Sai
Private Swim Session 14th December 2021
Excellent session working on your lead arm when breathing and cadence (stroke rate).
Great developments with understanding the arm shape and snapping it into position early (small catch) before taking a stroke. This provided more power which combined with keeping your lead arm higher for longer in the water made it feel easier swimming, and provided more time to breathe. You can see this from the initial swim video to the final video and the time and air you are getting in.
Remember you don’t want your arm to drift down without a bend in it. Small Catch is an excellent drill to keep practicing and the single arm freestyle with the Kickboard, and without the kickboard.
Areas to continue to develop...
1. Lead arm position when taking a breathe - The kickboard drill was excellent to help you understand controlling your body and body position for breathing. Practice the drill we did with the Kickboard, and also without the kickboard.
2. Arm shape - hand more central to enable more of an angle at your elbow. Drive back with tricep and forearm, bring tricep into your body. Small catch is a good drill to practice, getting the shape earlier and remember your shoulder is also a hinge in this process.
3. Body position - this will be harder to develop, however keep your head down when swimming looking to the bottom of the pool and your small kick also helps. As you develop your power further, this will help to have more momentum which will also give you a better body position.
Swim Filming
Initial Swim
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Nice and flowing
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Good rotation
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Left breathing side, collapsing slightly with lead arm (right arm) which isn’t giving you enough time to get a breath
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Head position can look directly down a bit more
Initial Swim - straight arm underwater
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Good breathing air out underwater
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Good Rotation
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Arms too straight, can add more of a bend at the elbow
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Nice little kick to help with momentum and body position
Left Side single arm and kickboard
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Good rotation combining body and head as one
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A good drill to develop power through correct arm shape
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Excellent for gaining control and positioning of lead arm, especially when breathing
Right Side single arm and kickboard
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Excellent arm shape and tempo (cadence or stroke rate)
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Nice tempo with arm
Single arm arm kickboard - front view
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Excellent combining rotation and stroke
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Excellent position of lead arm parallel to shoulder and supporting body
Final swim - front view
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Nice arm entry parallel to shoulders
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Better arm shape and power
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Excellent driving triceps into your body
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Very nice flowing motion
Final Swim
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Better flowing motion and more powerful
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Giving yourself more time to breathe by leaving lead arm higher in the water longer
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Better timing of stroke with rotation
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Keep thinking head down if you feel your body position changing
Private Swim Session 16th November 2021
It was great to see you had maintained some of your swim technique from previous swimming experience.
We addressed a few areas to focus on and to continue developing, ideally if you can swim 2-3 times a week to help develop the technique further.
Key points...
1. Head to chest - This really helped to lift your legs and lower half of your body up. Look down to the bottom of the pool and bring your chin closer to your chest.
2. Kicking & leg shape - remember to kick as best as possible with a straight leg and drive it from your quads and hips. This also helped to straighten your left ankle and to swim with pointed toes. Small flutter kick, notice the wash from your feet.
3. Arm shape and timing with rotation - the single arm freestyle and catchup are excellent for this and you did this very well. Get the arm shape as per the small catch and then initiate your swim stroke with hips, combining with the arms.
4. Lead arm and timing when returning from getting a breathe - towards the end of the session, we worked on holding your arm higher/longer in the water before taking a stroke, especially when breathing. You noticed looking at your arm coming over, to help then start your swim stroke. Additionally, you mentioned to not over rotate as it impacted your head position, and remember to look to the side of the pool as best as possible rather than up and behind.
Swim Filming
Initial Swim
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Excellent spearing the water and letting the hips drive this
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Nice arm and hand shape entering the water, which sets up your arm shape under the water
Initial Swim - front view
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Head nice and straight when swimming which helps to swim in a straight line
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Excellent arms to the side of your body and shape
Kicking
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Good work and developing this throughout the session
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Straight leg kick, driving from quads and hip
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Pointed toes, with ankles just breaking the surface of the water, kicking downward and also pushing up with feet
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Having your head down, chin to chest also helps with body position for kicking
Small Catch
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Excellent drill, you really do this well and understand the nature of it
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As the video progresses, you can also see the change in your kicking from the initial swim
Single Arm Freestyle - left side
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Excellent arm shape and hip drive and lead arm position.
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Keep focusing on combining these two at the same time, you have a great short pause to set yourself up
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kick is great !
Single Arm Freestyle - right side
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Similar to left side
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Really drive back with your tricep (upper arm) and elbow
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Keep looking down
Powerful stroke
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A great video to show how powerful you are
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Arm shape and combining with rotation creating a powerful stroke.
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Catchup drill is also a great drill to practice this combination
Lead arm holding better when breathing
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Better positioning of lead arm when breathing
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As arm is combining forward to enter the water, that is when your lead arm takes a stroke
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Keep a focus on keeping legs straight throughout
Better flowing stroke
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Nice flowing movement
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Excellent body position and kicking
Dual final swim
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Looking really comfortable with someone else swimming next to you and close to you.
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Controlling your stroke and breathing