Catch and pull

[Source: East Coast Cycos newsletter in Tri-Rudy newsletter, December 10/09]

How to go about (and how not to go about) improving your feel for the water - a much misunderstood subject.

Does your stroke need more oomph? Do you lack propulsion? Long to get a better hold and feel for the water?

Everyone would love a better catch and pull. Not only will it make you faster, it will also make you more efficient. This is because a poor catch and pull wastes a lot of energy - get it right and you will swim at the same speed much more easily.

The single biggest difference between a normal swimmer and an elite swimmer is a vastly superior catch and pull. So why isn't everyone working on this secret of the freestyle stroke? Perhaps because it is the most misunderstood thing in swimming.

Many swimmers ignore their catch either unaware of how important it is or unsure of how to improve it. Others are going about trying to improve it the wrong way.

So what does that elusive great catch look like? More importantly, what does it feel like? In the article below we're going find out, starting out with some common misconceptions about the catch.

Misconceptions

Let's dispel some common misconceptions about the catch you might have heard:

"When you get it right, you feel like you've got a massive grasp on the water, feeling a huge amount of resistance with each pull."


A good catch and pull drives you forward with less effort, not more.

INCORRECT. A good catch will have you caressing the water, locking on and pressing the water back behind you. Contrast this to what most swimmers do - pressing the water down at the front of the stroke rather than back. Pressing water down creates a lot of pressure on the palm because you are changing the direction of the water flow (from towards you to downwards). When you start to pull the water back behind you - helping it on its way - you could well feel less pressure on the palm.

"You need to make your stroke as long as physically possible for your catch to be efficient."



INCORRECT. In fact the opposite is true. In our experience when swimmers try and make their stroke as long as possible they normally over-reach at the front of their stroke. This is very hard to do without dropping the wrist and elbow. Dropping the wrist shows the palm of the hand forwards - into the water flow towards you. When you do this you feel pressure on the palm from the flow and most swimmers mistake this for a good catch. Ironically, dropping the wrist and elbow is one of the worst things you can do for your catch. We'll explain more below.

When you're swimming, don't try and over-reach at the front of the stroke. It's better to have slightly less reach and a vastly better catch. It'll make things more efficient and more rhythmic too.

You should pull through like you're describing an ‘S-Pull shape' under the body.


There are few things worse for your shoulders than thumb first hand entry.

INCORRECT. In centuries past, swimmers were taught to enter into the water thumb-first, then press out, sweep back in, and then finally back out as their hands swept past their thighs. This would make an S-shape. It was believed that doing this would increase the length of your stroke as you were moving your hand on a longer pull-pathway under the body than if you pulled straight through. However, the benefits of doing this have since been disproved - it does not offer any advantage in propulsion versus a straight pull (see below), in fact it is slower.

Perhaps the greatest danger of an S shaped pull is that entering thumb-first is one of the leading causes of shoulder injury and pain. We suggest you avoid thumb-first entry like the plague.

OK, that was Swim Smooth's guide on how NOT to catch and pull, so how should I be doing it instead?

The Correct Catch And Pull

1. ENTRY

As your hand enters into the water, take care to make sure it does so finger-tips first, lengthening forward in front of the same shoulder with the middle finger pointing the way to the far end of the pool.

Avoid crossing over the centre line, this is critical to keeping a high elbow catch and pull through later on.

2. EXTENSION

As you reach forward with good body roll (roll being essential here), make sure you do so with the palm of the hand looking at the bottom of the pool, but with the finger tips angled slightly down.

This should be flexed from the wrist (not from the knuckles) we need to keep you palm flat and open, fingers closed loosely together.

Avoid "putting the brakes on" by dropping the wrist and pushing forward (you'd be surprised how many swimmers do this!)

3. INITIAL CATCH

At full reach and without dropping your elbow, feel like you are tipping your finger-tips over the front of a barrel (again flexing at the wrist), which will start the catch.

At the same time start bending the elbow and pressing back on the water with the forearm in a near-vertical position.

This is what keeping your elbows high on the catch is all about.

A memorable way to think about this action whilst you are swimming is to visualise a smiley face drawn on the palm of your hand. As you start the catch, tip your finger tips down and show that smiley face on your palm to the wall you just left. This is like locking your hand in place, effectively feeling-the-water.

You will now be pressing the water back behind you rather than pushing it down.

4. PULL THROUGH

Concentrate your efforts on simply pressing water back behind you with the palm of your hand still looking back behind you.

Combined with good rotation, this pull through will lead to an efficient long stroke, but one that is not overly long.

Good job!


Summary

When you get the catch and pull through right it feels like a smooth flowing action, it feels easy but still gives you lots of propulsion. You will have an awareness that you are using your larger pectoral and latissmus dorsi muscles (pecs and lats) to drive and time the movement.

Work on improving your catch and pull through by avoiding the pitfalls and using the tips we described above.

One reason the catch and pull is tricky to get right is that it's a chain of events. If one of the early movements is wrong (e.g. dropping the elbow and/or wrist) this then disrupts the water flow and knocks on into the other movements - disrupting the catch. Further to that, it's not easy to see what you are doing as you catch and pull as the actions are normally out of your line of sight.

A Useful Tool To Develop Your Catch

PT Paddles are a great tool to help you develop your catch. Unlike a normal paddle, they are designed to remove the grip and propulsion from your hand as you use them.

This allows you to focus on that bent elbow catch and pull to develop propulsion from the forearm. When you remove them and add your hands back in, your catch and pull will have developed more propulsion. Sweet.

PT Paddles - a very different sort of paddle. Great for your catch.