Has anyone notice the rhythm of Phelps freestyle. He does two
successive strokes and then a gap in between. Sort of like he throws a
one two punch and then there is a second gap between the next one two.
Also, he swims totally front quadrant with one arm. The left arm does
not start pulling until the right arm catches up. On the other hand,
the right arm doesn't wait for the left to start pulling.

Regarding his fly, his fly is really close to the water surface for
the top. Its as if he doesn't get that high up but his momentum is
directly forward. He keeps a low profile. Not that there is much wind
resistance, but his low profile should make him slighlty more
aerodynamic.

Comments about his or any other swimmer's mechanics?

On Aug 15, 10:30 am, "andresm...@aol.com" <andresm...@aol.com> wrote:
> Has anyone notice the rhythm of Phelps freestyle. He does two
> successive strokes and then a gap in between. Sort of like he throws a
> one two punch and then there is a second gap between the next one two.
> Also, he swims totally front quadrant with one arm. The left arm does
> not start pulling until the right arm catches up. On the other hand,
> the right arm doesn't wait for the left to start pulling.
>
> Regarding his fly, his fly is really close to the water surface for
> the top. Its as if he doesn't get that high up but his momentum is
> directly forward. He keeps a low profile. Not that there is much wind
> resistance, but his low profile should make him slighlty more
> aerodynamic.
>
> Comments about his or any other swimmer's mechanics?

Sorry, the one with the FQ on one side is Lezak

<andresmuro@aol.com> wrote in message
news:9c6dd63b-ca8b-4ebf-89b5-35d0052bc6a5@d45g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
> Has anyone notice the rhythm of Phelps freestyle. He does two
> successive strokes and then a gap in between. Sort of like he throws a
> one two punch and then there is a second gap between the next one two.
> Also, he swims totally front quadrant with one arm. The left arm does
> not start pulling until the right arm catches up. On the other hand,
> the right arm doesn't wait for the left to start pulling.
>
> Regarding his fly, his fly is really close to the water surface for
> the top. Its as if he doesn't get that high up but his momentum is
> directly forward. He keeps a low profile. Not that there is much wind
> resistance, but his low profile should make him slighlty more
> aerodynamic.
>
> Comments about his or any other swimmer's mechanics?

Phelps is a loper - that's certainly not unique among swimmers,
competitive or otherwise. Its merits have been debated forever, and the
conclusion always seems to be that the analyzers think the lopers would
do better if they evened out their stroke, and the lopers keep swimming
the way they think it's the fastest.

There have been lots of studies done to show that unequal development
from side to side is an indicator of increased risk of injury, so the
next question would be whether or not a loping swimmer actually shows
uneven development from side to side in terms of the basic like strength
and range of motion. I don't know that this has been studied but it
would be interesting to find out. It may be that Phelps can easily
enough breath on both sides (duh!) and can, in fact, lope to the left as
well as to the right, but he simply chooses not to for the distances at
which he competes, IOW, maybe he demonstrates a beautiful, balanced,
stroke in training but just not in racing short distances.

Last but not least, minds far greater than mine have observed that
high-level athletic performance is about high-level athletic performance
and little else - it carries a greater risk of injury than not pushing
one's self, and is therefore largely self-selecting. What you don't see
when you what Michael Phelps swim is the others who tried doing it like
he does, be that a loping stroke, the unbelievably intense training
schedule, or whatever else, and fallen by the wayside due to injury.
I've seen the same thing said of, e.g., Tour de France cyclists - that
position for the lower back isn't recommended by any orthopedist on the
planet, yet the nearly 200 cyclists who ride the Tour almost never
report back problems. Another example of a "self-selecting" process at
work.

Just my opinion.

-S-
http://www.kbnj.com