Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett › Forums › Shoulder › Swimming and shoulder health

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    • 08/09/2014 at 12:47 pm #71061
      AvatarCoty Cruse
      Participant

      I´m trying to learn the crawl, but get stuck on shoulder position in the catch. From my perspective it looks like most promote some weird, horribly internally rotated position that looks like it would kill my shoulders in 5 minutes. Am I misunderstanding something or is it one of those “sport specific” compromises?

      Does anyone know a resource that treats the crawl with shoulder health as priority? I want to improve my swimming, but not if it´s going to cost me a healthy pair of shoulders.
      Thanks!
      /Peter
    • 08/09/2014 at 1:40 pm #75068
      AvatarTaheer Ilyas
      Participant

      Hi Peter, not a swimmer here but there is a Pro Episode dedicated to swimming which was done a few weeks ago. 


    • 08/09/2014 at 4:16 pm #75070
      AvatarNathan Richer
      Participant

      i assume you mean the early vertical forearm (EVF) catch? you don’t need to do the EVF to swim freestyle.  you can simply spear a little deeper with the forward arm, relax the hand at the wrist, and your hand is already “catch-ed” at extension.  then, just stroke back from that position.

      many pros will execute EVF in what you describe as a horrible position on the shoulder. this is because they are creating the EVF catch before their body has rotated to the other side. this is especially true for sprinters whose goal is to have maximal stroke rate and they need to catch almost as soon as they fully extend forward to keep a fast tempo.  It does substantially raise the risk of injury to the shoulder and arm if you do this a lot. 
      if you are hell bent on learning EVF, i would direct you to this video: http://youtu.be/tDmQiHQ8mW8.  if you execute the EVF as you are spearing fwd with the other arm, this puts your shoulder in a much better position as the catch happens.

    • 08/09/2014 at 4:23 pm #75071
      AvatarNathan Richer
      Participant

      oh you asked about shoulder health as a priority during swimming – Total Immersion teaches swimming that creates arm movements in shoulder-safe paths.

    • 08/10/2014 at 8:27 am #75073
      AvatarCoty Cruse
      Participant

      Thanks alot for the help! Got some stuff to work on for sure..

      David: You wouldn´t happen to know a video or other visual demo of the stroke you talk about as an alternative to doing the EVF catch?

      Thanks again

    • 08/10/2014 at 9:20 am #75074
      AvatarNathan Richer
      Participant

      try this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9FwQA3g_Ak

      notice that when he spears, his arm is at an angle of 30-40 degrees down. most people try too hard to spear horizontally so you may need to pay special attention to that. but spearing deeper sets up the hand automatically in a “catch-ed” position, especially if it is relaxed with the fingers drooping downwards. you just need to pull the hand back after you fully extend.
    • 08/10/2014 at 7:08 pm #75077
      AvatarKelly Waters
      Member

      I’d like to add that fully extending your arm horizontally before your underwater pull places more stress on your shoulder too.  I always coach my athletes to aim to have the elbow slightly bent (obviously more bent for sprinting, unless their trying straight arm freestyle) before they initiate the underwater pull.

    • 08/13/2014 at 8:51 am #75087
      AvatarCoty Cruse
      Participant

      Thanks again for all the help. I appreciate it!

      /Peter

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