Discover your life aquatic

Key points:

• Check sessions notes after each session: 
• Practice between pool sessions!
• Use them to help guide your practice by exploring what we covered in greater detail or working on things you feel you need more experience with.
• If you can't get to a pool between Tuesday and Thursday sessions, look to practice dry land drills at a minimum.
• You are looking to supply your coaches with more information on how you feel with the exercises and drills, sensations, questions and any obstacles, or successes you've experienced. Feel free to email or phone us to discuss!

Dryland:  Stroke Recovery, Entry, and Extension

We continue our look at the stroke motion from the recovery all the way to entry into the water and extension with rotation on dry land to identify areas for exploration and reducing effort and tension.

Run through the key points one at a time.

Using mirrors on dry land or at home.

Review "Stroke Recovery Motion" from Session #3 and the following focus points:

• Elbow wide over the water, not your body.
• 90 degree elbow bend in front of your chest
• Lead with elbow as far above your shoulder as is comfortable, relaxing arm and maintaining glide position

Key points of entry, extension, and switching sides:

• Aim hand and forearm with palm down for the entry, pivoting them roughly 45 degree forward from their vertical orientation, holding elbow relatively still; perform with minimal effort and tension in arm, hand, and fingers.
• Extension (part 1):visualize extending your arm into the water (above your head) without rotation to isolate the entry motion
• Extension (part 2): Extend arm forward (above your head) and rotate into glide on the other side in one smooth and controlled motion.

Important: It is very helpful to practice in front of a mirror and with slow, delibertate movements so that you can truly get a sense of tension and tendencies in your body that perhaps put you in a less desirable position. Moving slowly at first will also allow you to discover options for your movements and body positions throughout the sequence. Try with eyes closed and when you open them are you in a perfect glide posture? If not, what has gone astray is your "tendency", so keep working to develop awareness of that tendency and the differences to it.

Pool Focus: Review of Glide with Breath, Stroke Mechanics, and Introduction to Single Switch

1. Glide review with focus on head turn and breath mechanics (15 minutes)

• Head alignment (relaxed neck, nose down)
• Degree of torso rotation
• Arms in position (front arm extended but not reaching, other arm relaxed but held close to hip and thigh)
• Head turns while maintaining neck and spine alignment
• Exhaling during head turn through nose
• Checking head alignment with spine (leave crown of head in the water)

2. Recovery, Entry and Extension Practice (10-15 minutes))

Primary fundamental in this process is to maintain glide position as you bring your arm forward in the recovery:

• Review main recovery points with and without fins.

Discovery of Entry (Aiming hand) and Extension

• Aim your hand for the entry with minimal effort, holding elbow relatively still. Explore different ways to prepare hand, wrist and fingers for entry.
• Extension (part 1): extend arm into glide position without rotation to isolate the motion. Can you maintain your glide?
• Standing in water, discover recovery/aim/extension with different hand and forearm forms.

3. Single Switches  (30 minutes)

• Extend arm forward and comfortably switch to glide posture on your other side. How smooth and quickly can you land in perfect glide?
• Discover effect of timing and tension. Discover effect of visualizing your rotation as initial motion of forward extension. Do these affect the quality of your new glide form or experience?
• Pause after rotation to check position and evaluate quality of arm movements.
• Pause after rotation to check quality of your glide position after rotation. Make adjustments and discover how to find a more stable and balanced glide position.
• Try with and without fins.