This is a guide to core-driven swimming. Powerful, efficient, and injury-free, it's a much better way to swim. It's how advanced swimmers swim. It's how you should swim. It's not hard to do, once you understand a few simple ideas.
If you want to swim well, this is how you do it.
Daniel, San Mateo, California, swimtechniques@gmail.com
CONTENTS
"It's not enough to know, you must apply."
Bruce Lee
• IT'S ALL ABOUT BALANCE
• SWIM LIKE A HUMAN BEING
• A BRIEF ANALOGY
• FREESTYLE IS A LONG-AXIS ROTATION STROKE
• THE BIG IDEA
• HIP ROTATION (PART 1)
• HIP ROTATION (PART 2)
• THE MOST ATHLETIC POSITION
• INCREASE YOUR CORE STRENGTH
• ONE OF THE BIGGEST AND MOST COMMON MISTAKES
• HOLD WATER, DON'T PUSH WATER
• ARM-DRIVEN SWIMMING VS. CORE-DRIVEN SWIMMING
• SWIM DOWNHILL
• ARMS
• SET A FIRM CATCH
• HOW TO PREVENT SHOULDER INJURIES
• SCAPULAR PLANE
• SHOULDER IMPINGEMENTS EXPLAINED
• YOUR HANDS ARE ANCHORS
• TURNS
• FIVE FUNDAMENTALS
• TAKEAWAY
• MINDSET
• LINKS TO: ROTATION DRILL, WHERE THE POWER IS, SWIM AROUND YOUR LONG-AXIS, RESISTANCE, FREESTYLE BREATHING, FREESTYLE ERRORS / SIGNPOST, FREESTYLE RECOVERY, INTERNAL SHOULDER ROTATION, AND 10 TIPS FOR A BETTER FREESTYLE TURN
• IT'S ALL ABOUT BALANCE
• SWIM LIKE A HUMAN BEING
• A BRIEF ANALOGY
• FREESTYLE IS A LONG-AXIS ROTATION STROKE
• THE BIG IDEA
• HIP ROTATION (PART 1)
• HIP ROTATION (PART 2)
• THE MOST ATHLETIC POSITION
• INCREASE YOUR CORE STRENGTH
• ONE OF THE BIGGEST AND MOST COMMON MISTAKES
• HOLD WATER, DON'T PUSH WATER
• ARM-DRIVEN SWIMMING VS. CORE-DRIVEN SWIMMING
• SWIM DOWNHILL
• ARMS
• SET A FIRM CATCH
• HOW TO PREVENT SHOULDER INJURIES
• SCAPULAR PLANE
• SHOULDER IMPINGEMENTS EXPLAINED
• YOUR HANDS ARE ANCHORS
• TURNS
• FIVE FUNDAMENTALS
• TAKEAWAY
• MINDSET
• LINKS TO: ROTATION DRILL, WHERE THE POWER IS, SWIM AROUND YOUR LONG-AXIS, RESISTANCE, FREESTYLE BREATHING, FREESTYLE ERRORS / SIGNPOST, FREESTYLE RECOVERY, INTERNAL SHOULDER ROTATION, AND 10 TIPS FOR A BETTER FREESTYLE TURN
IT'S ALL ABOUT BALANCE
"It's really important to stay balanced throughout your body."
Natalie Coughlin
It's the most important concept in swimming.
Each stroke, every part of each stroke, is all about balance. Your body should balance without the aid of arms and legs. Repetition of simple practice drills develops good balance.
Good aquatic balance minimizes resistance and enables fast hip rotation.
Move your balance point forward, as far forward as possible.
Balance has two close friends: posture and alignment.
Balance is more than some of the time in some of the strokes, it is all of the time in all of the strokes.
Madison Kennedy is balanced
It's the most important concept in swimming.
Each stroke, every part of each stroke, is all about balance. Your body should balance without the aid of arms and legs. Repetition of simple practice drills develops good balance.
Good aquatic balance minimizes resistance and enables fast hip rotation.
Move your balance point forward, as far forward as possible.
Balance has two close friends: posture and alignment.
