Swim stroke analysis

Nobody has ANYTHING to say about my swim stroke? Hmmm...I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. =/

I'll play along....

Out of all of the swimming videos on this web site, over the last 6 years I've been here.  Your stroke looks like the one I'd least make a comment on for improvement.  If you've been swimming since you were a young age group'er I think you know what you need to do to fix the stuff you mention above.  Nows it's time to put the work in again. 

Other wise.

Stroke looks nice and relaxed. 

Overall you don't look bad. I guess I would want to see how you look when you aren't going slow. Was that your relaxed, slow speed? Maybe not.

You seem a little close to your midline, but it's fine really.

I never got to see you on camera breathing to the side (need that shot), but it looks like you are breathing fine. Not rolling too much.

Also, it's hard to give a good analysis without having underwater video as well. You have to record from both sides and the front. To really SEE everything going on. That's how I film my clients... and I do above the water as well.

I guess I just question why you seem to slap your arms/hands into the water. Although, I noticed a lot of swimmers tend to that these days. So it might be the "thing". Without seeing what is going on underwater, I can't tell you if it's effective or not.

I agree with many of the others. Pretty good stroke. I wouldn't want to change a whole lot, but here are a couple of points:

1. Your left arm is crossing over. This will slow you down and potentially give you shoulder issues. So, keep the pull to the outside. Which leads me to....
2. Your arms are kind of slapping into the water. That can be okay but you will lose a lot in your pull if you are immediately dropping your elbow (which from what I can tell, you are, but it would be better if I could see the underwater). Think extension then high elbow pull.

Overall though it's a pretty nice stroke and BTW, nice job on the flip turn!

It's always surprising to see your stroke on video, even more so for those of us who have been swimming for a while and have confidence in our stroke technique.  Overall you have a very nice stroke, but we all have room for improvement.

Slow arm recovery, which puts additional strain and fatigue on your shoulders because you are "hanging" your arms using your shoulder muscles. You should be able to conserve a lot of energy by springing your hand out of the water at the finish and allowing that spring action to carry your arm around to entry.  There should be very little arm and shoulder strength needed for arm recovery with an efficient stroke.  It looks like your arm is nice and relaxed, so that is good.  Concentrate on finishing your stroke long and flipping your wrists as your hand exits the water at the back of your stroke.  You'll find a more efficient stroke by allowing your hand to spend more time extended in front your while you are gliding, and less time holding it in the air during stroke recovery.

There is something funny going on with your entry that is causing your arm to form an arc over the water, where your elbow is the peak.  My guess is that your shoulder is delayed in getting into the water.  This would make sense if you are using too much shoulder in the recovery, per my previous comment.  I think you need to get your upper body turned over faster so your corresponding shoulder is sliding into the water at the same time as your hand. This should help you get more glide out of each stroke as well.

Your left arm looks like it stays straight under the water.  You can really see this in the second to last stroke before your turn in the second video.  You're compensating for elbow bend by allowing your left hand to swing over past the opposite side of your body.  Need some elbow bend there.  Your right arm looks better, but I think there is some of the same going on here.  This might be caused by waiting to long to bend your elbow.  Make sure you're starting your stroke in the water with a nice elbow bend.  Don't delay the elbow bend when you start your stroke (I'm not saying shorten the glide to bend the elbow, but as soon as you start the pull after the glide, make sure elbow bend is one of the first movements).  This should help to keep your stroke shallower and keep your hand closer to the side of your body, thus lessening the strain on your shoulder and improving balance.

As for your weak kick, focus on starting your kick from your hips.

Drill Suggestions:

1. Kick for 6 seconds on one side with your bottom arm extended straight in front of you and your top arm down at your side (make sure you're completely on your side), then take a stroke and kick for 6 seconds on the opposite side.  Repeat down the pool.  Do this drill with 3 second intervals after you do a few laps at 6 second intervals.  This will help your balance and equilibrium between your right and left arm strokes.
2. Swim with a regular stroke, but over-accentuate flipping your wrists out of the water.  As you flip your wrists out of the water, maintain a continuous motion through your stroke recovery until your hand is back in the water at the beginning of your stroke.  Keep in mind there should be a point where your arm is inline with your body as you are flipping your wrists out of the water.
3. Upon finishing your stroke, keep one hand extended in front of you until the opposite hand enters the water.  When the one hand enters the water, the other hand starts the stroke.  This should help with stroke timing.  There seems to be something funny with your stroke timing, but I'm not the person to pinpoint it.

I should mention, as a few others on this page have, that I'm not a stroke expert.  I do however run a website where we provide stroke video analysis by experts.  We use special software to provide the commentary back to you.  I think this is something you might be interested in.  It's very helpful in pointing out where you are, and where you should be.  I think our coaches could do plenty with your current video footage, but if you want underwater footage for analysis as well, you can use a Kodak Playsport which you can pickup for around $150.  I also saw a new Kodak mini waterproof camera for $80 at Target, but I haven't used it, so can't attest to it's quality.  If you are interested in underwater footage and don't want to purchase a camera, let me know and we can work something out.  But, as I mentioned, I think our coaches can give you plenty to work on based on your current footage.

I'm also working with our coaches to put together a list for posting on our site of common stroke errors and drills to help eliminate those errors.  So you can look for that.

Good luck!
-Chris

Chris Kavanaugh
The Athlete Village
http://www.theathletevillage.com/triathlon

Edited by thechrisman 2011-03-11 12:58 PM