|
|
Not displaying properly? Read in your browser here.
|
|
Upcoming Swim Smooth Clinics / One to One Consultations:
Richmond SS Squad
Full information here
Cardiff Video Analysis
Full information here
Mallorca Camp
October
Full information here
New Forest & Malborough Clinics
August & September
Full information here
Prague Kids Swim Camps
Enjoy Prague this August whilst your kids improve their swimming!
Full information here
New Lancaster SS Squad
Full information here
Lancaster UK, Video
Analysis Consultations
Full information here
Loughborough SS Squad
Full information here
Richmond & Wimbledon Sunday Workshops
Full information here
Acton UK, Video
Analysis Consultations
Full information here
Swim/Tri Camps Alicante
All Year
Full information: here
For more
info on SS Certified Coaches see here |
** New HUUB wetsuit stock arrived! All sizes now in: swimsmooth.com/huub **
One
of the most common emails we get at Swim Smooth is from swimmers
wondering how much rotation (also called "body roll") they should have
in their stroke. There certainly is a lot of confusion out there about
this and there has been some wildly differing opinions from coaches over
the years:
- In the 1990s a movement started telling swimmers to
rotate to 90° on their side every stroke to "swim like a fish" and to
remain in this position for as long as possible between strokes.
Although this has now been recognised as too much
rotation, you can still find this advice given in books and DVDs today.
-
Other coaches have instructed swimmers to rotate as little as possible.
In fact one of our swimmers in our squads in Perth tells how she learnt
to swim freestyle with the Red Cross in the 1960s and the instructor
would walk alongside the pool with a stick and rap her over the head if
she didn't swim completely flat!
What's the right amount of
rotation? Let's answer this question by looking at some footage of elite
swimmers. Here's double Olympic Gold Medallist Rebecca Adlington at the
point of maximum rotation in her stroke (you can click the images to
expand):
You
can see how she's rotating to about 45 degrees; from a side angle you
can see that she's doing this from both her shoulders and hips, she's
not twisting through the core:
There
are some quite technical debates in swim coaching about whether the
hips stay a little flatter than the shoulders but if you think about stretching tall through your core and rotating your whole body (including your legs) this will give you the right outcome for distance swimming.
Rotation
is an important part of your stroke technique as it allows you to
develop a high elbow catch like Rebecca's while engaging the large
muscles of the back and core to power the stroke. Good rotation also
reduces the forces through the
shoulder joint (lowering the risk of injury) and allows the arms to
recover easily over the surface.
Nearly every swimmer rotates a little more when they breathe, even Rebecca:
The
fact that breathing tends to drive rotation in the stroke is the main
reason why we recommend you breathe to both sides regularly. Swimmers
who only breathe to one side tend to have poor rotation on the
non-breathing side and the simplest way you can correct this is to
introduce breathing to your bad side.
However, be very wary of
over-rotating
when breathing. This swimmer has rotated fully onto his side as he
takes a breath, causing him to scissor kick his legs apart to stabilise
himself:
Does
the amount of rotation depend on your stroke style? Sometimes but not
as much as you might expect. Here's 7 time World Marathon Swimming
Champion Shelley Taylor Smith displaying the shorter punchier 'Swinger' stroke style used by many elite open water swimmers and
triathletes:
Above
the water Shelley doesn't appear to rotate that much with the
recovering arm swinging around the side (top photo) but this is
deceptive. Below the water we can see that in fact she's rotating nicely
to 45 degrees on every stroke.
Your
Rotation
How much rotation should you aim for? We recommend
something in the 45-60° range. Obviously you can't swim with a
protractor to check (!), so how can you tell? Ask a friend to film you
with your phone and watch the clip back carefully or get some feedback
from an experienced coach. If you are worried about your rotation,
consider investing in a Finis Tech Toc which will give you live feedback on your rotation on every stroke as you swim.
Developing Better Rotation
Besides bilateral breathing, we recommend side-lying exercises such as our kick-on-side and 6-1-6 drills with fins to help you improve your rotation:
During
these drills you rotate to nearly 90° which is too much for the full
stroke but by performing the drill and then breaking into
full-freestyle, the right amount of rotation should transfer nicely into
your stroke:
Even if you feel that you over-rotate when you swim
these side-kicking drills are useful because they teach you to become
aware of and control your rotation. The improved stability and posture
you will feel will mean you are less likely to over-rotate in your full
stroke.
A couple of additional points:
- If you have low
lying
legs in the water you will find rotation hard to develop. To bring the
legs up, work on your exhalation technique to rid your lungs of excess
buoyancy and work on improving your kicking technique (see next week's
blog). Then you should find it much easier to roll from one side to the
other.
- If you only breathe to one side in your stroke, focus on
your rotation to the other side. A good visualisation to try is to
think about rotating your hip out of the way before the hand gets there.
More on that here.
Swim Smooth! |
| Something to add or have a question? Reply to this post here. |
|
|
Swim Smooth, 12 Davies Road, Claremont Swimming Pool, Davies Road, Claremont, WA 6010, AUSTRALIA
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment