I like to tell my swimmers that the catch is like engaging a clutch on a manual transmission auto. Position #1 is where you press down on the clutch. Position #2 is when you start to engage the clutch to get power. Position #3 is where the clutch is engaged and you're at top power.
As not being the youngest I restarted swimming to have an alternative to keep my fitness status during the winter months, not having swum contineously for years. Casually I found your videos and this time I must make you a big compliment. They are of best content which is commented in detail, and what I like most is the long sequences in slow motion with helpful explanations, really long, not only one or two cycles so that I can absorb them into my brain watching them repetitively. I've started to train according to your recommendations. Although not being very fast yet I've got a better feeling while crawling which hasn't been my preferred swim style ever. Big thanks from GER!
For a long time, I struggled to get the high elbow very early on in the catch. quite by chance, I found that 'shrugging' my shoulder put my whole arm in a position where the high elbow happened almost naturally. The Shrugging action did not require any muscular effort, rather it was just a seemingly slight change in position of my outstretched arm, a rotation in fact. I just wish someone had mentioned this a long time ago.
I recently made the exact same realisation. The shrugging of the shoulder was just a little trigger and everything else flowed so much more naturally after that. Glad someone had the same realisation!
Your videos have helped keep me focused on improving my technique when I couldn't always get in the pool during the pandemic. They are consistently excellent. Thank you for sharing them! (70 year old life-long swimmer)
It's called YMCA because of that Song/Video of the Village People, not because it resembles the letters;). Apart from that I have known this drill for a while now and it was the best swimming advice I ever got. I do it like the guy in the video - with snorkel and fins.
Thanks I've watched several of your posts. I changed my catch techniques which I've worked hard on. I just completed a 10k thatch did a year ago also. I knocked 37 minutes off last year's effort
thanks to Effortless Swimming, I am learned so much with this videos and this videos improves a little my english language greetings from Mexico and I love you Chloe Sutton
ThePatriotNurse Patriot RN swims, nice! Run for office woman. This country needs strong smart passionate women who have their head on straight .Especially regarding medical freedom. Rock on!💪🏼
How to get rid of the early pull and sinking on the front lead hand when i breath!? I breath on the right side and always have early left hand pull and sinking on left side!
What's not clear in most videos on catch is what happens in the setup. Is there any actual forceful pull? I'm sure for racing there is, but for regular swimming exercise, or long distance.
Thanks for your recap of key underwater positions. I've tried YMCA quite succesfully except for the M where I got several times water above my snorkel. M tends to send me deeper in the water. I felt better immediately when moving to the C with the sensation to come back up to the surface. How could I fix or overcome that drawback ? thanks again.
Hi there. Of all the available swim tips I found this the most straight forward and beneficial. The only question I have is the timing of putting the power on and where that occurs. Using the YMCA, is it in the transition from M to C, continuing through C to A?
lord vass imitate the catch and pull by tying an elastic cord around a pole, bending over so your upper body is flat facing the pole, and then just bending at your elbow while keeping your upper arm high.
Thanks so much for uploading this vid, I can’t wait to get trying this drill. I have been doing something similar where I practice my catch and pull one arm at a time. I can seem to keep a high elbow position when doing the drill but once it comes to actually swimming I struggle to keep a high elbow. I can’t seem to stop dropping my arm when pulling. Is there anything you recommend for trying to remedy this? Perhaps I am not flexible enough?
Shoulder-Elbow-Hand (SEH) should be aligned from the side view... that is very reasonable for the max surface area.. What is the angle of SEH from the front view?? which is best to maximize the power ??
As I start to go into the 2nd position I’ve been trying to rotate ever slightly my forearm toward my body to get the” fattest “ part of my forearm to catch the water.... is that an ok way to set myself up for the power diamond? I drop my elbow and trying to find a way to focus on keeping elbow high. Also. Thanks for video, going to practice the ymca drill and sing while I’m underwater!
Maria Tooker rotating your arm in towards your thumb is a good thing to think about during your early catch as it will help your elbow to stay high without really thinking about it!! High elbow in turn helps you create a strong power phase under your shoulder (diamond)
That final position. I thought elbow would be locked, I've always tried to do what feels like a cable tricep extension. I guess that's wrong unless hand pointing to feet, but then people talk about brushing ur mid thigh...
I'm from Sri Lanka I just wanted to know when you should turn your body?1.once your hand reach shoulder level or thigh pls clarify I should turn my whole body or above hips.thank you
when the male elite swimmer recovers and goes to the catch position with his right hand, he stops kicking (only kicks on left arm catch). Is there any reason/benefit to this please?
Richard Horn hey bro Andrew here. It’s a 4 beat kick, so there is inherently a part of the stroke you won’t be kicking, but mostly it’s just really comfortable for me and allows my stroke to flow without expending too much energy!!
