100 more swimming drills
90. Hands follow The purpose of this drill • Learning to lead from the core • Relaxing your hands • Feeling your hands follow
How to do this drill Step 1: Stand in waist deep water and bend forward at the hips until your face is submerged. Extend your arms in front of you. Trace the path of the butterfly arm stroke in the water. Catch, pull, and push the water back and out from your sides. Feel your hands emerge from the water. Step 2: Looking at yourself in this position from above, you would see that your hands exit the water behind your shoulders, and your fingers would be pointing back towards your feet. Your hands should stay behind your shoulders through most of the recovery. Try the arm stroke and recovery again. Catch, pull, push, release. Feel your hands leave the water. Feel your hands follow your shoulders into the recovery. Step 3: It is only after your arms reach the widest point in the recovery that your hands move ahead of your shoulders in order to line up for the entry. Try it again. At the finish of the arm stroke, as your hands release and emerge from the water, feel them relax, and trail the recovery, letting the larger muscles towards the middle of your body do the work.
Figure 90: The hands should follow the shoulders into the recovery
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03.04.13 11:25