Hand entry. The hand entry is so important, as it sets up a proper and powerful catch and pull.
🚫 In this photo, we see the left arm pushing out to the side, causing the athlete to snake her way down the lane AND placing extra stress on the shoulder joint.
🚫 We also see a right side hand entry that is thumbs down. <<<< If the athlete was a collegiate swimmer with thousands (upon thousands) of laps swam both as a youth and as an adult and has NOT shown any shoulder injury, this entry isn’t something we would necessarily change.
However, as an adult swimmer without a heavy swim background, this entry can lead to added stress on the shoulder joint….therefore increasing the rate of injury.
To correct: we aim for a more flat hand with fingers angled ever so slightly down. IF there has been previous injury to the shoulder, we will even go with a very slight pinky entry into the water. This places the LEAST amount of stress on the shoulder joint.
A healthy swimmer is step #1 to becoming a faster swimmer.
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