Balance is more than some of the time in some of the strokes, it is all of the time in all of the strokes.
Everything depends on it
Only with good balance is core-driven swimming possible
SWIM LIKE A HUMAN BEING
Applies to all strokes
Your arms are not meant to propel your body. We, all human beings, are just not built that way.* Your core muscles — lower stomach and lower back muscles, butt, and upper thighs — are designed to propel your body, so engage your core. Swim using the same large muscles you walk and run with or, put another way, swim from your core outward, from the center of your body outward.
This is how advanced swimmers swim and there is no reason you can't swim the same way. It's not hard to do, if, and this is a big "if", you have good balance, posture, and alignment.
* Chimpanzees, apes, and other higher primates, on the other hand, do have arms designed to propel their bodies, they can swing through the jungle canopy using arm strength alone and most of their walking is done on all four limbs. Their upper body is at least twice as strong as humans, by some accounts five to eight times stronger.
Appreciate that human beings are land walkers, not tree climbers, and have a land walkers' physique. That means (if you are a human being) your strength is not in your extremities, it's in the center of your body.
Applies to all strokes
A BRIEF ANALOGY
"It is abundantly clear how much Tiger uses his golf core and his hips for power and stability in his downswing." Chuck Quinton
It's not arm strength Tiger Woods uses for his phenomenal club head speed and soaring 300+ yard drives, it's core strength and fast hip rotation. In much the same way, Albert Pujols relies on his core muscles and fast hip rotation for his bat speed and breathtaking home runs. Both of these athletes know their arms just deliver power produced by the largest muscles in their body, their core muscles. That's where the power is, with large, strong, almost impossible to injure core muscles — not with the much smaller, weaker, easily injured muscles around your shoulder.
Tiger Woods relies on core strength and hip rotation
Notice his more than 90° hip rotation
Albert Pujols relies on core strength and hip rotation
It's not arm strength Tiger Woods uses for his phenomenal club head speed and soaring 300+ yard drives, it's core strength and fast hip rotation. In much the same way, Albert Pujols relies on his core muscles and fast hip rotation for his bat speed and breathtaking home runs. Both of these athletes know their arms just deliver power produced by the largest muscles in their body, their core muscles. That's where the power is, with large, strong, almost impossible to injure core muscles — not with the much smaller, weaker, easily injured muscles around your shoulder.
Swimming certainly does
FREESTYLE IS A LONG-AXIS ROTATION STROKE
"Focus on core motion, that's where most of your weight is. Your arms and legs are just along for the ride." Ed Moses
In core-driven freestyle, energy moves up your body, pushing you forward.
Look at Michael Phelps (above image).
Notice his position: nicely balanced with a long straight line from fingertips to toes. His hips are near vertical. He is looking straight down. His arm is extended straight out in front of him as his hand feels for water to hold on to. As he bends his wrist, pressure will build on his hand, and he'll start the stroke.
In rapid sequence, he'll quickly twist the high side of his hips down, then his shoulders will come around, his recovering arm enters the water heavily but cleanly and sends energy, lots of it, forward; he'll draw another long straight line, bend his wrist, set the catch straight out in front of him, and start the cycle over again.
He is swimming around his long-axis.
Think of your leading hand at the catch as an anchor (it's stationary, you swim past it). Let your hand glide forward (little finger down), bend your wrist 45° or less, load pressure on your hand and rotate around it; set the catch and swim past it. This is the shoulder-friendly way to swim, the powerful way to swim. As you shift the work down from your arms and shoulders to large core muscles in the middle of your body, hip rotation becomes the source of propulsion.
Rotate onto your side and draw a long straight line from fingertips to toes
Also known as "linetation"
Start the stroke here, from this position, with your hips vertical
In core-driven freestyle, energy moves up your body, pushing you forward.
Look at Michael Phelps (above image).
Notice his position: nicely balanced with a long straight line from fingertips to toes. His hips are near vertical. He is looking straight down. His arm is extended straight out in front of him as his hand feels for water to hold on to. As he bends his wrist, pressure will build on his hand, and he'll start the stroke.
