I spend some time just swimming and playing games in the pool this week-end with my kids. It has taken a couple of months but I could not swim with straight arms if I tried. But what I have noticed is just how much faster I swim and especially in terms of acceleration. Granted my arms are also a lot stronger now. But with high elbows you are just so much faster for short burst.
I kind of feel like superman. I have a family of fish. My wife and kids competitively swam. Me being the only one that did not. But I am bigger and stronger than all of them. I can now chase them all down. I doubt it will last as my kids get older.
But I am curious why did I swim with straight arms? With no training why did I go in that direction. It just seemed right? That is what I thought others were doing so emulated?
Not sure if you are saying you originally swam straight armed, or you now swim straight armed?
For whatever reason, straight arms are being used successfully by freestyle sprinters.
It’s the way I started because I didn’t know any better and assumed it was the way to swim (until I was taught). One thing it does for you as a beginning swimmer is that it adds a lot of lift at the beginning of the stroke (when arm is travelling straight down). This lift helps you lift your head for sighting/breathing. I think it’s natural because it helps you fight to keep your head high which beginners do when not comfortable putting the head down.
If you picked up swimming as an adult and have a long history in other sports that have arm motions that in swimming would be considered ‘straight arm’ (15-20 years of classic XC skiing, for example), then the straighter arm movements in swimming are what you’ll gravitate to - at least that’s how it’s worked out for me. It’s taking months of stroke-by-stroke concentrated focus to break a variety of movement patterns that have their origins in my skiing.
Originally I was a straight arm. I was just thinking why did I swim that way. I am sure a big part of it was keeping my face up and straight arm pushed up my face and I felt it kept me alive. Also from all other sports from throwing a ball etc, is straight arm. The two reasons stated here.
It has taken me about three months to change but it is totally changed now. Could never go back
Originally I was a straight arm. I was just thinking why did I swim that way. I am sure a big part of it was keeping my face up and straight arm pushed up my face and I felt it kept me alive. Also from all other sports from throwing a ball etc, is straight arm.
What sport (Other than maybe the bowler in cricket, or fast pitch softball) do you throw with a straight arm?
Originally I was a straight arm. I was just thinking why did I swim that way. I am sure a big part of it was keeping my face up and straight arm pushed up my face and I felt it kept me alive. Also from all other sports from throwing a ball etc, is straight arm.
What sport (Other than maybe the bowler in cricket, or fast pitch softball) do you throw with a straight arm?
man people do all sorts of crazy crap when swimming, there is no sense or reason for it. you get in the water, you try to tell your body to do what you think you saw phelps do, and different things happen.
you are probably still doing it almost entirely wrong =)
man people do all sorts of crazy crap when swimming, there is no sense or reason for it. you get in the water, you try to tell your body to do what you think you saw phelps do, and different things happen.
you are probably still doing it almost entirely wrong =)
Not sure what you meant to imply by this, but it made me think of the fact that Phelps is now converting his freestyle to a straight arm technique…presummably with a change in focus to sprints.
no, didn’t mean to imply that, i just used phelps as an example of a good pro swimmer that one might try to emulate.
man people do all sorts of crazy crap when swimming, there is no sense or reason for it. you get in the water, you try to tell your body to do what you think you saw phelps do, and different things happen.
you are probably still doing it almost entirely wrong =)
Not sure what you meant to imply by this, but it made me think of the fact that Phelps is now converting his freestyle to a straight arm technique…presummably with a change in focus to sprints.
Michael Klim was the first competitive swimmer that I can remember racing straight armed freestyle. Of course I’m probably just showing my age. I’m sure many swimmers who did it long before Lumpy.
He used to race “normally” but when he started training with Gennadi Touretski (Popov’s coach) he started experimenting with a straight armed technique and used it to win the 200 free at 1998 world champs and break the 100m free WR in 2000.
Like others have mentioned, it’s a tough technique and requires a serious windmill action and for you to be really over the top of your stroke. Lumpy used it for 200’s but of the top of my head (its very early in the morning) I can’t think of anyone else who has used it for anything longer than 100.
Janet Evans, arguably one of the greatest swimmers ever, swam with very straight arms and a high turnover in the late 80´s.’
She won several Olympic golds and still hold a world record if I´m not mistaken…
Janet Evans, arguably one of the greatest swimmers ever, swam with very straight arms and a high turnover in the late 80´s.’
She won several Olympic golds and still hold a world record if I´m not mistaken…
She swam with a straight arm recovery, underwater was still the same as everyone else.
Is this “straight arm technique” that everyone’s talking about above water only, or straight the whole way around? I’m confused.
I did consider Janet but thought that she was only straight with her one “slappy” arm. I’ve gone to the video ref and you are correct. She does pretty much swim straight arm freestyle.
evans stroke is absolutely horrible, bad recovery and ridiculously high head. i sight out of the water lower than she breathes. straight arm freestyle doesnt work for most people and especially distance swimmers.
people love “new” things because their refreshingly different, not because their better.
Sorry looks do not count, performance does. If her stroke was really that bad, then any good coach should be able improve it and beat her. (or her own coach for more wr records). Also what you see out of the water does not count.
Janet Evans, arguably one of the greatest swimmers ever, swam with very straight arms and a high turnover in the late 80´s.’
She won several Olympic golds and still hold a world record if I´m not mistaken…
Janet only swam with one straight arm (her right). She took normal strokes with her left then whipped that right around quick and fast. One of her assistant olympic coaches was my club team coach as a kid and would lose his mind when we broke form. One of things where you cringe when you see it, but if it works for her, what are you going to do?
her coaches tried to correct her but she got slower.
girls in general have worse strokes than guys do. im guessing the stroke differences are based on strength and the ability to float.
when i teach people how to to get fast, i never use evans as an example because shes so far from the norm in terms of good swimming.
i never said anything about the catch, so i dont know why ppl are so quick to jump on me. we’re all talking about the straight arm recovery, which in my experience in teaching people and trying myself is a horrible failure that just wastes energy in the type of swimming, we as triathletes do.
its just like using rotary freestyle vs front quantrant. for our purposes theres absolutely no reason to do rotary freestyle or a 6 beat kick.
Before I try to answer your question of “how did straight arms swimming get started” I just want to say that coaches in general but especially swimming coaches are notorious for teaching you the correct “technique” today and then 3-5 years later telling you that this is wrong and there’s a new technique that is “better.”
Flick your hand as it comes out of the water. No, don’t do that, it’s inefficient. Recover with high elbows, no don’t do that straight arms are more efficient. Pull in an ‘S’ motion, no don’t do that a straight pull is “stronger.” Bricks are important, no bricks are a waste of time. Woops, wrong sport ;^)
In my opinion, straight arm swimming got started with surfers. It’s easier on their shoulders, more efficient, and they’ve been doing it for years. So my guess is that “really smart coaches” are looking at this and saying that this is the best way. And it will be, until it no longer is.
