Swim II - Week 2 - No Pressure Catch

No-Pressure Catch

Last week during the very slow swims, I could see side to side motion caused by pressing improperly at the front end of the stroke. Also, pressing down too early was causing most everyone’s hips to sink.

This week we worked on swimming fast, and removing pressure from the front end of the swim stroke – until the point where the forearm and hand are vertical in the water. This ensures all pressure is backward, moving you forward.

Warm-up:

200 easy, 4x50 kick/swim, 4x25 fast, all with 15-20sec rest between swims.

Main Set:

Forward Sculling (see end of post for details) – get the arms in the catch position. NOTICE that when you’re sculling that your hips and heels are at the surface all the time and it’s easy for them to be there. That’s because you’re only creating pressure back and not down in front.

Slow Swimming – take all the pressure off the catch

Fast Swimming – 20x50 (not a sprint, about 7-8 out of 10 effort), work on no-pressure catch, allowing the body to move over the hand and forearm.

Alternate the focus each 50 as follows:

1 – Count strokes per 25.

2 – Pull immediately, as soon as you extend your arm out front. Don’t wait for the arm to drop.

3 – No-pressure catch. Let the forearm and hand drop into place before applying any pressure. Feel your momentum carry you over your catch. Keep your head down and your back flat to the surface.

Cool Down:

100 easy swim

Prone Forward Sculling – sets up and strengthens proper elbow, shoulder, hand position

Face down in the water, kicking lightly to keep legs at the surface. Shrug shoulders forward so that elbows end up even with your temples. Hands are under the elbows. Scull with small motions like “figure eights”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WYyowAvb5U

This is a good demo of why you always want your palms facing backward vs. down. It is different (not better or worse) from the head down version we worked on. His arms/hands are angled at about 30-45deg in order to produce down force to keep his head up. Your hand/forearms will be vertical and in front of your head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CHt4J6nJvo

A good primer on sculling. At 3:00 she moves to a face down position and you can see her turn down force to back force that moves her forward. This is slightly different from the “elbows forward” front scull I usually teach that puts the arm in the beginning catch position. All this swimmer would need to do is shrug their shoulders forward and get their elbows and hands about even with the top of their head.