In rapid sequence, he'll quickly twist the high side of his hips down, then his shoulders will come around, his recovering arm enters the water heavily but cleanly and sends energy, lots of it, forward; he'll draw another long straight line, bend his wrist, set the catch straight out in front of him, and start the cycle over again.
He is swimming around his long-axis.
Think of your leading hand at the catch as an anchor (it's stationary, you swim past it). Let your hand glide forward (little finger down), bend your wrist 45° or less, load pressure on your hand and rotate around it; set the catch and swim past it. This is the shoulder-friendly way to swim, the powerful way to swim. As you shift the work down from your arms and shoulders to large core muscles in the middle of your body, hip rotation becomes the source of propulsion.
Torque is a rotating, twisting, circular force generated by the movement of your hips. It, hip rotation, is the big engine of core-driven swimming. It's where all the power is.
Notice the word this author chose to describe the amount of rotation in hip rotation: tremendous, which is something great in amount or intensity.
Three words to remember: tremendous hip rotation.
THE BIG IDEA
"If you have powerful hip rotation you'll be a lot stronger than if you're swimming with your arms and legs. The power transfers through the upper body." Richard Quick
Successful freestyle is applying a rotating force (your hips) to a fixed object (your leading hand at the catch). Let your leading hand glide forward in the water (little finger down), reset your hips vertical, then bend your wrist slightly and turn your hips quickly into the catch.
Think less about your arms and more about your hips. Where your hips go, you go.
Develop powerful hip rotation
Successful freestyle is applying a rotating force (your hips) to a fixed object (your leading hand at the catch). Let your leading hand glide forward in the water (little finger down), reset your hips vertical, then bend your wrist slightly and turn your hips quickly into the catch.
Think less about your arms and more about your hips. Where your hips go, you go.
Always be aware what your hips are doing
HIP ROTATION (PART 1)
"You got to put the whole hip into it, and snap it, and get all your energy in there."
Bruce Lee
The more you rotate your hips toward vertical, the more energy you create and store, and the quicker you release this energy, the quicker you spin your hips the other way, the faster you go.
Propulsion is rotary (hips) not linear (arms) so...
Hip rotation stores and releases energy
Hip rotation puts torque into the stroke
The more you rotate your hips toward vertical, the more energy you create and store, and the quicker you release this energy, the quicker you spin your hips the other way, the faster you go.
Propulsion is rotary (hips) not linear (arms) so...
A little past vertical is even more effective
HIP ROTATION (PART 2)
"Build the stroke from the inside out, what your arms and legs are doing is the last thing we are concerned about." Richard Quick
Hips and shoulders do not rotate as one, that's too slow. Hips rotate faster than shoulders. Disconnect your hips from your shoulders, so your hips can move freely, quickly, and, remember, the sequence of rotation is hips then shoulders, not shoulders then hips.
Hips lead, shoulders follow.
Dancers do this, golfers do this, swimmers should too
Hips and shoulders do not rotate as one, that's too slow. Hips rotate faster than shoulders. Disconnect your hips from your shoulders, so your hips can move freely, quickly, and, remember, the sequence of rotation is hips then shoulders, not shoulders then hips.
Hips lead, shoulders follow.
THE MOST ATHLETIC POSITION
"We want swimmers in freestyle to be on their side as much as possible."
Bob Bowman
Appreciate the most athletic position, the most powerful position, with the most stored energy and the least resistance, in freestyle and backstroke, is on your side, hips vertical or a little past vertical.
Your default position, the position you always return to, is on your side, hips vertical or one click past vertical.
When you are level in the water you swim with your arms and legs. When you are on your side you engage your core — the largest, strongest muscles in your body.
Slice through the water on your side
Be a sleek yacht, not a barge
Appreciate the most athletic position, the most powerful position, with the most stored energy and the least resistance, in freestyle and backstroke, is on your side, hips vertical or a little past vertical.
Your default position, the position you always return to, is on your side, hips vertical or one click past vertical.
When you are level in the water you swim with your arms and legs. When you are on your side you engage your core — the largest, strongest muscles in your body.
