Rotate Your Hips Before Applying Power

All the very best swimmers initiate their hip rotation before applying power in the pull. Remember the catch is not the power phase, use this as the 'setup' phase to then apply power once your hand and forearm are angled to press back against the water. In tomorrow's video we'll show you why this timing is so important.

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[masherida]

Think this is one of my favourite videos. I watched this before cracking 25mile Lake Memphremagog from US>Canada in 13hrs8mins - really helped me feel in control, totally pain free and maintain rhythm . Really like watching one of your videos before training or a big event to try and cultivate best practise. Many thanks Brenton.

[CK-hozf]

Thank you so much.
After 6 months of gulping chlorine it finally clicked!!!
Let the hips drive first ...the body will follow. Cleared up my breathing issues.
Rock not roll! Yeah!

[lordful]

Hands down the best instruction swim channel on youtube!
Thank you

[johntaylor]

Great video. I love watching swimming tuition. I watch them before getting in the pool

[davitein]

We all have that one technique tip that made a big difference. For me, it was this one, which helped me swim beyond 50 meters without getting exhausted.

Thanks ❤

[robohippy]

Eduardo Cavanagh
Rotating only the hips (which entails the rotation of the lower part of the body) would generate an opposite rotation of the upper body, because of conservation of angular momentum. To rotate the whole body, you need to get some external torque to generate the rotation, and that is the the kick hitting against the water. Additional benefit of this rotation is the protection of the shoulder girdle, as Adam Walker found out, because the shoulder is already rotated before applying force, .

@Eduardo Cavanagh, I don't know where your response went. Ran into some thing similar some years back on my woodturning channel where some one was upset because I erased his comment, but I didn't even know how to do that.... The exercise that will settle the issue, to me, is a kicking lap or length of the pool. One exercise I saw was called a 6/6 drill where the swimmer is swimming on their side, so totally vertical. 6 kicks on that side, then a quick snap roll to the other side, 6 more kicks and snap roll back to the first side. I do a 6 beat kick pattern, so 3 kicks on one side with 45 degree body rotation, roll, then 3 more kicks on that side. Same results. The low side shoulder, which correlates to the pulling arm, rotates slightly before the hips do. Always, every single time. I have spent a number of laps trying to get my hips to rotate first. Can't do it, at all. People have no trouble figuring out that the dolphin kick power chain moves from shoulders to the feet, of from mid body to feet on the breathing stroke. For reasons I don't understand, they think it changes when you switch to flutter kick. It is impossible for the feet to rotate the shoulders. For one, they have no leverage, never kicking wider than your shoulders, which is where the leverage/spiral action starts on land based sports. The spiral energy can not rotate out to your feet and hands from the middle. The only lever you have that goes wider than the shoulders is your pulling arm. The front side kick (down in freestyle, up in back stroke) links to the pulling arm just as you enter the power phase of the pull. I have watched a little of Adam Ocean Walker's videos. He does take the Total Immersion method up another notch or three. Those that have shoulder problems get those problems from trying to drive the hip rotation from the recover arm. When we swim freestyle, the shoulders to not move at the same time, the pulling arm starts the rotation, the hips rotate, then the recover arm finishes that rotation. This is easy to see in any slow motion freestyle video. This also explains why the 1 kick is the power/surge kick, with the 2, 4, and 6 beat kick patterns. The amplitude does not change/your kick does not get bigger to create more power, it is linking the body rotation from the arm through the feet. I have heard no other explanation that makes sense. Every single 2 beat kick video for freestyle shows the same thing, pulling arm enters power phase, front side kick on that same side, then recover arm enters the water. There are a number who teach it this way now. 10 or so years ago, no one did.

With land based sports, you start the rotation at the feet, not the hips. you either have your feet at or slightly wider than your shoulders like with a Karate punch, or you are stepping into the rotation like a baseball pitcher. The rotation goes from feet through hips, up to shoulders, and out the hand/fingers. The end result is maximum power for pushing/throwing some thing away from you. We do throw our arms forward a bit when swimming, for max extension, but the power part of the arms is the pulling motion. The feet have nothing to lever against to generate torque. The water is too soft to allow for any real power. This is why the arms generate 85% or so of our thrust, and the feet generate so much less, except for breast stroke....

[getsmartpaul]

Beginner Freestyler here. I will try this tip on hip rotation before power pull ! Hope it helps to resolve breathing timing too.

[Jihem]

thanks a lot for the advice.
After my session at the pool this afternoon, I confirm that this rotation induce the engagement of the lats when power is applied. I felt it right in my muscles...
From France JMarc

[robertot.m.]

Superb advice !!! It really works and I clearly feel the difference in kicking before or after applying Max power, thanks for the vídeos!!!

[PeaceAndDialog]

the theory makes sense now, lets see how thats going to translate in the pool. Thank you!

[LiaTacB]

I passed my 400m exam thx to your videos <3

[VovaiLvova]

for years my power phase was the setup phase. i changed that around and it feels faster and smoother

[notakethisname]

This video is awesome!!! Thank you so much. You cleared a lot of things up.

[robohippy]

Well, I will probably have to watch this one several more times.... One of the mysteries, to me, is the idea that the hips generate the torque/spiral action/twisting of the body that generates more power into the stroke, both feet and arms. To me, the pulling arm starts the shoulder rotation. With your video, I am thinking that the catch phase/down stroke part of the arm stroke, initiates the rotation, and the pull/power part of the stroke kind of drives that rotation into high gear. This transfers all that energy into the first down kick in the 6 beat kick, then the recover arm follows through. The biggest difference I notice between the two swimmers here is that the woman is one of those swimmers whose hand enters the water right by her ears rather than extending out about 3/4 of the way to full arm extension, before entering the water.

[dcoughman]

I noticed something else in the timing of freestyle. I'm looking at the other arm. Right after the hand enters the water, the body starts rotating. Until now I've been rotating the body at the same time that the hand enters the water. But now I stay on my side longer and start rotating back just after my hand enters.

[jc]

Hip rotation begins with the kick downbeat which happens exactly with the opposite hand entry. Three-way coordinated movements.

Hip rotation back to flat begins with the same side downbeat kick with the same side hand catch (under shoulders) and start of power phase.

To feel the rotational effect of a downbeat kick, lie on the floor and experiment with pushing down, hard, with two legs or one leg, and de-activate (relax) the glutes…you will feel the bum cheeks go up in the air, either both or one side. In the water, this experiment will be easier due to less resistance under the opposite side hip (water is softer than the floor). Now if you keep the core solid, essentially connecting the thoracic and lumbar spine, the whole body will rotate in unison very easily. No more twisting and wobbling through the water.

[leventakn]

I believe if we perform the rotaion in relation to the recovering arm and then starting the catch according to the recovering arm's position, it can be easier.

[curleynollaigh]

Which is better, improve distance per stroke or faster stroke rate.

[yangyang]

my understanding is that, take the example where you stroke on the left side, you kick left leg down, to push left hip up and rotate to the right side, that leaves left arm in a more comfortable position (extended to the side more, instead of deep below chest) to start the power stroke. is this sort of right? thanks!

[trykozmaksym]

Thank you! So it's the hip opposite to the arm in power phase that gets the hips rotated due to diagonal connection!
I couldn't understand this video for so long because of looking at the same side with the arm :)