“With power comes great responsibility”
Attributed to Voltaire and also said by Uncle Ben in Spiderman.
The swim stroke is broken into three phases:
The catch phase – which can be a speerfish, over the barrell, or a classic reach and set pool catch.
The power phase – the middle part of your stroke, which involves a press to get the wrist back to the elbow.
The propulsion phase – In a distance race it is the back or the finish of your stroke – in a sprint you need to make it happen earlier by catching earlier and engaging your latissimus dorsi earlier.
After working at Swim Labs for over a year, and spending countless hours researching, analyzing, and measuring angles of hundreds of elite swimmers in the power phase, I have found that is that there is a 41 degree angle of power with the elbows out and the forearms and wrists in, in the power phase.
Katie Ledecky and Michael Phelps are both at 41 degrees. They both have made a Superman logo in the middle of their stroke. Think of a very solid T (sternum and shoulders,) and inflated chest and the Superman logo. Not only do you need to get the angle right but to have full power of the latissimus dorsi, you also need to have the wrist and forearm in line and the hand down to engage the full power of the latissimus dorsi.
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