Lookin to improve my stroke in the water. A coach observed that I am “dropping” my elbow when entering the water. He suggests to practice “fist drills”. Man, those hurt! Anybody els can share any insight into the dropped elbow syndrome?
thanks,
rock
Why do fist drills hurt? Enquiring minds want to know.
Can you provide a reference to the drill technique? I am not sure what part of the stroke you are refering to. Thanks.
Welcome to my world brother!
I have just mastered this (or got a lot better at it). The key for me was working out how long to glide on entry, and when to start moving the hand/forearm down. The secret turned out to be keeping the elbow really high, and starting the stroke with that agressive hand/arm movement, and only moving the elbow/upper arm when the hand/forearm was nearly vertical. So you need to practice keeping your elbow near the surface of the water while your ‘paddle’ does the work of moving you forwards.
Good luck.
so happy to here there is another brother who has been there! I spent 2 hours in the water at IM WI last year and will be damned if that happens again.
I think correcting the “dropping elbow” might be critical in improving my speed? I must really be weak in the upper body, shoulder, chest area. Will conti nur to work on it.
Where are you getting your drills?
thanks,
rock
dropping your elbow refers to pulling straight back with your elbow. upon entry and catch you want to have your hand stay below your elbow. Think of pulling water with your hand and forearm.
To duplicate more or less the proper position lay your arm over a counter, with the top at shoulder height then drop your hand down. Thats your high elbow. you’d pull through from here keeping the hand below the elbow.
sorry for the lenght of the post
sorry, the other thing is if you put your arm up next to your head as you are standing, and keeping your upper arm next to your ear, try to bend your forearm down until it is in front of your face, you will notice that there is a tension in your shoulder (probably), and your elbow wants to move outwards. This means you need more shoulder flexibility, because basically that is what you are wanting your elbows/arms/shoulders to do in the water, ie, elbow high, upper arm still, lower arm sweeping. You need to be able to hold this position to stop your elbow dropping. So for me it has been a three part thing…
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flexibility
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drills
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frequency (4* per week)
The stretches I reckon you need are all pretty standard shoulder ones, the only other one that has worked for me is a yoga pose (don’t know the official name) but kneel down in front of a low table and put your elbows on the table in a prayer position and stick your hands together pointing up. Now drop your head down between your upper arms just shy of the edge of the table and hold your head there until you can’t take it any more. Repeat.
Masters has helped me hugely.
cheers
I’ve just been getting better at this. I’ve found that if I concentrate on tipping down my hand (as I reach the end of my reach, underwater), THEN my forearm (trying to achieve vertical forearm), as I twist my hips, it happens smoothly and my stroke length goes way up. The hard part is getting this to happen every time, since I did it differently for SO LONG.