Courtesy of Gary Hall Sr., 10-time World Record Holder, 3-time Olympian, 1976 Olympic Games US Flagbearer and The Race Club co-founder.
During the propulsion phases of the freestyle pull, the hand must elevate in its pathway backward.
We often see swimmers suddenly elevate their hands in the middle of the freestyle pull somewhere near the shoulder, causing an abrupt loss of propulsion. During this very brief moment of letting go with the hands, the swimmers lose valuable propulsion and speed.
The correct technique in pulling freestyle is to elevate the hand more gradually so that propulsion from the hand is never completely lost.
In testing Olympian freestyler, Artyom Machekin, we compared his normal pulling technique with a pulling technique using an elevation of the hand in the middle of the pull. Here’s what we found.
With his normal freestyle sprint technique, Artyom averaged 1.956 m/s over 10 meters and swam with a stroke rate of 115/min. By elevating the hand in the middle of his freestyle pulling motion, Artyom’s average speed over the same 10 meters dropped by 0.15 m/sec to 1.806 m/s with a stroke rate of 111/min. That is an 8% loss of speed.
Just past his shoulder, Artyom elevates his left hand abruptly. On the red curve on the left video, his propulsion drops quickly.
In conclusion, if a freestyler can learn to gradually elevate the hand during the pull, rather than abruptly elevate hand and losing significant propulsion, a higher velocity can be maintained during the swim.
Once swimmers initiate their propulsion phase, they should keep the pressure on the water with their hands as they elevate them in the back quadrant.
Yours in swimming,
Gary Sr.
Gary Hall, Sr., Technical Director and Head Coach of The Race Club (courtesy of TRC)
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