu.be/prD7i_rRwiI">https://youtu.be/prD7i_rRwiI</a><br>@Mike Roberts
Here are my two Lincolns. You've got pretty good form, right there in line with a typical 1:08-12 IM swimmer. Stroke rate is right at 60spm. Trying to increase that by even 5 strokes will help, especially in current swims.
You rotate well to both sides, which is a good attribute to have. You also breathe by rotating your head, without too much lift. You can still get that head/chest quite a bit lower, so that you can lift the feet without having to kick so much.
Below, you body looks pretty straight and balanced, and your R hand is entering in a good place, with a good downward angle. But you also get a preview of what the L arm is doing (pushing down with a straight arm and low elbow).
And below you can see the R hand/forearm continuing downward, ready to make a good catch with the elbow above the wrist and fingertips. Although I can't confirm without good underwater video, the R side appears to make a pretty good pull too. Below you can see that your R side is about to start pulling while your L is finishing - pedal is on the gas at all times. Of course, that's just one side of the stroke.
When you breathe to your R, all hell breaks loose with the L side. Very typical. Although the screenshot below sucks, you can see that unlike the R angling downward, the L extends flat out into the water (and crossing over past the mid-line to the R side).
Below is another angle where you can see the classic low-elbow entry and extension, which will lead nicely to a low-elbow catch. You can see your fingertips right at or above the water (should be 10-12 in under water at that point, already grabbing a bunch of water). That's a hand-brake that lifts you up and slows you down. You get your arm into the proper pull position eventually by pushing straight down on the water (see again above in Photo 1), which causes you to bob up in the front more, sink more in the back. Most likely, you're doing this subconsciously in order to lift the front quadrant to assist with the breath.
Below you can catch a glimpse of four areas of potential improvement. First, you've got the L arm extending across the mid-line at the surface, heading who-knows-where. You want it closer to the red star, about 10-12 inches down. But think about that for a minute! Without cement walls and a black line to follow, every other stroke in OW is taking you R instead of straight. That can add up to a lot of extra yardage. Second, the low elbow/high hand is pretty apparent. Third, you've got a disconnect between your shoulders and hips at the core. This allows you to meander left and right like a snake, but you want to be one connected, semi-rigid boat skulling near the top of the water. Gotta engage the core, swim like Superman (chest out, shoulders back). Fourth, you've got the compensator - the big scissor kick! Nice rooster tail, BTW. Watch the videos again, and you'll see it only appears every other stroke. So, when your L hand extends at the surface and pushes down, the head/shoulders pop up, the feet sink, then you get back into position via a big energy-sapping and non-aero kick.
This is all very common and doesn't cost you a ton of time because you've learned to adapt. But you can definitely get faster and straighter, especially in OW. To fix the L entry/catch, get a snorkel. At a minimum, do a lot of 5- and 7-stroke breathing during WU and focus on hand entry (enter about where the elbow would be if you extended it straight out on top of the water, in line with with the shoulder), entry angle, elbow always above the wrist above the fingertips, and get your L and R power systems in sync. Band work is surprisingly effective here.
When you breathe, get the head/chest lower in the water, which will bring the feet up if you're engaging the core. Exhale as soon as you take a breathe, then try to get your head down after each inhale in time to watch the L hand catch under water (make it a game and see if you can see every L catch during a 100, etc.).
It may take a while, but be focused and tenacious during every single swim wko. Oh, and come back frequently with video to gauge your progress.
MR
underwater video with a go pro coming soon..
this explains why i often drift to the right of course in OWS..
I took some video today and would love some comments/feedback. https://youtu.be/GSkIOHBQMFc
From the video, it appears my hips/legs are still sinking a bit. I've gotten feedback that my shoulders are really tight and inflexible - limiting my reach. Kick seems a little big too.
Thoughts?
Thanks as always!
Tom
When breathing, you keep your head up too long, over-rotate a bit to the left, which causes your R hand to cross the middle. The net effect is you're bending some, making you go a little left, and then a little right to straighten out, every stroke cycle. Straight is better . . . and faster. Better rigidity in the core will help too.
