Gita
Private Swim Session 21st June 2024
We are getting more and more technical with our refinements to your stroke, which is a huge step in your progress.
We looked at your arm shape and flicking of the wrist/hand at the end of your stroke, arm shape for the right arm to get more power, pushing off the wall and treading water (the circular leg motion under the water trying to stay on top of the water).
For your right arm we changed the angle slightly to bring your hand closer to your hip.
Additionally, we did some closed fist drills, where you could feel the resistance against your forearm and fist against the water. This helps to understand how much resistance to apply when you have your hand (open) back to get power.
Pushing off the wall, remember to go deeper in the water, arms in front of you and push really hard off the wall, quite quickly otherwise you rise back to the surface because you seem to float so well !
Add some closed fist drill and single arm freestyle to your swim sessions to get a feel for the water and the revised right arm shape.
The paddles will also help with focussing on your hand at the end of your stroke to keep it flatter.
Next time we will work on breathing.
Swim Filming
Initial swim 1 | good rotation
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Good rotation
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Flatter arms
Initial swim 2 | better arms and hand
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Better arms and hand shape
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This 2 videos were of the same lap, and with just a gentle reminder you got it straight away
Push and swim
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Good push, and got swimming at the right time as the momentum for the push slowed down
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A good aerial view of your arms parallel to your shoulders and hand shape entering the water
Swim with Snorkel
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Controlled, smooth, flowing and powerful
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It shows how much power and momentum you generate on your left side
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Look and see how it feels on the left side and see the longer stroke compared to the right
Single Arm Freestyle - Left
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Keep getting the elbow high in the recovery phase to help start the next strong forward and longer
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Good hand shape at end of stroke
Single Arm Freestyle - Right
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Compare the hand shape at the end of your stroke to that of your left hand
Initial swim technique
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The start of the swim journey!
Current swim technique
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How it's going !
Gita
Private Swim Session 31st May 2024
Amazing Gita ! What a fantastic achievement swimming 1 x 25m lap continuously. Congratulations, it is a huge achievement and testament to all of the hard work and positive focus you have had with your swimming and wanting to swim and feel more comfortable in the water.
I feel you also have enough fitness and strength with your swim stroke to turn around and go back the other way to do more than 1 lap at a time.
You understand arm shape and the feel of the water with your catch is where the power comes from. Keep working on the drills with the scoop scull and half stroke, the sculling and single arm freestyle. You know what these feel like and we also got your sculling better within this session.
Aim for 25m or 1/2 a lap of a drill, then rest and swim back. Keep using your snorkel for the moment, but also practise without and your breathing.
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Breathing
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Aim to keep your head more on your shoulder, pointing forward when breathing. This keeps your head flatter against the water and keeps your legs and body in a better position.
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Exhale as you are turning to breathe and under the water, this keeps to get more water away from your mouth. Squeeze the corner of your mouth if you need to, to keep some water out.
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You want to get as much air as you can in when your head is out of the water, having all of the air out of your lungs before as your head comes out of the water helps to get a big breathe in.
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Swim Filming
25m swimming
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Fantastic !
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You got into a nice flowing rhythm and focussed on your technique
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Brilliant achievement and you are certainly very comfortable in the water
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You are doing this well and getting a lot of power and momentum
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A great drill to get the feeling of power in at the start of your stroke
Breathing
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Head on shoulder or flat in the water
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Aim to get all of the air out before your head is out of the water to breathe
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A big deep breathe in
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Wait until your arm coming forward is parallel to the side of your head before your head goes back to a centred swimming position
Gita
Private Swim Session 10 May 2024
Some good revelations today with arms shape and the feeling of power with your forearms. This is all setup with the start of your catch which we worked on with the sculling drill and the scoop scull+catch drill.
The 2 drills to practise to include at the beginning of your swim sessions being...
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Sculling drill - you got a good feel for this with the sensation on your forearms. You had good hand/arm speed and the width being just inside your shoulders was also great. Use a snorkel and look over at your wrists to check that your fingers are always lower than your wrist.
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Scoop Scull+Catch drill – The important part of this drill is getting the arm shape as soon as possible at the top of the stroke and then pulling back with your tricep and elbow. We demonstrated this with a straight arm and a bent arm and pushing down hard. You felt your lats engaging to get more power with the bent arm.
You can practise these by doing 1/2 a lap of the drill, stop and then do half a lap swimming.
Remember to aim to glide forward with your arm which is driven by your rotation and hips rather than reaching with your arm. You are doing this really well on your right side.