So use them
INCREASE YOUR CORE STRENGTH
"We don’t kick with a kick board." Richard Quick
Add the following to every swim:
• Kick set: hand lead, on your back, freestyle kick or butterfly kick, no board, no fins
• Head-lead rotation drill
• One-arm butterfly drill with one full-stroke butterfly per lap
• Some breaststroke
• Breaststroke with a butterfly kick
• A lap alternating between breaststroke and butterfly
This is the most effective way to increase your core strength.
Increased core strength benefits everything you do, from standing and walking to golf and tennis, everything.
Add the following to every swim:
• Kick set: hand lead, on your back, freestyle kick or butterfly kick, no board, no fins
• Head-lead rotation drill
• One-arm butterfly drill with one full-stroke butterfly per lap
• Some breaststroke
• Breaststroke with a butterfly kick
• A lap alternating between breaststroke and butterfly
This is the most effective way to increase your core strength.
So develop it
Increased core strength benefits everything you do, from standing and walking to golf and tennis, everything.
ONE OF THE BIGGEST AND MOST COMMON MISTAKES
"One of the biggest and most common mistakes I see people make is looking forward while they swim." Natalie Coughlin
Many swimmers hold their head too high in the water.
Lifting your head to look forward drops your hips and legs, which slows hip rotation and increases resistance along your whole body (our goal is to decrease resistance, not increase it). Better to relax your neck, let your head fall deeper in the water, let water cover the back of your head and look straight down as you swim.
It costs energy, more than you might think, to hold your head up lap after lap. With a neutral head, tension in your neck and shoulders will vanish, you'll have less resistance, you'll balance better, and your hips will rotate faster.
Head position is, of course, closely related to breathing.
Look straight down as you swim
Let water cover the back of your head
Get your head down and out of the way of the stroke
Many swimmers hold their head too high in the water.
Lifting your head to look forward drops your hips and legs, which slows hip rotation and increases resistance along your whole body (our goal is to decrease resistance, not increase it). Better to relax your neck, let your head fall deeper in the water, let water cover the back of your head and look straight down as you swim.
It costs energy, more than you might think, to hold your head up lap after lap. With a neutral head, tension in your neck and shoulders will vanish, you'll have less resistance, you'll balance better, and your hips will rotate faster.
Head position is, of course, closely related to breathing.
You'll balance better if you do
HOLD WATER, DON'T PUSH WATER
"When you move water backward, you don't move forward very well."
Bill Boomer
If you only hold water in front of you, and don't push water under you, you will move forward much better, with more distance per stroke.
Hold water, then let your hips do all the work.
The best way to learn freestyle is to swim backstroke and lots of it. In backstroke the option of pushing water under you disappears, you can't. Now you have to hold water. Now you have to develop balance, posture, and alignment. Now you have to rotate your hips quickly.
The less you move water backward, the more you move forward.
Swim with more distance per stroke, not faster strokes, more distance per stroke.
Hold water and swim past the catch.
Hold water, don't push water
This is how to increase distance per stroke
Swim past a stationary hand
If you only hold water in front of you, and don't push water under you, you will move forward much better, with more distance per stroke.
Hold water, then let your hips do all the work.
The best way to learn freestyle is to swim backstroke and lots of it. In backstroke the option of pushing water under you disappears, you can't. Now you have to hold water. Now you have to develop balance, posture, and alignment. Now you have to rotate your hips quickly.
The less you move water backward, the more you move forward.
If your hands slip backward, upgrade your balance, posture, and alignment
Swim with more distance per stroke, not faster strokes, more distance per stroke.
Hold water and swim past the catch.
ARM-DRIVEN SWIMMING VS. CORE-DRIVEN SWIMMING
"When you want to change rate you do not go to your hands as paddles. You go
to the rhythm oriented area. The rhythm oriented area for freestyle is the
hips."
