Found this video linked from Matt Fitzgerald’s blog...I am going to watch it a few times, then head to the pool for my workout. I hope I have the same Eureka moment that Matt had!
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3ctBUV08_o]
link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3ctBUV08_o
Great quote from the video: Don’t forget, if you get the catch correct, it puts alot of pressure, strain and stress on that shoulder. And sometimes, if you’re not used to it, the brain will tell you to choose a weaker position.
Update later in the day: I did not have a Eureka moment. I struggled with mimicing this pull, and it ended up making me alot slower. I did notice it was easier to “get it” when using a pull buoy. This tells me that there is something wrong with my balance that I need to correct first. After struggling for an hour in the pool, and feeling very un-fishlike, I gave up, did some fingertip drag drill to help me get back in to my own fishlike groove. I will explore this idea later, maybe after working on my balance. I believe that changes in technique are like fitting a puzzle together. Sometimes you can’t put a piece in place, until other pieces are correctly fitted. Kaizen.
hiya- a balance tip I like to think about when I swim is that there is a center point in my chest that is formed at the intersection of a line running across my shoulders and down the midline of my body. You should always be ‘pushing’ thru this point downward. So if you are looking at the bottom of the pool and you ‘push’ thru this point it brings your hips up. (cause you are really just a see-saw). You see the opposite effect when you lift your head- your hips sink down. So, when you are doing some oh-so-important rotation drills and you are in the same position shown in the video above (lower arm pointed ahead, upper arm back, hips rotated to the side) pushing thru that point downward means pushing thru your armpit towards the bottom of the pool. (but make sure you keep reaching forward with that lower arm) This helps keeps those hips up and your balance in check. Now you can add the ‘armpit drill’ to your workout!
so true about the puzzle pieces … esp for swimming !