Richard Quick: Becoming a Champion Swimmer - Freestyle - A Balanced Body

This video is just a clip from coach Richard Quick's video on Becoming a Champion Swimmer - Freestyle which I highly recommend viewing, but specifically listen to what he says right at the end of this clip.  

Quote:
"Your arms in swimming freestyle are balancing tools before they are propelling tools."

R. Arm in Balance or Stabilization Phase  & L. Arm in Propulsion in Phase

A lot of you have heard this from me before in training or in lessons.  Let me explain again, when your lead arm enters the water must first stabilize the body along the long-axis (i.e. reach and turn of the body to the side), then once it's balanced the body, the lead arm can seamlessly continue it's path of motion into the propulsive or pull phase of the stroke. 

In short, some ABC's to think about:
A - Alignment of recovery arm (on the Grid) on entry and reach phase of stroke
B - Balance the body along the long-axis of the lead arm (for those who have to my Rolling Class this is obvious) - this is non-propulsive
C - Catch, anchor and pull - this is propulsive phase of the stroke

Conclusion:
As in other aspects of human movement in sport, you must achieve a balance or stable position on the Grid of the Body in the water (more later on this), before you can exert force to create intentional movement or propulsion.

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Brett J. Lemire, DC CSCS, founder of Universal Chiropractic Spine & Sport in Elk Grove.  Dr. Brett is also a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist through the NSCA, has been trained in Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization (DNS) according to Kolar.  He has taken numerous post-graduate courses with some of the world’s leading authorities in Manual Medicine, Spine and Sports Rehabilitation techniques.  You can contract Dr. Lemire at 916-683-3900.