FRS04 Category: Freestyle Hand entry/recovery variations

Description:       

Various arm recovery methods can be used along with any desired kick cycles.

Purpose:             

Allows the swimmer to focus on their elbow, hand and arm position on recovery (typically encouraging a high elbow on recovery) as well as the hand entry height and angles (both the side-to-side angle as well as the downward angle).

Variations:    

Variables that can be incorporated into all variations:

• Tech Snorkel trains a neutral head position and side-of-mouth breathing
• InHaler is ideal with all of these drills to train a very low head to breath behind the bow wave
• Power Bags on the feet will develop kick power and train the kick to stay close to the surface
• Power Bags on the calves helps focus on reducing knee bend for a hip-driven kick
• Glide paddle is essential for the non-stroking arm when that arm is up as it will accentuate any instability in the front hand or body balance (GIF)
• KickBand and 1Flexband around the ankles will help power up the kick muscles

FRS04-01 Stun gun  (Hesitation on recovery arm)  (GIF) (Full Video Link)

• Hesitate on recovery with the hand poised over the head and pointing forward
• Elbow should be completely perpendicular to body when it freezes overhead
• Encourages a very high rotation and can focus on precise hand entry angles
• Try this drill with and without Glide paddles  to focus on quality of hand entry
• This is similar to the Russian Crawl in which the recovering arm slows down to slow motion and focuses on a high elbow and stops (with the elbow straight up) for a few seconds  and then focus on a strong hand entry and switch arms.

FRS04-02 Zipper Drill (thumb drags side of body on recovery) (GIF) (Full Video Link)

• As arm recovers, the thumb is drug along the side of the body completely over the head
• Create a high rotation and allows time to think about hand entry quality

FRS04-03 Fingertip Drag (fingertips drag through water on recovery) (GIF) (Full Video Link)

– Drag fingertips through water on recovery arm

– Encourages a high elbow recovery and focus on hand entry

– Tends to discourage full rotation

– Change from dragging fingertips – to hand – to wrist, to whole forearm

– Makes a ‘sailboat’ on top of water (arm makes shape of sail)

FRS04-04 Wrist Drag (Entire hand drags through water on recovery)

• Same as the Fingertip Drag (FRS04-03) but the swimmer drags the entire hand underwater
• Encourages a shortened hand entry position and a high elbow on recovery

FRS04-05 Salute Drill

• Recover with the arm straight overhead and stop with the arm directly up, then bend the elbow and bring the hand to the head in a salute motion, and then return the hand straight up before bending at the elbow again and driving the hand directly into the water above the head
• This can encourage a ‘thumb down’ hand entry so attention should be given to rotation the hand so it is flat as it enters the water