Swim Filming
Initial Swim
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Hips and rotation are good, as is your head position
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These are becoming more subconscious with your swimming
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Arms straight and reaching, arms look a bit like a windmill !
Better arm shape
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Nice flow with your arms and the speed they are moving
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This is also combined well with your rotation
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You can see a difference with arm shape compared to the initial swim
Sculling drill
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Nice arm speed and width
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Keep the width slightly inside your shoulder width
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Be mindful of your hand and wrist shape, aim to have your fingers pointing down and below your wrist, especially when scooping back in towards the centre of your body
Recovery phase arm shape
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Nice high elbow from the end of your stroke
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This sets you up for the next stroke and entering the water
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Aim to always have your elbow higher than your wrist and wrist higher than your fingers throughout your whole stroke
Good swimming with Snorkel
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Nice flowing movement
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Good arm shape, nice powerful stroke
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You can see a difference in the right arm and wrist compared to the left
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Right is fantastic !
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Right has hand facing down and left hand up. you can notice you are getting tired as this is at the end of the session
Good flow and timing
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Nice high elbow from the end of your stroke
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Gliding at the top or front of your stroke, especially on your right side
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Fatigue is getting the better of you as your arms start to drag on the water with your elbow
Gita
Private Swim Session 12th April 2024
Another great session with good improvement with your arm shape and feeling much more comfortable in the water and building the endurance. You mentioned being more efficient and not out of breathe as much which is perfect ! It shows you are getting more power and feeling more comfortable, as well as advancing your technique.
Some points and areas we worked on within the session.
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Arm Shape - good work with wrist position pointing down slightly, and extending it forward with your hips and your hip swing (rotation) rather than reaching.
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Elbow shape and bend – This was towards the end of the session and made a massive difference. Having a bend in your elbow and a higher position from when you have finished a stroke helped to set up your next stroke. It helped the shape and position but also the timing and flow.
This also enables more power and momentum and was aided by pushing all the way to your hip with your stroke.
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Keep rotating or the swing and focusing on this from the moment you get in the water. Once we addressed this after your initial swim you noticed a big difference.
Swim Filming
Initial Swim
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Lacking some rotating or swing which we addressed
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Arms straight and reaching
Initial swim - front view
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Good arm position entering the water parallel to your shoulders
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Good wrist shape and fingers close together
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Fingers entering the water together
Elbow dragging - Left side
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Better rotation
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Left and right arms have a different shape. Left is hitting the water with your elbow early which makes it hard to get your arm to position to take a stroke and use your lats to get power
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Right side starts off with a better shape but then your elbow catches the water
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We fixed this !
Better arm shape
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The next few videos show the progression with your am shape one step at a time
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Better flow with your arms. It all starts in the recovery phase of your stroke which is when your arm exits the water after taking a stoke
Excellent Arm shape
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Good flow with the arms
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Excellent extending at the back of your stroke (near your hip) which also assists in getting into a good starting position and shape for the next stroke
Excellent arm shape - front view
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Really nice. You can see your rotation and also the nice shape in your elbow
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Very nice flow with your arms and entering the water very well with your hands
Final swim
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A huge change in arm shape !
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A nice loop in your arms and nice and high out of the water
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This will become more natural with practise
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Looking doing to the bottom of the pool which is good for body position
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A nice little kick as well with helps with momentum and when breathing
Final swim - front view
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Excellent arms, hands and rotation
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Such a difference from the first swim !
Gita
Private Swim Session 15th March 2024
Gita, great progress within this session ! You really felt an improvement, swimming further but also being more efficient and easier.
Some points and areas we worked on within the session.
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Arm Shape - The single arm drill helped to grasp the concept. Scooping was the term which resonated with you. Having a bend in your arm when taking a stroke and above the water helps to get more power and momentum, as well as to set up your next stroke.
Think of your elbow always being higher than your wrist, and your wrist is always higher than your fingers.
Once arm shape is in a position to provide momentum and power, combining it with your rotation will (as you take a stroke) increase the power of your stroke.
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Rotation – keep working on this. After the initial swim and the reminder, you immediately found it easier to breathe and swim further when you were rotating to both sides.
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Backstroke - one big point to anyone doing backstroke is to rotate as you would for freestyle, especially focusing on the hips. Additionally keep your head centred and straight, this helps with direction and to swim straight. Your little finger enters the water first, and your thumb should exit first.
Keep at it ! The arm shape is the area to work on.
