Swimming - How to develop an Effective Catch

These TI coaches are awesome. Thanks to Shinji (TIJapan), Gadi (TIIsrael).

Pull can be exhausting ... if the catch is not right... following is a catch using minimal
energy... repetitive practice of catch is going to payoff impressively in developing
a good technique... Snorkel is probably your best friend in keeping a balanced streamlined
body position while practicing this catch drill.

Happy Catching !

Want to practice Splashless, bubbleless smooth Freestyle... Learn from Shinji

Below is a compiled list of tips and advice from Youtube given by this incredible
Swimmer/Coach paramount in improving your swimming technique to next level.
Shinji has also responded to several questions (noted below in italics) asked by
freestyle learners. Enjoy !

"I do not pursue swimming faster for freestyle (I race breaststroke and IM) and my motto for freestyle is "The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection". I have at least 13 sensors built and they tell me if something is wrong. I still practice splash-less, bubble-less hand entry which only Terry can accomplish.

Sensors:Hips for balance, top of the head for axis to roll, shoulders to avoid over-rotation, elbows for recovery and position, fingers for entry, knees for snapping legs, heels for the same.

When you kick correctly, it does not matter 2 or 6 beat kick. Everything is not easy to master. You back should always be flat to reduce drag. Leveling your pelvis might work to get your back flat. Kicking does not matter for the first phase of learning freestyle.

1) When you skate (please refer TI drills), stop your kick and snap the bottom side of your legs and roll your hips. It will tell how to coordinate your snap with the hip roll.
2) I breathe every 2 or 3 stroke. At 1:14, you can see I am breathing every 3 stroke.

If you mean high elbows for recovery, it is important not to engage the shoulder muscle, but to use shoulder blades.

After snapping your leg, try to extend it just beneath the surface. It will put another leg in lower position so that you can snap the correct side.

(Kick)It does not have the effect directly, but it helps to roll my hips and twist my torso, which creates "spear-motion" with propulsion.

(How deep does your hand go under water when in the pull-through phase of the stroke? I think I am reaching too deep and encountering more resistance.)

My elbow is lower than my shoulder, and my hand is lower than my elbow, and my fingers are lower than my palm. I try to keep this relation during the pull phase.

(I wonder if you could say a bit more about the hand entry. The Easy Freestyle DVD teaches hand entry at an angle, but the videos I've seen of Terry swimming in open water, his hand entry seems to be more like yours and also entering the water beyond the elbow of the other hand. I'm just a bit confused as to which I should practice and why - angled entry or more parallel to the water?)

The best position would be the elbow line. But the height of the elbow is more important. If you keep your elbow high during recovery, you can utilize the potential energy into momentum. I try to keep my elbow high and it sometimes makes my entry points further.

I pull my arm "forward" instead "up". After that, I stretch shoulder blade instead using shoulder muscle. Yes, I "swing" my forearm before the entry.

Hip rotation is coordinated with twisting torso and hand extension. And the hip rotation is triggered by snapping legs. So the power is conveyed from back to forward.

(I've got one question about "kicking". In Terry's book of Total Immersion, it said that "You don't really have to 'kick'. You just stop kicking (pause), and your left leg will kick automatically with your right-arm extension (and vice versa) as a natural balance just like when you are walking." But I didn't find "automatic kicking" in my practice.)

I think that kind of phenomenon will happen if you get balanced well. If you are not balanced, you will sink when you stop kicking. To release your head in the water and swim downward will be the first step to reduce your kick.

(Shinji's advise on using Kick boards)

Hey, kicking practice with kick boards is every sinker's problem. I think the way of kicking is different from freestyle. As long as you want to swim freestyle, it might be better to practice without them.

The most common Kaizen(opportunity of improvement) point about breathing is your head position. When you enter and spear your hand into the water, you tend to put your head together with your hand and that makes your head position lower. You always want to keep your head position beneath the surface even you do "angled" hand entry. To press the water by your chest instead of your head might work, too.

It is natural that the number of strokes increases when you increase your tempo. The goal to swim is not to swim with fewer strokes, but to swim comfortably with your moderate number. I can swim 25m with 9 or even 8 strokes (2 beat kicking and no underwater kick after push off), but my comfortable number is 11 with 1.2 sec tempo. Know your comfortable number and tempo first. Then try to reduce the number or increase the tempo with the same number to improve your skills.

As long as your kick does not consume more energy than that used for propulsion, you can swim with ease. Try to narrow amplitude of you r kick by 30% once you feel balanced by releasing your head in the water.

Kicking above the surface of water tends to occur if your recovery takes too much time so legs have to wait somewhere. As kobac mentions, over rotation is one of reasons for slow recovery. I recommend to use Tempo Trainer to solve the problem. Try to use 1.4 sec per stroke and reduce the tempo by 0.02 to find your best tempo.

The reason I can breathe with my head submerged is I create "bow wave" and it makes the surface of the water lower. The depth of the wave is relative to the submerged area and speed. If you submerge your head and you get enough acceleration before rolling your head, you can get enough space to breathe. I do not intend to do "Popeye" mouth, but my video looks I do it.

Since extending your arm is part of creating propulsion, it is better to do so. But if you have any problems, just focus on acceleration of hand entry (after your hand enter the water).

How do you sink during recovery? If your legs sink, your body is not balanced because you do not get enough propulsion from your pulling. Try to submerge your head to get balanced. If your extend arm sinks, you lose your buoyancy. Try to minimize your exhalation during recovery.

Thanks. It is common to teach straight arm recovery (with catch-up timing) to beginners. But TI teaches high elbow recovery because; 1) straight arm recovery makes you sink more, 2) high elbow recovery is easier for your shoulder, 3)the entry point can be closer to you with high elbow recovery. "

Special Thanks to Shinji !

Alexander Popov Technique

Watch Alexandar Popov's technique the champion of all times.



Someone said "Alexander is a Swim God in Action" ... cant be less well said !



"The Roll over drill"

Cant focus on Kicking enough ! Check this drill ....

Kicking and timing of kicking can be the trickiest elements of swimming... this drill
from GoSWIM TV can prove helpful to you as it has done to me...

Some comments made on this blog are quite important.

Kudos to Goswim & commentators !

"Hopefully the experiment will show the swimmer that a downkick with the right leg/foot early in the arm cycle of the right arm will generate maximum power. That timing of the kick augments the body rotation/snap to the opposite side which is how power is generated. The down kick of the right leg forces the right hip up which is the movement that gets the swimmer onto the left side which is the power generating movement.

The same with the other side. A down kick with the left leg/foot early in the arm cycle of the left arm assists in the body rotation back to the right side. While the body is rotating to the opposite side, the high elbow arm configuraion of the pulling arm is connected to the rotating body to provide the power to move the body forward through the water."

"Kick timing is indeed very important and a somewhat neglected subject (as is kick positioning); fine-tuning of the kick has an enormous effect on balance, streamline and, consequently, speed."

Enjoy !

How Swim Fins Help Your Swimming

Training with Fins - About.com

Swimming with Fins - How Swim Fins Help Your Swimming

Do You Call Them Fins Or Flippers?


"Among the things that you can gain by using fins is improved ankle flexibility from the extra force the fins place on your ankle as you kick. Increased ankle flexibility will result in a more efficient flutter kick through better angles of attack on the water.

One of the greatest benefits of using fins is the ease of holding a better body position. This allows you to focus on other parts of your technique, such as body roll or timing. You should add fins to your workout kit, along with the rest of your swimming toys and tools. They have a lot to offer to make you a faster swimmer! Let me know if you give them a try. "

Freestyle - Balanced Kick

Freestyle - Open-Water Breathing