Early Vertical Forearm

[saveup]

In this technique, as a summary: The fingers enter the water, elbow bent, the forearm comes underneath the chest(maybe a foot or 18 inches underneath the chest), and then out by the waist. The hand would be pointing to either side of the pool depending on which arm is in the water after the fingers enter the water The method does not have the fingers enter the water and then push your arms straight down. I appear to swim faster and breath better by using this method. Im I understanding this correctly, that the forearm is going underneath the chest and then out the door at the waist and that the arms just do not go straight down by the side of your body?

http://www.swimsmooth.com/images/evf2.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm-vSqlWmgs

[Paul Newsome]

Sorry saveup, not sure why we missed this!

Like you say...there are the following phases that really need to be identified and discussed in what is commonly termed the "catch and pull" as often just using this is too basic of a phrase when discussing the semantics of this part of the stroke.

I would break it down like this:

1. Hand Entry (and even then, whatever happens from the shoulder forward in the recovery phase is also worthy of consideration). Many, many swimmers have been taught to enter thumb-first at this point as a "smoother" way of entering the water. This is incorrect AND potentially injurious to your shoulders. DON'T do it! This should be finger-tips first with the shoulder in a neutral position and such that the elbow enters the water AFTER the hand as it spears cleanly forward. The hands should enter shoulder width apart with the middle finger being visualised as lengthening forward in front of the same shoulder. This appears quite wide when you first think about it, but with good body rotation will ensure that it is just either-side of the imaginary centre-line.

2. The Extension Forward in the water. As we know many people have grown up with the belief that "longer is better" and that they MUST swim down the 25m pool in 12 or 13 strokes (or less!). Aiming for this is wrong and is commonly overdone in those seeking the longest possible stroke. This is when people come "undone" and both propulsion and efficiency falter - their wrist drops as they stretch ever further forward and in doing so literally apply the brakes and then drop the elbow. This is not efficient, nor will it lead to fast swimming, which is why many who follow this belief will quickly plateau at speeds of up to ~1:40 per 100m. This should be done maintaining the fingertips slightly below the wrist and the wrist below the elbow a-la the flexed wrist position. At this point though this is still subtle as the hand is still travelling forward...over-flexing here would be just as bad as dropping the wrist and applying the brakes. The body should be rotating as it extends forward in this phase with the leading arm and that whole side of the body dipping into the water and the other side out.

3. The Initial Catch. This I believe is where we are getting a little lost in semantics. As you can see with Popov, with Addlington, with Mr Smooth and with Charles' comments, this flexing of the wrist is a subtle engagement of the water, that feeling of "locking on", of "anchoring", of gaining "purchase on the water". I describe it to my swimmers as "tipping their finger-tips over a swiss ball" and pivoting from the wrist. This is not a forceful flex - as Charles says, it should feel "unloaded"...to load here would cause tension in the forearm and wrist. We're literally trying to "hold" the water rather than letting it slip. Some coaches say "cup your hand" - personally I prefer to think of that "cup" as being between the palm of the hand and the underside of the forearm. This is created by the flex of the wrist. It is a much bigger "paddle" than just the cupping of the hand alone (which can itself cause the elbow to then drop). It encourages the elbow to then bend, to stay higher than the wrist and for the wrist to be higher than the fingertips when viewed from the perfect side angle. In this phase the body should still be in a slightly rotated position, but starting to rotate the opposite way to that in Phase 2. Many less experienced swimmers will perform this phase (if at all) more flat in the water and in doing so fail to engage the larger muscles of the chest and upper back.

4. The Bent Elbow or "Vertical Forearm" Catch. Many swimmers who have over-extended in phase 2 will drop their wrists and commence the catch with a straight arm pull through. This might then actually last the entire phase of the catch and pull. This is bad for two key reasons: 1) the swimmer is effectively pressing down on the water, thus lifting themselves UP (not forward) and 2) the swimmer is placing a relatively large load through the shoulder muscles and over-stressing the rotator cuff as Charles says. The elbow should actually bend during this phase and the way to set that up is (like I've said above in phase 3) is with the flex of the wrist initiating the bend of the elbow. The analogy of pulling yourself along a rope is perfect for this so long as the depth of the rope causes you to bend your elbow and that the rope is centrally placed. In reality, the hand will end up pulling slightly wide of this central mark, but it is a good guide. If done correctly the pec and lat muscles should be engaged in this phase and the deltoids should be doing relatively little work here.

5. The Exit or Push. Ordinarily I place very limited focus on this aspect of the stroke, simply because over-pushing at the back of the stroke can lead to the swimmer effectively pressing water UP which pushes the front of the swimmer DOWN. It can also lead to quite a ballistic wide arm recovery which is not great for those with anything but excellent flexibility. If phases 1 to 4 have gone well, phase 5 will take care of itself - the majority of the propulsive phase of the catch and pull comes in phase 3 & 4, not 5 due to the muscle groups being recruited being more forceful (pecs and lats) in phases 3 & 4 than the triceps (phase 5). The only key teaching point I would stress here would be to finish by the hip and in order to do this the hip must have rotated out of the way in-synch with the whole body. This is just another reason that body rotation is essential in the stroke. The other way to think about this (and this is why we empthasized this on Mr Smooth) is to feel like from phases 2 to 3 onwards that the palm of the hand is always looking backwards, thus holding the water or gentle caressing it back behind you, sending you forward. This even applies in this final phase. Many people will flick UP at this point which then affects the recovery phase as described above and can also add a further dead-spot or delay to the stroke timing and rate.

So when we talk "catch and pull", really we're talking about all those 5 phases rolled into one. Think of these for the purpose of this discussion as "sub-components" but when you're swimming the absolute key is to get these flowing smoothly from one phase to the next without it feeling "robotic" which it can often do when you first start developing it.

Hope this helps!

Cheers

Paul

P.S As usual a picture speaks a thousand words:

[weuer]

Wow. Amazingly detailed explanation.

I don't really understand the picture for Phase 5, though. The swimmer is breathing to the left while the right arm is pulling? Huh?

[Paul Newsome]

Thanks weuer

The swimmer in Phase 5 is exiting the water or finishing the "push" by pressing UP which sends his body DOWN whereas Mr Smooth above finishes off his stroke by rotating his hip out of the way and presses BACK. This often appears like he doesn't finish his stroke as well as you might expect, but as mentioned in the explanation above, this is all for a very good reason...setting up for a good recovery phase.

Cheers

Paul

[HalfLordofthefishes]

Hi guys
Quick question... Its obvious that Mr. Smooth and great swimmers alike have a very relaxed arm during recovery. I can pretty well do that now. As soon as I've begun the catch, however, my upper arm, forearm, wrist, and hand all flex, possibly because it feels like I need to really pull hard to go anywhere. Is an advanced swimmers arm relaxed during this phase as well, using the body's rotation for energy, or is there significant energy going into the pull?
Thanks!