I’m going to concentrate on 2 things. First dropping my wrist before catch, second is to focus on not crossing
1 Like
I’ve always liked the exercise where you put a spot on your palm and concentrate on that always pointing backwards as that’s the only way you want to push the water. In reality you could put spots all the way down your inner forearm for the same reason but would get even weirder looks at work!
1 Like
Would you say that for Matthew specifically or everyone. I have been told a couple of times by different coaches that when I look a bit ahead my legs sink? Looking straight down seems to resolve that.
you need to work on getting those legs up another way 
the more head underwater the more drag. its harder then to breath, and also sight in the case of OW
1 Like
Try some short reps with your ankles banded together (I use an old inner tube); paddles can make it a bit easier.
1 Like
Swimming cap, longer shorts and shave your chest
Sighting in OW isn’t a problem TBH, I look forward, straight after taking a breath before putting my head down again.
I do band only as one of the few drills I do (0 arm > full swim, Solar Energy push drill thing being the others).
Simply going faster is the thing that made me feel like I was higher in the water but obviously maintaining that speed is the hard bit.
Anway get back to Matthew, his pushing down, horrible swim shorts, hairy chest and no cap. 
1 Like
That would be something else I’d be interested in H’s opinion on. What’s the right approach?
I originally did the above … breath then bring head up to sight.
I then saw a lot of youtube videos saying you should do it the other way. Sight and then collapse the head into a breathing position immediately after.
This is assuming a 3 stroke breathing pattern, so in effect makes a difference of 1 stroke in when you breath. First option is breathe/stroke-sight/stroke-stroke-breath/stroke. Second option is breath/stroke-stroke-sight/stroke-breathe/stroke.
Is there even any issue with either?!
I actually end up sighting every 6 now, so;
Breathe right/stroke-stroke-stroke-breathe left/stroke-stroke-sight/stroke-breathe right/stroke.
If any of that makes sense!
I have strong emotional attachement to those swim shorts. I bought them to do my very first Triathlon in 2015… they’ve been at the bottom of the drawer for ages, however, I was forced to get them out as my good swim shorts ripped on my right thigh last week: I blame the cycling
3 Likes
I always go with what feels best for you and feels most natural. I may be wrong as it’s been a while since my L1 but sure BTF teach breath, sight but I’ve always done crocodile eyes into breath.
1 Like
One hand has fingers spread, one hand they’re together.
When I sight, there isn’t much of a pause. I just face forward but bringing the head into the water as I do it. I don’t need anything but the eyes above the water at that point. I find looking forward quite disruptive, especially if I need to breath.
Honestly, I took it from John and Bevan from IM Talk. They did a video year ago.
1 Like
Okay I’m going to have a crack and @Hammerer and everyone can tell me why I’m totally wrong 
I see the low head, but Im thinking low whole body is the cause. The back, hips and legs all seem to be very low in the water to me - perhaps caused by loose kicking. Or overall pace, what is 0.86m/s in 100m terms?
Randomly searched but between 0:56 and 1:21 here is what I mean by comparison:
I see the right arm swinging a deep arc, but I’m not agreeing on the left being a problem - its not crossing over the central body line, and it looks like it’s pulling through the water well.
The catch looks like you need to reach a little before you start pulling through, I think the linked video shows that too.
have a look at that again and watch it in combination with the above view and watch the body.
yes the whole body is low, but there are reasons for that. You say its because he is swimming slowly, yes that is correct but why is he swimming slowly?
The video…where do I start 
then again even for my ASA level 1 I had to critique a 23 times Olympic champion finding faults is easy, identifying the reasons for them and correcting them is the difference between a good coach and an armchair coach 
2 Likes
Okay, I see that now 
But my armchair is so cozy!
1 Like
Thanks for the comments
Pace was 1:56/100m - Not at all fast, I think that my body position would have been better with a faster flow, but Roy, who was running the analysis, said that for the first review, the pace shouldn’t be too fast. He also said that the body position was OK, much more important to work on catch and not crossing.
2 Likes
Yeah, seems like quite a slow pace to analyse your stroke. What’s your 100m PB? Decent video though and some good tips from people 
100m PB is 1:29
CSS is around 1:42
1 Like
Aware you’ve already had the same input from @Hammerer before I could reply, but to reiterate a couple of points all of us.
High vertical forearm is probably the biggest piece of generic advice I could give to everyone here to improve on. Yes we will all have our individual faults, but I doubt there is anyone that couldn’t gain from working on maintaining high elbow underwater through the pull phase. I do some drill pretty much every single session, and its usually one of the first things to fail once we get tired and start slipping.
Yes, but it doesn’t need to be half that subtle. The screenshot before click play shows a long arm extended. Yes his elbow is above wrist, but the elbow is nowhere near the water surface meaning he’s pulled a long way down first.
Doggy paddle, along with breastroke pull are great if done correctly, but can also be quite easily to do wrong without realising. Don’t want to overload you with too much too soon, but I would also try some drills were kicking on side one arm extended. Then initiate catch down to ~45 degrees, keeping elbow in same position close to water surface. Push arm back to extended starting position against resistance, repeat few times before swapping arms. You may need fins at first to help balance and the progress. This will also help head position/body alignment and balance.
Completely agree this is the starting point, don’t try too much too soon. I think you get it but just a reminder when you say “dropping the wrist” that what we mean is dropping the fingers and bending the elbow. Then need to keep arm taut to have that long paddle coming back through the water pointing back. Describing it as a cue of dropping the wrist will lead to people doing just that and having wrist below the fingers when they get tired.
2 Likes