Arm Setup

keep getting your arms into the water just the way you are doing that now. But when you get to full extension - pause for just a moment. This does a number of things - it lets your hand and forearm glide into "quiet" water (past the turbulence you created on entry - you will get a better hold on quiet water) - it keeps your body longer in the water for more of the stroke cycle (longer displacement hull forms are faster - every inch of body length matters, which is why all freestyle sprint champions look more like basketball players than football players) - and it allows time for your body rotation your other arm to begin getting you rotated to the other side.

As far as the coordination goes - the catch should occur just as your balance begins to shift from your lower side (the arm stroke side) to the recovering arm side. When that happens the stroking arm holds a spot in the water while the forward-moving energy of the recovering arm helps to lever the body past that spot. Sprinters turn over faster so that their arms from elbow to elbow function almost like a kayak paddle (they are pulling on one end and pressing on the other). Endurance swimmers use the same levering action

As far as the coordination goes - the catch should occur just as your balance begins to shift from your lower side (the arm stroke side) to the recovering arm side. When that happens the stroking arm holds a spot in the water while the balance shift helps to lever your body past that spot. Actually without the EVF catch you can practice this "balance shift" timing by swimming very slowly and focusing on the balance shift - when you get it right you will feel yourself shoot ahead, and when you miss you will feel like you slipped.

Most Common Issue - Tilted Forward

A lot of pretty good swimmers swim this way. With years of practice you can minimize the impact of a tilted head position, but the vast majority of those who swim this way will never be more than just pretty good. Look at the two "hull forms" above. If you could take your thumbs and push both of these "boats" in the water, which one do you think would move more smoothly, straighter and further?

Swimming with the head tilted forward is probably the most common postural problem in swimming, and it complicates every other aspect of the freestyle stroke:

• Breathing - you need to lift your head too high (which will sink your back end), or lower your head first and then roll your face to the air (which takes too long)
• Posture - it breaks the connection between your head and chest (your head is the proverbial loose cannon on deck) - and it arches your back (so you move through the water like a banana instead of like a torpedo)
• Rotation - with an arched back, rotation is slower and more restricted
• Armstroke - because the shoulder girdle tilts forward, it is more difficult to get your arms out of the water, which creates a host of problems: it is more stressful on your shoulders, you will recover them closer to the surface (a problem in open water); you will tend to drive your hands across your head on entry (rather than straight ahead, in the direction of travel), and you will be more likely to pull under your body and cross your centerline during the pull (which is like putting your paddle under your kayak - you can get some power that way, but then you have the problem of how to get it out)
• Kicking - it puts downward pressure on your hips, forcing you to kick harder to keep your hips afloat

First perform the Side Balance and Extended Side Balance drills focusing strictly on head position: look straight down at the line on the bottom. Breathe by just rolling your face to the air. Use fins to maintain momentum.

Then return to freestyle swimming, at a realxed pace initially, to burn in the correct head position.