Dryland rehearsal

[Joern.pellum]

Hi, I am new poster to this forum, allthough I have being reading your varying threads and advices for a while (and with great pleasure).
I am from Denmark, 64 years old and began to learn freestyle a year ago using Terrys DVD. Also now a member of the Academy with acces many good videos and articles.
Yesterday I was searching on You Tube and found this
m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtkHLt3sCyVqPLpa-OFkZ5z1-ATYMOcxq
I think the videos are very illustrative, especially the swing switch ones, and especially how your scapula should move.
Maybe its just because I am a newie, but as I can see on the forum, I am not the only one.
Hope some of you can use it.

[CoachStuartMcDougal]

Hi Joern,

First, welcome to the forum and happy to hear you've discovered Total Immersion (and the Academy too)! Pleae join in, engage - review, ask questions and comment frequently.

Good find on those videos! Actually I thought I had set these Drill/Rehearsal videos to private since they're provided to students post workshop or private lesson. But since you found them, I'll leave them available to help you and others understand, feel, and see positions in the more familar vertical terra firma position us humans are accustomed to. Dryland rehearsals are cirtical to improvement and imprinting - feeling positions in our more familar environment. Practice each daily, just for a few minutes - it will pay off huge in the pool.

Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse!

Stuart
MindBodyAndSWIM

[CoachHeikoStribl]

Hi Joern,
welcome to TI.... doing the dry drills will also help you develop you understanding of Total Immersion. Why? Well I can guarantee you that whoever watches you do them, will ask:"whats that you are doing?" This will get you in the explanation modus...
In DK there is quite a popular TI following, also under http://www.totalimmersion.dk
Enjoy
Heiko

[CharlesCouturier]

Thanks for bringing this to everyone's attention.

I think it's hard to realize how important the content of the material exposed in these clips is. She really really press the right buttons. People do move wrongly, in general. Most flaws result in either sinking, twisting (breaking the frontal axis), etc...

And what's striking (and sometimes discouraging), is that more often than not, pull someone off the water and get her/him to try a similar gesture as the one being faulty in the water, and you see the exact flaw outside the water. Mostly postural. There's so much work that can be achieved in front of a mirror, or recording yourself / playback etc. And the way Mandy is exposing the material is serious business.

[Joern.pellum]

Many thanks for your reply. In fact I find it hard to make dryland exercises because of shoulderproblems (impingement), but luckily I do better in the water. The vidoes show to me very good how to move the shoulder properly.

[CharlesCouturier]

Originally Posted by Joern.pellum

Many thanks for your reply. In fact I find it hard to make dryland exercises because of shoulderproblems (impingement), but luckily I do better in the water. The vidoes show to me very good how to move the shoulder properly.

Sorry, I missed this reply.

Well, I don't know what to say.

1. There's a very important trick in this series of clips, and I don't think it's possible to integrate it without practice. It's easy to believe that understanding the principle be enough, but based on my experience it is not. I'll come back to this important trick later.

2. I do personally formalize dryland work, or dryswim as I call it. I mean people pay for working 60min in front of a mirror. And I tend to make more efforts trying to convince those with shoulder issues to commit. The reason being that I want to teach them 2 tricks really, 1 of them being very well explained in Mandy's excellent clips.

Now the trick I am referring too here, is that when swimming the freestyle, during the recovery, the arm doesn't actually rotate, like the impression that we have looking at a human swimming the freestyle. The recovery can and should be done as a very simple lateral elevation. Mandy pushes the concept even further by insisting that the action be done in front of your ears (thus ensuring that your not "pulling" back whilst recovering).

You could be an exception, there are exceptions to most rules. But when practiced this way, I can't see how it could aggravate your shoulder issue.

Here. I am referring to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx6Yu9yXSVc

Like I said, pretty much anyone reading this post would be tempted to believe that understanding this is enough. Based on experience it's not. Most monkeys tend to pull back, squeeze their shoulder by doing so, and it seems hard to change without thoughtful practice.

[Joern.pellum]

Thanks for your reply. Because of shoulder problems I've had to pause with swimming about a month. After a blockade it's better, so I can swim again, and I am also able to make mandys exercises. You are absolutely right in that it is important to avoid internal rotation of the shoulder joint, as it decreases the subacromial space, thus worsening impingement.

[Talvi]

Great videos Stuart, thanks for making them available.

Two questions for other posters though:

Originally Posted by CharlesCouturier

... Most monkeys tend to pull back, squeeze their shoulder by doing so, and it seems hard to change without thoughtful practice.

What?!?

Can you expand Charles (and thanks for picking out that video - REALLY helpful)

Originally Posted by Joern.pellum

... it is important to avoid internal rotation of the shoulder joint, as it decreases the subacromial space, thus worsening impingement.

What?!?

Can you expand. It sounds like valuable information.

[Joern.pellum]

Answer to Talvi.

I'll try to explain it as well as I can. My background is, that I am a general practitioner.
Impingement occurs for example when the upper arm bone (humerus) collides against the shoulder cap.
When this happens, you may feel a shoort intense pain, and if it happens frequently the pain might get more permanent due to inflamation of a bursa, which lies just above the upper arm bone(subacromial bursa). Impingement occurs particularly if the space between the humerus and the shoulder cap is reduced. It frequently happens when you get older due to arthritis in the joint between the clavicle and scapula.
When you rotate your shoulder inward in an elevated position you will reduce the space between the humerus and the shoulder cap due to tightening of ligaments and rotator cuff muscles. This utilizes the doctor at the so-called Hawkins test, when he must demonstrate impingement.

http://youtu.be/OYK5qL2om-c

By EVF inwardly rotation is intense in the shoulder joint, and I think definitely the older generation should stay away from that. Impingement can occur for other reasons too. Damage to the rotator cuff muscles may cause instability in the shoulder joint and thus increases the risk for kollision with the shoulder roof. These injuries is detected quite easily by a clinical examination, supplemented if necessary with MR imaging.

[Danny]

Originally Posted by Joern.pellum

Answer to Talvi.

I'll try to explain it as well as I can. My background is, that I am a general practitioner.
Impingement occurs for example when the upper arm bone (humerus) collides against the shoulder cap.
When this happens, you may feel a shoort intense pain, and if it happens frequently the pain might get more permanent due to inflamation of a bursa, which lies just above the upper arm bone(subacromial bursa). Impingement occurs particularly if the space between the humerus and the shoulder cap is reduced. It frequently happens when you get older due to arthritis in the joint between the clavicle and scapula.
When you rotate your shoulder inward in an elevated position you will reduce the space between the humerus and the shoulder cap due to tightening of ligaments and rotator cuff muscles. This utilizes the doctor at the so-called Hawkins test, when he must demonstrate impingement.

http://youtu.be/OYK5qL2om-c

By EVF inwardly rotation is intense in the shoulder joint, and I think definitely the older generation should stay away from that. Impingement can occur for other reasons too. Damage to the rotator cuff muscles may cause instability in the shoulder joint and thus increases the risk for kollision with the shoulder roof. These injuries is detected quite easily by a clinical examination, supplemented if necessary with MR imaging.

The video above is very helpful. However, in swimming, I think the arm position is a little different, especially for EVF. To do this, you would not position the arm as in the video. Instead you would position the arm vertically over your head and try to create a right angle with the elbow so that the forearm comes out perpendicular to the plane going through your torso, parallel to your shoulders. The fact that most of us can't do this is alone enough to indicate it is bad for the shoulder, but there are some elite athletes who are able to do it quite well, for example the former East German swimmer Kornelia Ender.