On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 09:38:52 -0800, ekurth wrote:
<snip>
>> any of you have encountered something similar. Namely, I seem to be
>> using my arms to rotate the body (front crawl), rather than using the
<snip>
> Your question is not easy to answer. There's not agreement on this even
> with the experts. Maglischo says the arms start the stroke, whereas
> people like Bob Prichard swear by the hips.
>
> I vote for the hips being the power for the stroke, but it's not trivial
> to swim that way.
Eric brings up some good points and to toss in my $0.02 I'd like to
mention that at slower speeds, ie anything achievable (let alone
maintainable) by we the mere mortals, I think the matter is more a
question of timing than emphasis.
Personally I'm in favour of a 'monolithic' body roll with a similar
degree of rotation for both shoulders and hips. My weaker and younger
swimmers often have a challenge getting their hips to roll at all, being
rather focused on their hands, and end up swinging their arms in large
arcs through the recovery resulting in over reaching problems on entry and
fishtailing though the pull.
A drill I like, and have had some success with, is a dry land drill. If
you've got access to a full length mirror you've got a good opportunity to
practice the timing and get a little balance work in to boot. Begin facing
the/a wall perpendicular to the mirror feet nearly double shoulder width
apart arms raised to the sides until your hands are at navel height. Turn
your head to look at the mirror and lean forward taking the weight off
the back foot. If done carefully most of your body should be hidden behind
the side facing the mirror.
The idea of the drill is to take this exaggerated 90deg position and
smoothly 'roll' to the other side. Switch feet, swing hands (thumbs
brushing your thighs 'out of the way') and hide the other side of your
body.
If done smoothly and with with control the hips _have_ to roll with the
shoulders and there _will_ be a down 'kick' with the timing Eric mentions.
--Mike