Mamteusz Tadeusz 4 beat kick means you perform 4 kicks over the 2 stroke cycle. Unlike a 6 beat kick, the 4 beat kick is 4 fast kicks followed by a period of gliding with no kicks. The timing of when you do those 4 kicks is up to you to pick when you prefer and when it’s most comfortable to glide on. As you can see, I begin with the right kick with my right hand couch and then continue the three other kicks while I breath with the last kick lining up with the following left hand catch as I’m putting my head back down.
Good luck doing this without a snorkel and good luck finding a pool where you can use a snorkel. Most pools don't allow them. Shame really as center snorkels are a good tool
God its so frustrating to watch vids of guys like this doing everything wrong and killing it-this guy has eyes straight ahead, Josh Amberger has zero EVF...I could go on...
It's just not that easy to get Olympic champs to pose at the right angle :D he does talk about non-typical elements but focuses on the main topic of each video.
Put any questions below and I'll try to answer them!
I like to tell my swimmers that the catch is like engaging a clutch on a manual transmission auto. Position #1 is where you press down on the clutch. Position #2 is when you start to engage the clutch to get power. Position #3 is where the clutch is engaged and you're at top power.
@P1 Araf From position #2 start applying power
@@cmillholland great analogy
@@EffortlessSwimming - I'm noticing the timing on his kick. Do you have any drills to encourage kick timing with the catch?
@P1 Araf just before it
Thank you. This is the single best all-in-one video. I watch it often!
As not being the youngest I restarted swimming to have an alternative to keep my fitness status during the winter months, not having swum contineously for years. Casually I found your videos and this time I must make you a big compliment. They are of best content which is commented in detail, and what I like most is the long sequences in slow motion with helpful explanations, really long, not only one or two cycles so that I can absorb them into my brain watching them repetitively. I've started to train according to your recommendations. Although not being very fast yet I've got a better feeling while crawling which hasn't been my preferred swim style ever. Big thanks from GER!
For a long time, I struggled to get the high elbow very early on in the catch. quite by chance, I found that 'shrugging' my shoulder put my whole arm in a position where the high elbow happened almost naturally. The Shrugging action did not require any muscular effort, rather it was just a seemingly slight change in position of my outstretched arm, a rotation in fact. I just wish someone had mentioned this a long time ago.
I'm gonna give this a try!
I recently made the exact same realisation. The shrugging of the shoulder was just a little trigger and everything else flowed so much more naturally after that. Glad someone had the same realisation!
thank you for elaborating the positions, it makes it so much easier to understand
Your videos have helped keep me focused on improving my technique when I couldn't always get in the pool during the pandemic. They are consistently excellent. Thank you for sharing them! (70 year old life-long swimmer)
@Judy Aloha from Maui 70 year old OWS 🏊🏾♂️🏊🏾♂️
Thank you for sharing such valuable information for free!
That YMCA Drill helped me a lot - thanks 1000 times for that!!!
Superb. Clear, concise and immediately applicable.
Love the first sentence 😊
And the whole channel too!
It's called YMCA because of that Song/Video of the Village People, not because it resembles the letters;). Apart from that I have known this drill for a while now and it was the best swimming advice I ever got. I do it like the guy in the video - with snorkel and fins.
Thanks I've watched several of your posts. I changed my catch techniques which I've worked hard on. I just completed a 10k thatch did a year ago also. I knocked 37 minutes off last year's effort
Yew! Well done Douglas
thanks to Effortless Swimming, I am learned so much with this videos and this videos improves a little my english language greetings from Mexico and I love you Chloe Sutton
I am sorry Chloe Sutton
Great video! Breaking down the movements so specifically is amazingly helpful! Now just gotta get some fins and snorkel!
Thanks a million Brent, this is excellent for me 😎👍
I'm excited and nervous for my swim meet on saturday
me right now
Thank you!
ThePatriotNurse Patriot RN swims, nice! Run for office woman. This country needs strong smart passionate women who have their head on straight .Especially regarding medical freedom. Rock on!💪🏼
great video thanks.
Amazing video
Thanks for pointing out this key positions, but can you explain maybe how to get from position M to position C? Is it just by adducting the elbows?
How to get rid of the early pull and sinking on the front lead hand when i breath!? I breath on the right side and always have early left hand pull and sinking on left side!
What's not clear in most videos on catch is what happens in the setup. Is there any actual forceful pull? I'm sure for racing there is, but for regular swimming exercise, or long distance.
Exactly what I was searching for! Thanks a ton and subbed!
Thank you!
Excellent
Thanks for your recap of key underwater positions. I've tried YMCA quite succesfully except for the M where I got several times water above my snorkel. M tends to send me deeper in the water. I felt better immediately when moving to the C with the sensation to come back up to the surface. How could I fix or overcome that drawback ? thanks again.
