Swim Faster - Stop Catching and Start Throwing! (Updated!)
As we return to the water Coach Alan revisits and updates this article on that mythical part of the freestyle stroke, ‘the catch’.
Deep hands with slightly deeper fingertips, is placing the hand higher and the elbow even higher physically possible for this swimmer whilst maintaining their position?
In swimming, we often hear about how important the catch phase is. It is, as we understand, critical to the success of our stroke. However, the most common fault amongst athletes on camp in Portugal was a lack of a finish to their stroke. But why?
Unfinished business
In my opinion, two particular understandings are the likely primary cause of athletes miscuing of their technique.
Overemphasis of the importance of the catch and a knock-on effect on athletes
Overemphasis on the importance of a high elbow recovery
Overemphasis of high elbows at the front of the stroke - an addition to this article more on this in a moment.
All three of these are 'traditional' coaching points that you will see repeated by coaches worldwide in swimming pools every day. But what effect do they have, how does the wording, how does the emphasis, how does the linguistics affect the athlete?
1. Overemphasis of the importance of the Catch
When learning a skill, we are always robotic clunky and very thoughtful about trying the action we are trying to achieve. At the front of your stroke, it is important to be relaxed and supple. Suppose I say to you that “You must focus on this area a lot.’, then your very engaged brain zones in its attention on this area, trying to be “picture” perfect. Therefore, it is quite likely it will become stiff and static! This is the opposite of what we want you to do!
A complex action is more difficult to learn than a simple action. Put your hand in the water, let it relax and move through that transition from relaxation to power progressively as you press and then finish off the stroke. Secondly, as I said in a blog article late last year, there is little actual propulsion to be gained from this phase of the stroke. So why focus disproportionately on it, especially if that can lead to an outcome you don't want?
2. Overemphasis on the importance of a high elbow recovery
Is a high elbow important? No, not necessarily. There are different strokes out there that are very suitable for different folks! This depends on the individual's background, strength and weakness and crucially, their flexibility and range of movement in their upper back and shoulders!
A high elbow recovery can actually negatively impact many Age-Group triathlete’s swimming. Because most of us sit facing a laptop (as I am now), we don't have the required mobility to execute a 'pretty' stroke. So why are we working against ourselves? This often leads to impingement across the shoulder girdle which affects the setup of the opposite arm and hand.
What is important is finishing off your stroke! Think of it like this, would you ever throw a ball to somebody and not follow through with the throwing arm? The answer is no. We have seen many athletes who actively start to bend the elbow and slide their hand forwards out of the water at that critical end of each stroke where they should be pressing back.
3. Overemphasis of high elbows at the front of the stroke
I’ve looked at hundreds if not thousands of videos of age group swimmers who understand that a high elbow at the front of their stroke is important but when, where and why in comparison to their fingertips, hands, lower and upper arm as well at entry, extension, the first bit of ‘catch’, the middle bit of ‘catch’ or the end of the ‘catch’ they perhaps aren’t so sure. If asked what do they actually know they can co-ordinate, feel and consistently execute in the water, most athletes will be unaware of what they have achieved or when they “get it right”. So what on earth is going on here then?
From my experience, I think it is potentially inappropriate and vague language given based on a coaches knowledge and understanding rather than the athlete’s developmental stage and ability to learn and apply this information.
I have seen on countless occasions athletes trying and trying to get their elbow higher at the most extended part of their stroke. Actually, their elbow is dropping and deactivating the key swimming muscles in the chest and upper back on the video. Why? The swimmer doesn’t have their hand deep in enough in the water to physically allow them within their range of movement in their upper body to prevent the elbow bending and dropping.
The solution is simple: focus on the appropriate depth of hand rather than your elbow's appropriate position. It is about coaching one aspect to lead to the natural occurrence of the next; it is about following a process towards effective swimming rather than coaching the outcome of effective swimming. This truth is furthered even more by the fact that the first 45’ of travel of the hand down from the surface of the water leads to a very negligible amount of anything, let alone propulsion.
Based on average arm length, we can use a bit of trigonometry to calculate appropriate hand depth based on the shoulder being level with the surface of the water. Or should we do this? If the swimmer is rotated, the shoulder on the same arm will likely be, say, 5cm below the surface. So let’s go from there.
I’ve got short arms relative to my height at 70cm, and Coach Philip has slightly longer arms at 77cm. Using a little bit of trigonometry, the SOH CAH TOA bit (I hope my Maths teachers are reading this!), we can work out that for Philip with his arm extended at 45’, the depth of his fingertips from the surface would be 59.44cm and for myself, with the same angle the depth would be 54.49cm. Now, if you think the long side of an A4 piece of paper is 30cm, you get an idea of how deep that really is and potentially how much easier it is going to be to get a relatively high elbow. But remember, the optimum angle of extension of our arm forward to achieve the most effective stroke will vary from person to person, depending on your individual flexibility and anatomy.
Have a play the next time you are at the pool.
Deep hands again
How do we improve this?
Stop over emphasising complex areas with swimmers to sell or impress or just be lazy in our language use.
Expand our coaching points to have some basic, simple, complex and very complex variations and use them in an appropriately differentiated manner with athletes of different ability
Encourage athletes to focus on their stage of learning and development in a sequence of importance.
For example; Start working on our throwing (the water back) rather than our catching by following through at the rear of your stroke! This analogy is crucially appropriate because it is the opposite of what many swimmers are trying to achieve. If you can do this, then it is likely the front will relax; you will rotate more evenly, and your stroke will come together. As I said in my last swimming blog, the secret to swimming is it is all about the sum of the parts and not the precision of any single component.
Below is a practice to help you visualise or realise this 'follow-through’ potential. It focuses on the power stage of the stroke, not finishing at the surface of the water but following through the surface and out of the water. As you will see, a little bit of water is thrown during the emphasis of this practice. The arms momentum are allowed to flow without being broken until they are well out of the water. At this point, you can then swing the arm as demonstrated (or indeed bend the elbow a little) but not before your hand is out of the water! This momentum will then recover your arm for you with no effort allowing a taut body to place the recovering hand back in the water for the next transition into the next powerful stroke.
Alan has worked with Tri Training Harder since 2014. During this time working with a wide spectrum of athletes from beginner, to youth and junior elite athletes through to 70.3 and Ironman AG winners and Ironman Kona Qualifiers.
An active Triathlon coach since 2007 Alan has been fortunate enough to work with athletes, peers and support staff who have continutally challenged him to evolve and develop. Building on a solid foundation in swimming teaching, Alan has specifically developed swimming coaching experience having worked in High Performance Swimming environments. Alan's other passion is all things fast on a bicycle!
Since 2015 Alan has worked in conjunction with the other Tri Training Harder Coaches to significantly develop collective coaching practice both on camp and online.
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