Video : Need help to improve

[pgabus]

Hi,
here is a video of my actual TI Freestyle :
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8439427/free.MOV

I started my TI journey 18 months ago, the length of the pool is 25m, I set my TT @1.35, my SPL is 16 (sometimes is 15). If you have some advices to give, I would be very happy.

Thanks,
Pascal
PS : Sorry for my poor english !

[daveblt]

Looks great ! The only thing I see is your head may be a bit high .Otherwise nice and smooth !

Dave

[boken]

Hi Pascal. You look very smooth and comfortable in your stroke. One thing I can see is that it appears that you begin your pull phase a bit too early. Like at second 6 in the video your left (pulling) elbow has pulled to mid ribcage before your right spearing arm is even completely in the water. I think your spearing arm should be further into the spear by that point. You might experiment with delaying your pull just a bit and see if that helps.

[daveblt]

Originally Posted by boken

Hi Pascal. You look very smooth and comfortable in your stroke. One thing I can see is that it appears that you begin your pull phase a bit too early. Like at second 6 in the video your left (pulling) elbow has pulled to mid ribcage before your right spearing arm is even completely in the water. I think your spearing arm should be further into the spear by that point. You might experiment with delaying your pull just a bit and see if that helps.

I see the left arm pulling just a slight bit before the right arm pulls . Is it pulling too early though ? In my opinion I don't really think it is .


Dave

[rbs24h]

Originally Posted by boken

Hi Pascal. You look very smooth and comfortable in your stroke. One thing I can see is that it appears that you begin your pull phase a bit too early. Like at second 6 in the video your left (pulling) elbow has pulled to mid ribcage before your right spearing arm is even completely in the water. I think your spearing arm should be further into the spear by that point. You might experiment with delaying your pull just a bit and see if that helps.

In theory, what is gained by pulling later? Thanks.

[CoachPaulB]

Originally Posted by rbs24h

In theory, what is gained by pulling later? Thanks.

One of the fundamental concepts that TI teaches us is the importance of fore/aft balance. The recovery arm and hand need to be forward of the head while maintaining the spear/skate position. This in turn transfers weight of both arms in front of lungs and fore aft balance is attained. Pulling too early initiates unwanted side effects (no pun intended) one of which is the lead side of the body actually starts to fall due to effects of gravity. This in turn starts the legs to splay because the brain is saying "help"- compensate the front quadrant...it lost its support and needs to be counteracted. Finally the swimmer is going to be forced at some point to lift their head up and out of the water to breath and the laser lead gets to be a non laser bent wobbly thing that is perfect for moving water around and moving around in the water but not for effortless swimming . Hope that helps

[tomoy]

Bonjour Pascal - Wow. Nice. Good balance, kick. Beautiful recovery. Looks like TI swimming. Sometimes the head is a little high - not so much high in the water, but clearly you're looking forward more than straight down. Also, while it's difficult to see from this angle, it looks like your right arm enters well, but the left might be too much in front of your head. I think it could enter further left, on a wider track. But otherwise excellent.

[andyinnorway]

Ditto your stroke looks good but I think you have gains to make in SPL.

Your reach forward each stroke looks slightly limited, maybe some practices to minimise SPL (even over short distances) by engaging more muscle and reach (watch Sun Yang underwater) would get your steady race pace swimming from 16SPL to 15SPL

[daveblt]

Originally Posted by daveblt

I see the left arm pulling just a slight bit before the right arm pulls . Is it pulling too early though ? In my opinion I don't really think it is .


Dave

oops.. what I meant was .... I see the left arm pulling just a slight bit before the right arm ENTERS ....

(Sorry if this caused any confusion)

Dave

[CoachSuzanne]

Originally Posted by rbs24h

In theory, what is gained by pulling later? Thanks.

Sorry, didn't read all the replies yet. OP's video looks really nice I also noticed one side pulling early.

it all depends on the tempo & desired pace. Pulling later (than the OP's 'early pull') provides more time in streamlining and thus less drag created, also 'compression' of the stroke phase. A stroke that languishes at the beginning from starting too early actually creates a lot of drag. Resultign propulsion is enough to overcome & move forward, but energy is wasted. Watch videos of shinji at various tempos to see how the timing of the stroke relates to both the entry of the opposite arm and also to the continuity of the udnerwater portion itself. hope that made sense.