The Catch

Make an early catch while on your side:

Catch 1: He’s breathing, and his right pull has just finished. He’s fully rotated (45-60deg from horizontal) and you can see his back as a result, even from this angle beneath the surface. His left wrist breaks to start his next catch, as he wants no delay between one stroke finishing and the next beginning.

Catch 2: He stays on his side to make his catch. You can still see his back, and his left forearm is almost vertical. One mistake amateurs make is rotating too early and making the catch out to the side. All the pros have amazing shoulder flexibility to get to this position this early in the pull. His recovering arm has come over the top and is just entering the water – his entire recovery happens while he’s rotated.

Catch 3: His forearm is now vertical, and still in front of his head. He’s starting to flatten out more, but he keeps his pull under his shoulder for power. His head is back down in position.

Catch 4: His arm pulls back in one position around his shoulder joint, moving his vertical forearm back with respect to his body.

 Catch 5: He’s finished his pull and is ready to recover his arm. Notice he never fully extends his left arm – there’s no point to it as it lengthens recovery time without providing propulsion.

Your hand should move forward and down to make a “no pressure” catch:

Catch 6: He is at the start his right side catch. His hand is even with the color block on the lane line.

Catch 7: He is making the catch as his forearm moves to vertical. Notice his hand is now in front of the color block and his elbow is right on it – the elbow has moved forward and the forearm forward and down. It’s easy to see that his head has moved from well behind the block to almost even with it. His body is moving forward over his catch (vs. pulling back). This is all done with momentum from his left pull. This is the “glide” phase from extension to catch. No pressure is applied during this time – he is actually slowing down during this time.

Catch 8: Now he’s pulling and his arm is out to the side. It is even with the color block, as is his head. He’s accelerating.

Catch 9: He has traveled, as evidenced by how far his head has moved from the start to the end of his arm stroke, almost one body length. This is close to perfect, given that his arm is about half his body length. He makes his catch and there is virtually no “slip” of his arm backward through the water. This is a true “anchor” catch.

All this is made possible by proper catch and pull execution, a lot of power built over many years of training, and a very streamlined body behind it.

Kicking

He has not started his kick. His left leg is straight and extended well above his hip, as if in a Superman position, with his heel just touching the surface. This requires great hip flexibility and strength. His same-side arm is fully extended, and he is breathing. Most amateurs let their legs drop below hip level when breathing and this creates drag.

He begins his kick with a slight push down of the knee (driven by the hips). His foot is still high but is getting ready to power down as his knee extends. In this shot you can see that his quad is a bit lower than his hip for a split-second. All this begins as he is making his catch. It is the timing of a tall swimmer who fully extends out front every stroke.

He snaps his knee right, extending it, as the catch is completed. This provides some force to help him rotate his hips and gives leverage for his pull. After that movement however, the leg needs to be out of the way, and it is – perfectly straight behind him, in line with the left arm that’s about to pull. His knee has actually moved UP as his kick finishes DOWN, so there is little net movement of the entire leg downward. With good ankle flexibility most of the force will be backward. There will be no drag caused by his leg during the pull.

His left leg is still straight as he pulls, and creates no drag. His hips are at the surface (you can see them just breaking the water line) which is critical to reduce drag. You can see his right leg fully recovered (and straight) above his hips and breaking the surface. He’s as streamlined as you can get, so the power of his left arm pull is all going toward moving him forward vs. overcoming lower body drag.
 


Left leg is still straight… You can see the right knee begin to drive down to start that kick.

This is where many amateurs create drag. Instead of maintaining a straight leg after they kick, their hamstring overreacts and pulls the foot up toward the surface. This creates a ton of drag against the calf and the back of the foot, and leaves the knee bent and below the bodyline. This is especially important for a 2-beat kick since it is mostly arm driven and any leg drag is highly detrimental.