How does one fix a catch-up stroke?

Triathlon Forum
1

I started working with a new swim coach last week (Emily Smith, Clermont) and she pointed out that I have a “catch-up” style stroke. Right now, she has me focusing on initiating the opposite arm catch as I visually see the fingertips of my recovering arm pass in front of my face. This works reasonably well but I have to slow down in order to do it (interesting aside: my 100m time only slows by ~2sec to 1:26 even though it feels much easier).

Any other drills I should be aware of? Thanks.

2

I think the most important thing to focus on while changing your stroke is that your hips and shoulders must stay “connected” so with this newer style, you will be rotating faster and it’s important to keep your hips rotating at this new speed.

Good luck, changing strokes is difficult but usually very beneficial

3

Thanks. That’s actually a bit tricky for me as it feels… unstable.

4

It will for awhile. I know when I get tired and “rush” my stroke, my arms will speed up to a point where my hips and legs cannot counter and I get off balance. That’s probably what you’re feeling, but with time you create new motor patterns and it feels more natural.

5

By catch up, I’m guessing you mean that there is a huge glide phase and the recovering arm is in the water by the time the pulling arm starts the catch?

Head up free is really hard to do if you glide/pause at the front of the stroke.

6

quite easy. pull back quicker once your hand enters the water. move your arms quicker in general.

7

Thanks!

8

I’m no great swimmer but I have lots of opinions. Here’s a few of mine that vaguely relate to your post :slight_smile:

  1. I don’t necessarily think a catch up stroke is bad, or need fixing.
  2. In swimming, particularly in tri’s, noone cares what your stroke looks like. They care about speed. If you think you are going too slow compared to your fitness, work on it, but if you are pretty happy with your speed, considering your fitness, how fresh you are coming out of the water etc, then worry about your bike.
  3. If you decide your stroke needs work, work on your technique. Of course, anything new will feel weird. If it feels weird, or if you get sore in new parts of your body (your shoulders) that’s a good thing, as it shows the targetted technique changes are actually happening.
    4.Over exaggerate your new technique in training. When you do the new stroke mechanics on your own, you will almost certainly gravitate some way back to your old ways, ending up somewhere in the middle which is probably where you should be.
  4. Long ‘catchup’ type strokes are actually very efficient, so regardless of what speed you are swimming, you will probably be going that speed for less effort/energy expenditure than anyone else going that speed.
  5. Swim styles are very fashion conscious. As soon as some guy breaks a world record, the swim coaches all think that is the best way for everyone to swim. They teach that method until someone comes along and breaks the record again. None of them ever seem to suspect that the new fast guy is on drugs, and not actually a better swimmer technique wise.

IF you do actually want to change your stroke, in the hope of faster or more efficient swimming, then look into biomechanics and physics, and then question your coach. I’ve run across coaches who could swim fast, and get students to swim faster, but had no idea why their method worked. I query all my coaches about why we do stuff. Thankfully I’m an engineer (thermo and hydro dynamics) with a keen interest in the WHY of everything. I’m also blessed with a good bullshit detector. Question your coach and question their answer as well. At the very least you will help them understand what they are doing, better.

9

Watch the “overglider” videos on swimsmooth.com. Good info.

10

Thanks, good stuff there.

11
  1. Long ‘catchup’ type strokes are actually very efficient, so regardless of what speed you are swimming, you will probably be going that speed for less effort/energy expenditure than anyone else going that speed.

I would think that a catchup style stroke would be inefficient as it would be like accelerating to 30mph on the bike and then coasting down to 20mph then reaccelerating to 30mph all in an effort to average 25mph. It would take less energy to just hold 25mph because of the exponential nature of fluid resistance.

12

catchup does not necessarily imply slowing down and re-accelerating as you mention. done badly you are right, done correctly, you’re not.

13

I think of catch up strokes as the fastest for distance, if done efficiently.
If we look back to our physics education, for a displacement hull moving through water (that’s what we are); the longer the hull, the higher the max hull speed.
One reason taller swimmers can be faster.
Have you seen ships with that bulb like extension on the bow?
That’s kinda what we are while we have our hands in front of our heads.

To the OP, if you are only slightly slower while making a big change to your stroke; you will probably be faster as you get used to it.

14

I’m not a naval architect, but read naval architecture magazines as often as I can (a colleague is a member of RINA) and go to naval architecture lectures from time to time.

It is great to hear that I’m not the only one that knows about bulbous bows, what they are for, and how we are similar to them when we swim.

Now if you’d mentioned Froude Numbers in your reply, I’d have wanted to have your babies. :slight_smile:

15

Only from a hip driven style swimmer. Must have a very efficient kick. I get what you are saying with bow but look to the Gary Hall Sr thread on when we are moving the fastest while swimming. Its not with our hand out in front. So consequently the longer its out there the more drag

16

Suggestion: Try putting a band on each workout. No pull buoy. Work on it. When you can do 500M non-stop in a relaxed fashion, your catch up will be as it should be. So will your pull. So will your high elbow. So will your body position.

17

Suggestion: Try putting a band on each workout. No pull buoy. Work on it. When you can do 500M non-stop in a relaxed fashion, your catch up will be as it should be. So will your pull. So will your high elbow. So will your body position.

O_o

That sounds absolutely exhausting. I can barely do 100m with a band before being completely out of air.

18

I guess it is a work in progress…

My tip is drag shorts. The dead spots appear much more when your drag increases.

19

Only from a hip driven style swimmer. Must have a very efficient kick. I get what you are saying with bow but look to the Gary Hall Sr thread on when we are moving the fastest while swimming. Its not with our hand out in front. So consequently the longer its out there the more drag

I think we need to be careful defining terms here. A true “catch-up” free has a phase where there is no propulsion coming from the arms, i.e. an extended glide phase. a catch-up free is always bad, and isn’t efficient, regardless of how strong your kick is. It isn’t that there is more drag, its that there is no propulsion.

What you see some of the better world class swimmers doing is better described as a front-quadrant free. There is no, or at least an extremely minimal, glide phase.

Front -quadrant is fine if you have a couple of things in your stroke. you need an efficient kick, and most importantly you need to be able to generate propulsion early in the stroke. Most of us don’t have the flexibility to pull that off.

20

thanks for the clarification
.