Bill Boomer
Let's move past these tired old ideas (above image) about how to swim, ideas that never made any sense. Your arms are not meant to propel your body, it's just that simple, so just say no to arm-driven swimming. Arm-driven swimming, still widely taught, is injurious and so 1980. We can do a lot better than that. Core-driven swimming is the opposite of arm-driven swimming. In core-driven swimming your arms do as little as possible while your core muscles do as much as possible. Once you begin to swim this way, once you let large core muscles drive you forward, you'll wonder why you ever did it differently. It is, in a word, transformative.
Arm-driven swimmers use their arms for propulsion. Core-driven swimmers use their hips for propulsion. That is the biggest difference, but there are more:
• Arm-driven swimmers use small muscles high in their body (lats, shoulders, and biceps) to do a lot of work — push water with their arms. Core-driven swimmers use large muscles in the middle of their body (everything from mid-thigh to ribcage) to do a little work — rotate their hips.
• Arm-driven swimmers use their arms as long levers and concentrate large forces into their shoulders. Core-driven swimmers do not.
• Arm-driven swimmers internally rotate their shoulder with each stroke. Core-driven swimmers do not. (Internal shoulder rotation is one of the causes of shoulder injuries for swimmers.)
• Arm-driven swimmers' hands and forearms are far from their long-axis. Core-driven swimmers' hands and forearms are close to their long-axis.
• Arm-driven swimmers work the back of the stroke and have a long, difficult recovery. Core-driven swimmers give up the back of the stroke and have a short, easy recovery.
• Arm-driven swimming does not rely upon balance, posture, and alignment, they are not essential. Core-driven swimming does, they are.
• Arm-driven swimmers swim uphill. Core-driven swimmers swim downhill.
• Arm-driven swimmers have no / a little / some hip rotation. Core-driven swimmers have 180° hip rotation.
• Arm-driven swimmers push water, thinking the power is in their arms. Core-driven swimmers hold water, knowing all of the power is in their hips.
There is no hybrid, some of both, it's one or the other, one precludes the other.
Small muscles that do a lot of work or large muscles that do a little work, your choice, but which is sustainable, which has more potential, which is more athletic?
Just say no
Let's move past these tired old ideas (above image) about how to swim, ideas that never made any sense. Your arms are not meant to propel your body, it's just that simple, so just say no to arm-driven swimming. Arm-driven swimming, still widely taught, is injurious and so 1980. We can do a lot better than that. Core-driven swimming is the opposite of arm-driven swimming. In core-driven swimming your arms do as little as possible while your core muscles do as much as possible. Once you begin to swim this way, once you let large core muscles drive you forward, you'll wonder why you ever did it differently. It is, in a word, transformative.
Arm-driven swimmers use their arms for propulsion. Core-driven swimmers use their hips for propulsion. That is the biggest difference, but there are more:
• Arm-driven swimmers use small muscles high in their body (lats, shoulders, and biceps) to do a lot of work — push water with their arms. Core-driven swimmers use large muscles in the middle of their body (everything from mid-thigh to ribcage) to do a little work — rotate their hips.
• Arm-driven swimmers use their arms as long levers and concentrate large forces into their shoulders. Core-driven swimmers do not.
• Arm-driven swimmers internally rotate their shoulder with each stroke. Core-driven swimmers do not. (Internal shoulder rotation is one of the causes of shoulder injuries for swimmers.)
• Arm-driven swimmers' hands and forearms are far from their long-axis. Core-driven swimmers' hands and forearms are close to their long-axis.
• Arm-driven swimmers work the back of the stroke and have a long, difficult recovery. Core-driven swimmers give up the back of the stroke and have a short, easy recovery.
• Arm-driven swimming does not rely upon balance, posture, and alignment, they are not essential. Core-driven swimming does, they are.
• Arm-driven swimmers swim uphill. Core-driven swimmers swim downhill.
• Arm-driven swimmers have no / a little / some hip rotation. Core-driven swimmers have 180° hip rotation.
• Arm-driven swimmers push water, thinking the power is in their arms. Core-driven swimmers hold water, knowing all of the power is in their hips.
There is no hybrid, some of both, it's one or the other, one precludes the other.
Small muscles that do a lot of work or large muscles that do a little work, your choice, but which is sustainable, which has more potential, which is more athletic?
