I have a pretty big problem with my left arm crossing over on hand-entry - anyone know which specific drill best addresses this particular issue?
there is no one right hand position for entry but in general an entry at 11 AM and 1 PM seems to work for many - try what I call the Super man drill - so you put your hands in at 10 AM and 2 PM on the clock and that will feel really weird and eventually you hands will settle at the 11 and 1 position.
I have a pretty big problem with my left arm crossing over on hand-entry - anyone know which specific drill best addresses this particular issue?
10 and 2 as Graham mentioned.
Zipper drill, drag your thumb up your side to your armpit before reaching out. Keeps your elbow high, and much harder to cross over
Swim with your head out of the water, or as an alternative, put a kickboard on your chest, below your chin. Keep your stroke outside the borders of the kickboard. (Plus, if you are fishtailing around because of the crossover, you can’t keep the kickboard under you.)
John
Try catch-up drill while holding a kickboard or pull bouy in front of you. Start with both hands holding the board and the bottom, then pull with your left arm, grab the board, pull with your right arm, grab the board, and so on…
Another is to drag your thumb down the centerline of your body on the pull.
Try catch-up drill while holding a kickboard or pull bouy in front of you. Start with both hands holding the board and the bottom, then pull with your left arm, grab the board, pull with your right arm, grab the board, and so on…
Another is to drag your thumb down the centerline of your body on the pull.
How would that help prevent crossing over on the entry, other than reducing even further any catch the OP has?
John
Is your left side your breathing side? If so, a couple things which may help…are you exhaling completely under water so as not to make an exaggerated rotation to your left side? Also, in the process of getting a breath, you might be reaching upward/outward from the moment your hand leaves the water to get a “feeling” of leverage. If so, focus on letting your forearm drop vertically as soon as it’s out of the water.
Another suggestion is to switch breathing sides and have someone look to see if you then go wide with the other arm.
I had this problem, what helped me was swimming down the center of the lane, obviously have to do this drill when you are swimming solo in the lane, and make sure your arms never cross the center line on the bottom of the pool. this, combined with the zipper drill mentioned above fixed me right up.
I occasionally do a drill where I try to point my hands toward the far corners of my lane while I swim. It feels weird, but should help you.
Also, head-up swimming is good. I swim 4 strokes head down, then lift my face out of the water for 4 strokes (like sighting in OW, but for more than just a quick glance). This is great for showing you where your hands enter. Also good for working on your catch, as you have to catch like a mo-fo to keep yourself from drowning on this one.
Thanks a lot guys - all very helpful tips. I do a lot of drills that help rotation and pull but never knew what to do for hand-entry. I will give these ones a shot tomorrow morning! 25-minute HIM swim here I come…
Zipper drill as described by Devlin is good. You can progress from that to what we used to call finger drag drill (very similar to zipper).
With your recovery make sure your fingertips are pointing straight down and drag them along the surface of the water.
In general, if you keep your finger tips pointing forward / down / back throughout your stroke (ie. not pointing to either side (except the very first part of your recovery)) you’ll find it hard / impossible to cross your centre line.
I had this problem, what helped me was swimming down the center of the lane, obviously have to do this drill when you are swimming solo in the lane, and make sure your arms never cross the center line on the bottom of the pool.
I dropped 5s/100 as soon as I started doing this.