Straight arm freestyle

Submitted by Anonymous Athlete on Mon, 04/12/2010 - 17:06

Ask The Village Experts

What are your feelings when it comes to straight arm freestyle. Okay during 50's and 100's, but not at distance? Or never a good idea?

My thoughts on straight arm

Submitted by Ryan Woodruff on Tue, 04/13/2010 - 23:53.

As with most technical variations, straight arm freestyle can work for some people. I would be more likely to recommend it for a sprinter, someone with great upper body strength, and durable shoulders. I hesitate to teach it to age groupers. Seldom do you see distance swimmers swimming straight arm, but there was also a time when you didn't see anybody dolphin kicking off the wall, but now it is commonplace. Just because it hasn't been done doesn't mean it can't be done or isn't a good idea. If I can see a video of you swimming and get a little of your swimming history, I can tell you if experimenting with straight-arm free might be right for you (yes, that's a shameless plug).

Ryan Woodruff
ncacheadcoach@gmail.com

Have you tried the straight

Submitted by Free-Thinker on Fri, 04/16/2010 - 00:36.

Have you tried the straight arm approach in practice yet? If so, how did it go? It seems to take a tremendous amount of stregth and endurence to sustain the straight arms for a 50, I'm interested to see if many people adopt this technique now that the suits are gone. Let us know how it goes in practice and we can go from there.