Improving Arm Stroke in Swimming | Swimming Arm Technique – FORM

searchforsound_ · Original audio

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💡COACH TIPS Arm Technique Dos and Don’ts - Relaxed recovery

R+R is often underappreciated - the same goes for your swim stroke - improving your recovery can be difficult to practice. As you’re not trying to create any power during this part of the stroke, your recovery must be relaxed and in rhythm with the rest of your swimming.

As a swimmer, you tend to exaggerate how much your air has to clear the water and end up recovering with stiff, straight arms. This results in losing energy when you should be relaxed. On the other hand, you could end up rushing your arms back to the water, which results in an out-of-sync stroke.

The 🔑 here is to let your elbows lead the way during the recovery phase and keep your hands and forearms relaxed. This means your fingers will be closer to the water and your arm will stay in time with your opposite arm that’s pulling, during your recovery phase.

For those of you who train at higher stroke rates, the centripetal force of your recovery may lead to a bigger stroke where the arms are straighter. The key distinction is that you do not force your arms straight, it should be the result of a relaxed recovery done at a higher rate. By keeping your hands and forearms relaxed, you can then put more of your energy into creating more propulsion once your hand is back in the water.

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jonathanbynoe · Original audio

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💡COACH TIPS Arm Technique Dos and Don’ts - Open armpits

We all know the catch is a vital part of the arm stroke. Describing what makes a good catch usually becomes over-complicated, leading to frustration when you’re trying to improve.

We’re here to simplify things -

The goal here is to place your hand in the water, anchor it in place, and then move your body past your hand to propel through the water.

Many of us tend to concentrate on what our hands are doing through the water - usually creating an ’S’ with the pull or putting too much force into the moving hands. As soon as your elbow is by your side, ‘closing’ your armpits, you end up using the smaller muscles in your hand/forearm to swim instead of your bigger arm/shoulder muscles.

By keeping your armpits open, you can ensure you are catching the water and using your biggest muscles to propel you forward. This results in more strength and stability to anchor your hand in the water, and propel your body forward with power using your biggest arm muscles 💪

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rmbjustize · Rock With You (Flip)

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💡COACH TIPS Arm Technique Dos and Don’ts - Pulling under your body

Picture this -

You’re climbing up a ladder 🪜 You’d naturally put your hands on the rung of each step, closer to your body, to help pull your body up as you climb.

Now imagine trying to climb a ladder but your arms are a foot outside the edge of the ladder. That’s the difference between pulling under your body, and pulling outside of your body.

While you’re pulling, the trick is to keep your hands inside the width of your shoulders, through the pull. If your hands travel outside your shoulders, your arms re no longer in a good position to maximize the leverage you can create. It’s like climbing a ladder with your hands far apart.

If your hands travel along the path directly beneath your shoulders, your arms and body will always be in the proper position in order to maximize the force that you can generate on the water. This allows you to hold on to more water and propel your body faster, while improving your overall performance.

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wuki · My Girl [Wukileak]

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💡COACH TIPS Arm Technique Dos and Don’ts - Full stroke

The finish of your stroke can really enhance, or be a detriment, to how well your overall stroke stays in sync - you can only create propulsion if your hand is still in the water. Keeping the length of your finish is important to maximize the power that you create 🚀

Your hand should accelerate past your hips to finish the stroke. Many of us rush this process resulting in little ability to increase our speed, which leads to a shorter stroke that uses more energy.

By staying patient and smoothly pulling through the water as you swim, you’ll have room to accelerate through the finish, which will feel like you’re surging your body forward with each finish of the stroke.

This will not only increase the power you generate, but will connect the finish of one stroke into the catch of the next, allowing you to hold your speed better 💨

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milan.mathew · Original audio

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💡COACH TIPS Arm Technique Dos and Don’ts - Hands in line with shoulders

The most effective ‘pull’ will follow the line of your shoulder with little deviation - this matters the most when your hand enters and you begin to anchor your hand in the water. Reaching forward in front of your shoulders, anchoring on the water and pulling through beneath your shoulder line will ensure that all of the force you exert onto the water will propel your body straight forward.

If you find yourself reaching across your body, then catching the water, your ‘pull’ will wiggle you from side to side as your hands cross your body over and over. This results in increased drag, decreasing how can you hard pull. This also can become an injury risk if you are swimming like this for a prolonged period of time - your smaller shoulder muscles won’t thank you for this.

Instead, as your hand enters the water, think about reaching your hand forward towards the end of the pool as your shoulder naturally rolls side to side. This will set up your stroke so that your hand is in the right position in relation to your shoulders and ensures that you’re using your biggest, strongest muscles to pull your way through the water.

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