Hi there. Of all the available swim tips I found this the most straight forward and beneficial. The only question I have is the timing of putting the power on and where that occurs. Using the YMCA, is it in the transition from M to C, continuing through C to A?
Yes you are right, if you put power on from y to m, you are just pushing down on the water
Do you have any drills or exercises out of pool for help catch propulsion ?
Thank you.
lord vass imitate the catch and pull by tying an elastic cord around a pole, bending over so your upper body is flat facing the pole, and then just bending at your elbow while keeping your upper arm high.
I noticed that the lats will not engage unless you extend your arm. Am I right? And is there a drill that teaches you how to extend? Thanks.
Thanks so much for uploading this vid, I can’t wait to get trying this drill. I have been doing something similar where I practice my catch and pull one arm at a time. I can seem to keep a high elbow position when doing the drill but once it comes to actually swimming I struggle to keep a high elbow. I can’t seem to stop dropping my arm when pulling. Is there anything you recommend for trying to remedy this? Perhaps I am not flexible enough?
By high elbow do u mean in the catch phase? What's a good description of a high elbow? Thank u.
On the "half diamond", should the angle of the hand from a straight-on view (like 2:53) optimally be 90 degrees?
Shoulder-Elbow-Hand (SEH) should be aligned from the side view... that is very reasonable for the max surface area.. What is the angle of SEH from the front view?? which is best to maximize the power ??
Is it faster in a 50m free to use a high elbow recovery or a straight arm recovery?
Very easy to remember - Young Man Christian Association .... Thanks Brenton
How about the technique for a straight arm recovery?
How many strokes/minute should I do to be able to do that?
Awesomw!
Golden 👍
Whenever I do this drill being in the M position causes me to nose dive and fills my snorkel with water what could I be doing wrong?
As I start to go into the 2nd position I’ve been trying to rotate ever slightly my forearm toward my body to get the” fattest “ part of my forearm to catch the water.... is that an ok way to set myself up for the power diamond? I drop my elbow and trying to find a way to focus on keeping elbow high. Also. Thanks for video, going to practice the ymca drill and sing while I’m underwater!
Maria Tooker rotating your arm in towards your thumb is a good thing to think about during your early catch as it will help your elbow to stay high without really thinking about it!!
High elbow in turn helps you create a strong power phase under your shoulder (diamond)
there's some internal rotation at the shoulder and elbow to go from Position #1 to #2, but don't over do where your arm is in an awkward position
That final position. I thought elbow would be locked, I've always tried to do what feels like a cable tricep extension. I guess that's wrong unless hand pointing to feet, but then people talk about brushing ur mid thigh...
The 4k positions. Thought it was a tv screen resolution
What kind of snorkel is that?
I'm from Sri Lanka I just wanted to know when you should turn your body?1.once your hand reach shoulder level or thigh pls clarify I should turn my whole body or above hips.thank you
As you see in the video from 0.01- 3.00 you should turn the whole body.
So do you have camps where I could come to work on swim
We have clinics in Australia and occasionally run overseas camps. Head to effortlessswimming.com for more details
Life guards looking at you like "is he doing the ymca under water??"
Très intéressant mon coude était beaucoup plus bas , merci je vais le corriger.
2:31, to me it appears like fingers below wrist, elbow below wrist.
when the male elite swimmer recovers and goes to the catch position with his right hand, he stops kicking (only kicks on left arm catch). Is there any reason/benefit to this please?
Richard Horn hey bro Andrew here. It’s a 4 beat kick, so there is inherently a part of the stroke you won’t be kicking, but mostly it’s just really comfortable for me and allows my stroke to flow without expending too much energy!!
@@spoor24 How many kicks do you perform on your breathing side while doing a 4 beat kick? 1 or 3? Does it even matter? Thanks!
Mamteusz Tadeusz 4 beat kick means you perform 4 kicks over the 2 stroke cycle. Unlike a 6 beat kick, the 4 beat kick is 4 fast kicks followed by a period of gliding with no kicks.
The timing of when you do those 4 kicks is up to you to pick when you prefer and when it’s most comfortable to glide on. As you can see, I begin with the right kick with my right hand couch and then continue the three other kicks while I breath with the last kick lining up with the following left hand catch as I’m putting my head back down.
Doesn't the guy look too far forward and not at the bottom of the pool?
Good luck doing this without a snorkel and good luck finding a pool where you can use a snorkel. Most pools don't allow them. Shame really as center snorkels are a good tool
Omg
Really like your video, but I had hard time understand your English:(
God its so frustrating to watch vids of guys like this doing everything wrong and killing it-this guy has eyes straight ahead, Josh Amberger has zero EVF...I could go on...
It's just not that easy to get Olympic champs to pose at the right angle :D he does talk about non-typical elements but focuses on the main topic of each video.
Head in bad position imo.