Above, your R arm is fully engaged in the pull before your eyes are down from the breath. Every time I swim, I go in with some cues, and one of them is "head down, watch the opposite hand catch," and I focus on that for the entire 25 or 50. It forces me to exhale fully underwater, grab a quick breath with one eye out only, and get down to see the R hand catch. When I do it correctly, it feels (to me) like my stroke and breathing are independent. When you exhale out of the water before inhaling, over-roll, two eyes out, and miss seeing the catch, the breath is affecting the stroke. And that will force you either right or (in your case) left. This is particular lethal in OWS where we don't have a black line to help us straighten out. Probably 90-95% of us do what you're doing above, and you'll see it in every triathlon.
Your feet aren't too low, but they can be higher. Your head is a little high above (see example at bottom to compare) while not breathing, but that's probably caused by the hand-brake you're employing. Your R arm is fully extended, and your fingers are actually piercing the surface and generating bubbles. This is textbook low-elbow swimming and over-gliding. You always want shoulder above elbow above wrist above fingers. Here, you're doing the exact opposite. The problems with this: (1) forearm is acting like a brake, slowing you down, and acting like a waterski and lifting the front quadrant; (2) it will now take many extra milliseconds to get your hand and forearm down into a good catch position before grabbing/pulling water (i.e., slower stroke rate) and (3) with a straight arm, the only way to get your hand/forearm down and ready to catch is to push straight down on the water, generating even more lift --> high head, sinking feet. At extension, the fingers should be 8-12 inches below the surface, elbow above hand and fingers. So, your hand is about a foot high at extension. Huge opportunity, pretty easy fix.
Those are air bubbles grabbed from above the surface, pulled straight down with straight arm, generating front-quadrant lift.
You can still see the bubbles indicating the downward force on the water, arm nearly straight, about to (finally) engage the pull with head still out breathing. More importantly, with your left arm completely above the surface, the only force being applied to the water is downward. Zero forward power (more about that below). Think about that: not only are you zig-zagging down the pool a bit left and right, you're also going up and down. That's a roundabout way of covering 25 yards or meters.
Above, your L hand actually enters on a pretty good downward trajectory.
But then it changes course and races for the surface. Hand-brake fully engaged, slowing you down and creating front lift/leg sink. And similar to the previous picture, there is absolutely zero propulsion - you are in full glide mode. The only force being applied to the water is the upward brake employed by the L hand. Your foot is completely off the accelerator. If you were going against a strong current above, you might actually lose ground during this power "pause" or "dead spot." No different than trying to bike up 14% and trying to coast for even 1/4 second - you'd be on the ground 1/2 second later.
Shorten the stroke, get lead hand down and in position to catch sooner, no gliding, pull through, repeat. Your stroke rate looks like it's in the 68 spm range, which is pretty good. But if you get that lead hand/arm in a catch position sooner, and without the up/down, you'll eliminate the dreaded dead spot (no power) and probably increase your stroke rate into the low- to mid-70s. The top OWS swimmers are usually 85-100sp . I have trouble getting above 75, which is why I often always struggle with rough water/current swims, but can BS my way through a fast swim if I don't have those obstacles. Someday I'll figure out how to swim in adverse conditions. Maybe.
Below, good high-elbow catch, no glide. Allowing lead hand to naturally sink, with high elbow, ready to grab and pull water way before you do. And you can tell from the L hand entry that he will be applying rearward force at all times - foot on the gas at all times. Head very low and core engaged, which naturally lifts the legs. In no-current water, this is faster than what you (and I) are doing. Against a current, it's a wipeout.
Cheers, MR
My head rotation is definitely tied to body rotation and I can see right away that needs to be independent. I'm never looking down like the picture you have at the bottom. That's an obvious and hopefully easy fix.
The fingers coming out of the water is something I've never noticed but it's there every stroke! I think it's caused by my attempt to increase my reach, getting away from a short choppy stroke I had before that was causing a ton of crossover.
The front arm going straight down, pushing upper body up is a tough one for me. I know it's an issue when I see a video but I don't notice it when I swim. Maybe driving the hand a little lower will make a difference.
Off to practice - you're analysis is awesome - thanks so much!
Tom