Elbow-led Arm Recovery Question

[dshen]

i was thinking about arm recovery and thought about the various tips i've gotten from coach shinji and from dave cameron's advanced TI seminar.

here they are:

a. [shinji] the one trapezoid/shoulder shrug to bring the arm up.
b. [shinji] extend the shoulder blade forward
c. [shinji] *new* try to exit the hand/arm through the same hole in the water that it's laying in, at the end of the stroke. not only does this stop placing forces that are not helping me go forward in the water (ie. making me sink or bounce in the water), i find that dragging your hand out that way means you are naturally doing the elbow led recovery.
d. [dave cameron] imagine during recovery that you are scraping your bicep across the surface of the water as you bring the arm around.
e. [dave cameron] use inner rotation of the shoulder, don't bring it up and over. the arm tends to trace a path that is more a swing around rather than straight along the path over the body. he has said that inner rotation also saves your shoulder from damage.

i was wondering if anyone had a pointer to any videos which describe the elbow led recovery, so that i can study it?

thanks! Dave

[terry]

Dave I would probably have difficulty following those focal points. For instance, I'm not sure how to interpret the phrase "extend the shoulder blade forward." That's why I prefer focal points that describe a simple action or a sensation described in 'universal' language.

One key to a recovery in which the elbow lifts and leads the hand and forearm forward is how you exit the water. I've used the following images to help me with that:

1. Release, rather than push back, at the end of the stroke
2. Release away from the hip - i.e. toward the outside. (This helps combat the tendency to bring the elbow toward the spine on recovery.)
3. Circle the elbow - like the crank of a bicycle. (This helps reinforce #1.)

As for video, Lesson 5 on the Easy Free DVD is devoted to release, recovery and entry. It shows LOTS of video of the rehearsal exercises that improve your kinesthetic awareness of leading with the elbow. Also of the release, recovery and entry, including contrast of all the most common errors and how to correct them.

[CoachDave]

One thing that must be realized about my coaching is that I always use tricks to get what I want. I wanted it to FEEL like the elbow scraped, but it shouldn't be as wide as that in reality. Just to get people to break their habits on that one, We started with the release, went to the shrug/shift, the swing, the slice without sacrifice, and the slip.

The recovery can have a lot of variety based on flexibility and balance.
Denser swimmers may need to be wider, especially with breathing in mind. Flexible swimmers will look like Shinji, but be cautious that there isn't a hitch before entry when swimming (not a drill skill, as KevinM puts it) when you roll through some of the tougher parts of a higher recovery.

If you extend to lock at the end of the pull/anchor phase, it's very difficult to fix this and have the right recovery. Make sure that when you transition from anchoring, the focus rotates to shoulder and elbow manipulation. If you try to take the hand around, it's almost impossible to focus on it without putting tension on the marionette arm.

Thanks for the head-up, JohnB

[dshen]

Terry, Dave, many thanks for the comments! appreciate the pointer to the video lesson and i'll keep the above comments in mind as i practice! Dave