I’m left wondering if you mean too much, or not enough…?! 
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Ha ha ha - my left elbow dips below my wrist, I get told off for it
I’m not on slowtwitch, but just read first 6 posts of “rip my swim apart” and it looks like it is probably a good thread for people to read as can see the faults in that guys stroke, with the video posted.
One thing from it that I thought was relevant to our discussions has been this little tool, which is when I stopped reading. It’s such a broad range meaning I don’t expect many to fall outside the white band, but if you do then I’d certainly agree you should adapt stroke length/rate.
http://previous.swimsmooth.com/strokerate_adv.html
EDIT: I’m sorry, but there are no riptides involved 
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Interesting link. I’ve done some spl and stroke rate assessment recently and plugging those into the other table at the bottom roughly outputs my exact threshold based swim speed, as you would expect.
Ysing that it shows what can be achieved by upping the stroke rate a bit. If I go from 60spm to 65spm, whilst maintaining spl, that’s a significant improvement in speed
The part of this I don’t understand is that surely an increase in stroke rate, doesn’t just bring free speed. It must require more effort.
I’ve increased my stroke rate to about 60spm as I was a bit of a glider, so that has given me a 15 second per 100m improvement. Which is great, but I’m putting in significantly more effort for that time saving so cannot maintain that pace for more that 100m or so.
Just read the ST thread and someone posted this link.
I think the “Power Diamond” is what I’m not getting ( along with other things ) I often find that in the shallow end I feel like I’m in danger of hitting the bottom with my hand, and that may explain the front shoulder ache im getting when trying to up the pace.
Correct, nothing comes “free”, but it’s probably a more energy efficient way of going faster. Or you could try swim same speed for less effort. Extreme analogy that even holding a more aero position on the bike requires extra effort, but it’s better than needing to crank out ever more Watts.
15s/100m is a huge difference, but if you stick with it and adapt to the new stress you’ll begin to increase distances you can hold that for.
Not yet read the thread or that video now, but sounds likely looking at the picture. Early vertical forearm is the biggest thing I concentrate on, keeping the elbow much higher towards the water surface.
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To support this, I find that if I do a fist drill, I’m almost as fast as with my hands open… which suggests that i’m not getting my forearms vertical quickly enough when I use my hands… its something i’m working on!
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I’ve “outsourced” my swim training, and have booked 4 sessions with a proper coach in in endless pool.First session this afternoon.
Plan is to do 2 sessions before Lanza training camp (In 4 weeks), then use the time in the pool there to build on technique, and final 2 sessions in March.
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Paying someone to do the swim for you?
Ala Silicon Valley?
Where do I sign up.
Or maybe just download it like Neo.
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For the first time, I’m paying someone to look at my swim, do video analysis, help create a training plan and monitor progress.
I’m going to regret this… however, please feel free to criticise my swim technique
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This should be good 
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you are pulling down on the water before the catch, that’s the main thing i notice straight away. For that think about a slightly deeper entry and focus on keeping that elbow above the wrist and don’t apply downward pressure, don’t apply pressure until forearm is vertical. maybe some doggy paddle there would help. The left arm is also pulling across the body causing you to snake. So Id do some single arm drills or swim with left hand paddle right leg fin to try and correct that. 3rd key thing is head position is quite low, water at forehead
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Thanks for the quick reply
I was happily thinking that my elbow was above my wrist, until I saw that analysis yesterday. Roy said the same thing, he showed me that initially I am actually pushing myself backwards momentarily.
due to over rotating, my right arm (out of the water) is going past vertical, so my left arm is pulling accross my body to compensate
Great suggestion
Thanks, Roy didn’t spot this (or chose not to point it out). If my head is too low, is this a reason why I am over-rotating? or is my head low because my arm is too high and pushing the top of my body down?
The head could cause a loss of balance. This is because you over rotate to breath and then lose balance which could also then be causing that scissor kick you have (i didnt mention that as its probably due to something else going on, like the left arm and snake, or the head…or both! One of the “drills” for head position is to swim lengths so one normal, one length looking straight down, one 3m in front, one 6m in front and then see the times / stroke counts and pick the best one. (it wont be straight down )
Is this the bubbles coming from the right forearm, indicating that?
Is over-rotating normally caused by rotating from the shoulders rather than the hips?
yes they highlight it but you can actually see the way his hand is moving. Im not a fan of the term “reaching over the barrel” as that’s not exactly what you want to do, but it sort of works that way. After the entry rotate the forearm vertical from the elbow, you can see he is using his shoulder as the main rotating point and that’s only going to push down. Some downward motion is inevitable in reality but its about minimising it.