Swim Filming
Initial Swim
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I was immediately impressed with the tempo of your arms. This was great ! Nice and smooth and following, not rushing it
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You can see the arms are looking like windmills and you are reaching forward, we worked on this with the single arm drill
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Body position is good, legs are doing a bit but it is more about the lack of momentum. A little kicking might help here
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The main point we highlighted was the lack of rotation (from the hips), which we addressed and it made swimming and breathing much easier
Swim and kicking on back
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Great head position - still, back and centred
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Nice feet, pointing and relaxed
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Remember to push down and pull up when kicking
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Kick a little bit harder and a bit closer to the surface of the water
Single Arm Freestyle - Left
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Excellent !
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Great wrist bend and arm shape under the water
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A nice flowing movement and excellent combining your stroke with your rotation
Single Arm Freestyle - Right
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Similar to the left with good shape
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With your right arm catching the water early (similar to the last front on video), keep pushing back at the end of your stroke. You seem to be shortening your stroke on the right at times, which results in hitting the water too early. We can easily address this
Better swimming - distance 1
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The next 2 videos are the sequence of swims after the single arm drill
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Both great in terms of increasing the distance and how comfortable you felt in the water !
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Great rotation and developing the arm shape
Better swimming - distance 2
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A really strong section of swimming
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Great body and head position !
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You are a swimmer !!!
Combining stroke and rotation
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There are some really great sections in this video, especially on your right side
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You are letting your rotation take your arm forward after a stroke, and with good arm shape set up the next stroke without reaching forward
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Watch this video and then the initial swim from today and notice the changes
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You are gliding a bit !
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Right side is good in this video
Front view - Arm shape
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Great position of arms/hands entering the water - parallel to your shoulders. It is easier to see arm shape on your left arm (opposite to viewing angle) without the water splashing
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Good shape under the water, a nice bend in your elbow
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We can work further on this and your hand position under the water, your hand can be a bit closer to your body
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Your right catches a bit in the recovery phase, hence the splashing, we can add a drill to help get more of a loop or a higher elbow in this part of your stroke
Gita
Private Swim Session 28th February 2024
Gita, some amazing progress within this session ! Congratulations on what you have achieved to date and in understanding some of the concepts with the technical aspects of swimming. The key areas we addressed in this session are listed below.
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Kicking - you got this straight away. Kicking with a straighter leg, with your toes point and feet relaxed. You could feel the difference with the momentum, and we saw it with your freestyle. Remember the small flutter kick you have as per the video.
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Rotation – this helped with the smoothness of your stroke, and to utilise your back and latissimus dorsi muscles. It made you more efficient in the water by creating less resistance (splash) against the water.
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Breathing - this was great to work on within the session. It may take some time, however, remember to blow out all the air under the water or as you are turning to breathe, which gives you more time to get a deep breathe in, and also to get rid of the water around your face.
Go for a swim and practise with a centre snorkel for some of the technique components.
Swim Filming
Initial Swim
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Good head position looking down when swimming
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Body position is also good, nice and flat and parallel to the water
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Lacking rotation and kicking with a bent leg
Initial Swim - front view
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Head position is good, nice and still and centred and looking to the bottom of the pool
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Arms are entering parallel to your shoulders
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Arms reaching forward rather than extending forward with your rotation. We haven't addressed this yet
Kicking - good leg and feet shape
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Excellent !
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Nice straight legs and toes pointed.
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A small flutter kick, pushing down on the water and pulling up
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Kicking nicely within the width of a bucket, this is excellent.
Smoother freestyle with kicking
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A big change from the initial swim
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A more efficient kick which gives you more momentum and has slowed your stroke rate down
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This enables less effort to be required and you felt smoother in the water
Breathing
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This was a little difficult with the kickboard but it gave you the sensation of having water around your mouth and the timing for breathing
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Aim to blow the air out as you are turning to breath, which enables you to get a big deep breathe in
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You did well with this and getting familiar and more comfortable with water around your mouth
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Keep adjusting this to find a sweet spot for you
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This shape gets you the power and momentum your felt
Better Freestyle with rotation
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Go back and watch your first video and then this one. The changes are incredible !
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Good rotation from your hips on both sides and syncing your hips and shoulders together
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As well and all this, you added the breathing in as well !
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A nice head position when breathing, you understood about getting your head further forward and flatter to the water. A swim cap will also help to keep your hair away !
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Good combination and timing of your head with rotation when breathing. Let your rotation bring your head around to breathe