SWIM DOWNHILL
"The errors that occur do so on the body line."
Bill Boomer
Swim freestyle (and backstroke) slightly downhill, that is, press your head and chest deeper into the water, so your hips will be higher, so you can rotate your hips faster. With an uphill aquatic line, all you can do is push water with your arms. With a downhill aquatic line — a ½ degree is sufficient, but it must be downhill — the dynamics of swimming change, your hips become light, almost weightless, so you can rotate your hips faster and swim past the catch. Your aquatic line determines how you swim.
Put a little tension in your lower stomach so your aquatic line is straight. Swim freestyle and backstroke with a straight, slightly downhill aquatic line.
With a downhill aquatic line you will have less resistance, a firmer, more effective catch, and fast hip rotation.
Swim slightly downhill
Only with a downhill aquatic line can you rotate your hips quickly
Our goal is to create light, fast-moving hips
Swim freestyle (and backstroke) slightly downhill, that is, press your head and chest deeper into the water, so your hips will be higher, so you can rotate your hips faster. With an uphill aquatic line, all you can do is push water with your arms. With a downhill aquatic line — a ½ degree is sufficient, but it must be downhill — the dynamics of swimming change, your hips become light, almost weightless, so you can rotate your hips faster and swim past the catch. Your aquatic line determines how you swim.
Put a little tension in your lower stomach so your aquatic line is straight. Swim freestyle and backstroke with a straight, slightly downhill aquatic line.
With a downhill aquatic line you will have less resistance, a firmer, more effective catch, and fast hip rotation.
It determines how you swim
ARMS
"Think of your arms first as balancing tools so that your hips and legs are lighter." Richard Quick
You are always better balanced with a long straight arm in front of you. Value your line and leave your lead arm in front as long as possible.
This is not the time to be casual, to drop your elbow, or let your hand wander about. Point your arm laser straight to where you want to go. Keep your hand vertical, little finger down.
In core-driven freestyle your leading arm does not travel down and under your torso. Your arm stays high in the water, just below the surface, on the same horizontal plane as your body, close to your long-axis, as you rotate your hips and swim past the catch.
Now you are longer, straighter, better balanced with a shorter, faster, easier recovery.
This is not catch up swimming, that's something else, that limits hip rotation, so is of no use.
This is swimming into the front quadrant. Have a strong bias toward the front of the stroke.
Long boats balance better than short boats, so be a long boat
You go where your arms are pointed
You are always better balanced with a long straight arm in front of you. Value your line and leave your lead arm in front as long as possible.
This is not the time to be casual, to drop your elbow, or let your hand wander about. Point your arm laser straight to where you want to go. Keep your hand vertical, little finger down.
In core-driven freestyle your leading arm does not travel down and under your torso. Your arm stays high in the water, just below the surface, on the same horizontal plane as your body, close to your long-axis, as you rotate your hips and swim past the catch.
Because you use your hips for propulsion
Now you are longer, straighter, better balanced with a shorter, faster, easier recovery.
This is not catch up swimming, that's something else, that limits hip rotation, so is of no use.
This is swimming into the front quadrant. Have a strong bias toward the front of the stroke.
Send your energy forward, continuously forward
Give up the back of the stroke
Recycle
SET A FIRM CATCH
"Wait for the water." Teri McKeever
The catch is straight out in front of you, early in the stroke, not somewhere under you, late in the stroke. The catch is to the inside, close to your long-axis.
A prerequisite for a firm, definite catch is a downward aquatic line; it puts more weight on your hand.
The catch is an integral part of the stroke, but it's missing, not there, with many swimmers.
The catch is your connection to the water at the front of the stroke. It's what you rotate around.
The catch is straight out in front of you, early in the stroke, not somewhere under you, late in the stroke. The catch is to the inside, close to your long-axis.
A prerequisite for a firm, definite catch is a downward aquatic line; it puts more weight on your hand.
The catch is an integral part of the stroke, but it's missing, not there, with many swimmers.
The catch is your connection to the water at the front of the stroke. It's what you rotate around.
