Met a guy at the pool the other day who is a pretty amazing swimmer - swam Division 1 and does some coaching on the side. Got to talking about technique and he teaches a thumb-first entry, also a stroke where your arms mirror each other so that one arm leaves the water to start recovery while the other begins to pull.
I am coming off of some shoulder problems so I tried it - it does seem to help a bit since there is less resistance/less stress on my shoulder at the start of my pull with my hand turned out and it shifted more weight up front so I wasn’t sinking as much. But I have also heard that a thumb-first entry actually causes shoulder problems and I have never heard of this type of timing for your stroke. It seems to work pretty well for him, though - any one else swim like this?
It’s generally called ‘kayak style’ freestyle when your arms are always opposite each other. One of those things that works well for some elite fish (see Janet Evans, Brooke Bennett, Michael Klim) and non-elite fish but isn’t necessarily for everyone.
But it’s good to experiment because everyone’s optimal freestyle technique is slightly to very different from anyone else’s freestyle technique.
When I was growing up, we were always taught thumb first hand entry- get right to business with the catch and all. I can’t say there was any higher incidence of shoulder injuries than usual on my teams. My take on it is that it’s not the thumb first entry itself that causes problems, but that there are some other biomechanical things that are somewhat more likely to go on if you enter thumb first, and that’s where the shoulder probelm associattion comes in. (Kevin can explain better than I could there)
The bottom line is what ever entry you use you need to be able to quickly catch the water and get into a high elbow position out in front of your body. If he can teach you the techniqe required to swim fast and you have decent feel for the water, you’ll eventually setle into a rhythm that suits you.
If your thumb is entering the water first, chances are you have shoulder in a position of Internal Rotation. This position of Internal Rotation will eventually cause some serious problems as the rotator cuff tendons become entrapped under the acromion process and the greater tubercle of the humerous.
The almost “catchup” way of swimming goes by lots of names, including, TI, front quadrant, RIGHT, etc.
The reason it works is because we are faster through the water when we are longer. The longer we stay long, the longer we stay fast. Froude, and English Naval ARchitect from aobut 1840 or so, figure this out. “Froude Numbers” are still used to determine the speed of boats that haven’t been built yet. It’s why racing shells (rowing boats) are long and narrow, rather than barge like.
To prove this to yourself, do this test.
Dive into the pool, with your arms at your sides. (No kicking) See how far you coast.
Dive into the pool in a tight streamlined position (No kicking) See how far you coast.
Assuming you push off the wall with the same power, you will travel much faster when streamlined.
If you stay as streamlined as possible, for as much of your swim stroke as possible, you will swim faster (assuming same power output of course.)
Not always true. Some portion of the general population will see problems by doing a thumb first entry, but that is often the result of just their physiology. Most can do it, provided they maintain a balanced shoulder i.e.: ensure that all shoulder muscles are equal, none overworked and none underworked. Lots of swimmers do additional shoulder weights (including specific rotator cuff exercises) to help keep that muscular balance.
Hey…why take a chance to see if your ‘one’ of the people that can swim with a thumb first entry? Besides, thumb first entry is way “old school”.
Now we teach a finger tip entry. It puts the shoulder and the hand in the optimal position for (1) a good catch and (2) to prevent shoulder injuries. It just makses good sense.
In the 70’s we were taught the thumb 1st entry because we were also taught to pull underwater with a pronounced “S” shape pattern. Also very old school. Don’t get me wrong. Plenty 'o dudes went very fast swimming that way, and many still could. We just now know there are better ways to swim.