And swim past it
HOW TO PREVENT SHOULDER INJURIES
"Shoulder injuries are extremely common in swimmers." Dr. Rod Havriluk
Too many swimmers have too many shoulder injuries, a predictable result of arm-driven swimming.
Swimming is the best exercise, nothing else even comes close, but swimming has an unpleasant, dark side: shoulder injuries. Arm-driven swimmers, those swimmers who push water with their hands and arms, will likely have shoulder injuries. Core-driven swimmers, those swimmers who only hold water with their hands while they swim past the catch, will not have shoulder injuries. Why is simple. Core-driven swimmers shift all of the work down from their shoulders to large core muscles in the middle of their body. Core-driven swimmers know their arms are not meant to propel their body, it places too much work in their shoulders, work shoulders are not designed for.
The shoulder has the most range of motion of any joint in your body, but is also the most unstable and the most prone to injury.
Problem: shoulder injuries. Solution: Use your hips for propulsion, not your arms.
“The pain was almost like arthritis. I couldn’t sleep at night. I couldn’t lift my arm more than six inches from my side. I had no range of motion and I had a dull ache that went from my bicep through my shoulder and all the way down my back." Ashley Twichell
Shoulder injuries are caused by repetition of swim errors.
Too many swimmers have too many shoulder injuries, a predictable result of arm-driven swimming.
Many swimmers put too much work in their shoulders
Wise swimmers keep the work far away from their shoulders
Your arms are not meant to propel your body, your hips are
Swimming is the best exercise, nothing else even comes close, but swimming has an unpleasant, dark side: shoulder injuries. Arm-driven swimmers, those swimmers who push water with their hands and arms, will likely have shoulder injuries. Core-driven swimmers, those swimmers who only hold water with their hands while they swim past the catch, will not have shoulder injuries. Why is simple. Core-driven swimmers shift all of the work down from their shoulders to large core muscles in the middle of their body. Core-driven swimmers know their arms are not meant to propel their body, it places too much work in their shoulders, work shoulders are not designed for.
The shoulder has the most range of motion of any joint in your body, but is also the most unstable and the most prone to injury.
Problem: shoulder injuries. Solution: Use your hips for propulsion, not your arms.
A destination for some swimmers
How you swim can have consequences
Too many swimmers have too many shoulder injuries
“The pain was almost like arthritis. I couldn’t sleep at night. I couldn’t lift my arm more than six inches from my side. I had no range of motion and I had a dull ache that went from my bicep through my shoulder and all the way down my back." Ashley Twichell
Shoulder injuries are caused by repetition of swim errors.
SCAPULAR PLANE
"Visualize freestyle as a series of side strokes with a freestyle stroke in between.”
Terry Laughlin
(Applies to all strokes, but, for the moment, we will focus on freestyle.)
To swim injury-free, never allow your elbow to get behind your scapular plane, behind your shoulder, during the recovery. Your elbow should always be in front of your shoulder. Allowing your elbow to get behind your shoulder is one the causes of shoulder injuries for swimmers.
This is a problem for arm-driven swimmers without much torso rotation. Their elbow tends to be behind their shoulder on the recovery.
This is not a problem for core-driven swimmers who reset their hips vertical. Their elbow is well in front of their shoulder on the recovery.
Torso rotation protects your shoulders. A low recovery protects your shoulders.
More ideas about the freestyle recovery are here.
Keep your elbows in front of your scapular plane
The farther in front, the better
Torso rotation protects your shoulders
(Applies to all strokes, but, for the moment, we will focus on freestyle.)
To swim injury-free, never allow your elbow to get behind your scapular plane, behind your shoulder, during the recovery. Your elbow should always be in front of your shoulder. Allowing your elbow to get behind your shoulder is one the causes of shoulder injuries for swimmers.
This is a problem for arm-driven swimmers without much torso rotation. Their elbow tends to be behind their shoulder on the recovery.
This is not a problem for core-driven swimmers who reset their hips vertical. Their elbow is well in front of their shoulder on the recovery.
Torso rotation protects your shoulders. A low recovery protects your shoulders.
More ideas about the freestyle recovery are here.
Heed this admonition
SHOULDER IMPINGEMENTS EXPLAINED
"The primary factor which contributes to impingement syndromes is a thumb
first hand entry in the freestyle stroke.”
Dr. Erik DeRoche
Swimmers should know what a shoulder impingement is (i.e., rotator cuff tendinitis or shoulder bursitis). This shoulder injury is a risk for all the overhead sports — tennis, baseball, volleyball, basketball — but swimming is the most overhead of the overhead sports, so swimmers are most at risk for this injury, especially if they rotate their arms.
Here is how to prevent impingement injuries:
In freestyle, the recovering hand enters the water vertical, little finger first — not thumb first — and stays little finger down as your arm extends forward. This keeps your shoulder in a natural position, promotes torso rotation, makes for a cleaner hand entry, and a nicer, longer, more comfortable arm extension, and sets the catch far out in front. Staying little finger down prevents your torso from balancing off of your palm. Balancing your torso off of your palm turns your arm into a long lever which puts tension into your shoulder. Don't "platform" on your palms, keep your leading hand little finger down, vertical, as it moves through the water.
Does a thumb first hand entry into the water at the front of the stroke contribute to shoulder injuries? You bet it does, it is internal shoulder rotation, a wrenching, difficult, injurious motion for your shoulder.
✔ Keep your hands vertical, little finger down, throughout the stroke.
✔ Keep your hands and forearms close to your long-axis throughout the stroke.
Swimmers should know what a shoulder impingement is (i.e., rotator cuff tendinitis or shoulder bursitis). This shoulder injury is a risk for all the overhead sports — tennis, baseball, volleyball, basketball — but swimming is the most overhead of the overhead sports, so swimmers are most at risk for this injury, especially if they rotate their arms.
Here is how to prevent impingement injuries:
In freestyle, always little finger first into the water
In a repetitive motion sport like swimming, this is important
Avoid internal shoulder rotation in all strokes
In freestyle, the recovering hand enters the water vertical, little finger first — not thumb first — and stays little finger down as your arm extends forward. This keeps your shoulder in a natural position, promotes torso rotation, makes for a cleaner hand entry, and a nicer, longer, more comfortable arm extension, and sets the catch far out in front. Staying little finger down prevents your torso from balancing off of your palm. Balancing your torso off of your palm turns your arm into a long lever which puts tension into your shoulder. Don't "platform" on your palms, keep your leading hand little finger down, vertical, as it moves through the water.
Does a thumb first hand entry into the water at the front of the stroke contribute to shoulder injuries? You bet it does, it is internal shoulder rotation, a wrenching, difficult, injurious motion for your shoulder.
✔ Keep your hands vertical, little finger down, throughout the stroke.
✔ Keep your hands and forearms close to your long-axis throughout the stroke.
YOUR HANDS ARE ANCHORS
"The most effective freestylers are going to have a great anchor in the front
quadrant of their stroke."
Bob Bowman
In core-driven swimming your hands are anchors, not paddles
A heavy anchor is desirable in all the strokes
It's stationary, you swim past it
FIVE FUNDAMENTALS
"It’s amazing how the fundamentals of how you do it are ignored over how much did you do it." Teri McKeever
Fundamentals: The most basic and important parts of something, from Latin fundamentum, foundation
• Establish balance, posture, and alignment.
• Keep a neutral head.
• Hold water.
• Use your hips for propulsion.
• Be a front quadrant swimmer.
• Establish balance, posture, and alignment.
• Keep a neutral head.
• Hold water.
• Use your hips for propulsion.
• Be a front quadrant swimmer.
TAKEAWAY
"More rotation." Michael Phelps
Whether a long-axis (freestyle, backstroke) or a short-axis stroke (butterfly, breaststroke), hip rotation does all the work.
It is called core-driven swimming and it is a much better way to swim.
Now your whole body is involved
Whether a long-axis (freestyle, backstroke) or a short-axis stroke (butterfly, breaststroke), hip rotation does all the work.
It is called core-driven swimming and it is a much better way to swim.
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