Catch And Pull In The Freestyle Stroke关于自由泳“抓水”和“拉水”似是而非的说法

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

Did you know? Pushing water down at the front of your stroke not only ruins your catch, it also acts to sink your legs.

This is because your body acts like a see-saw in the water -Pushing the water down lifts your front end up but pushes your legs down low into the water, creating lots of extra drag:

Does your swimming technique 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 technique. 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 technique 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 change to a good technique and 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."

Andrew drops his wrists - 'applying the brakes' - as he tries to overly lengthen his stroke. This is very common to see.
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 have this in your technique 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 this technique 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 the guide on how NOT to catch and pull, so how should I be doing it instead?

误解：
打消一些关于你们肯定曾经听过的抓水方面的普遍误解

“当你做得正确的时候，你似乎感觉你已经获得对水巨大的把握，感觉一个巨大的拉力阻力。”

不正确！INCORRECT.
    一个良好的抓水将让你感觉正抚摸着水，锁定它并压水向你的后方。
    对比这个，多数游泳者所做的——在划臂的前方向下压水多于向后。向下压水在手掌上产生很大压力，因为你正在改变水流路线（由朝向你流动改为向下）。当你改为一个正确的技术，开始拉水向你的身后——帮助它（水流）顺着它自己路线——你一定会更好地感觉手掌的压力更小。


"You need to make your stroke as long as physically possible for your catch to be efficient."
"为了使你的划水变得有效率，你需要使你的划程尽身体可能划得更长"

安得鲁掉下他的手腕——“犹如拉拉车”——因为他正尝试过度地延长他的划臂。这是非常常见的。（注：此处附有视频，没法上传）
不正确！INCORRECT.
事实上，恰恰相反。在我们的经验中，当游泳者尝试使他们的划水距离尽可能长的时候，通常他们会在他们的划臂前方伸臂过远。这很难做到不沉腕沉肘。“沉腕”使手掌面向前方——进入流向你的水中。当你技术有这种情形的时候，你将会感觉到手掌上有来自水流的压力（类似我们武术中的推掌动作，译者注），大多数泳者误认为这是一个良好的抓水。具有讽刺意味地，沉腕和沉肘是一件你为你的抓水做最坏的事情。下面我们将有更多的解释：
当你游泳时，不要尝试划臂过远。最好是略为减少到达的距离并得到一个更好的抓水。它将使游泳更有效率，也更有节奏。

You should pull through like you're describing an ‘S-Pull shape' under the body.
你划过的路线应该象你正在身下写一个“S"形。

不正确！ INCORRECT.

过去的几个世纪，游泳者都被教育说要大拇指先入水，然后压出（相当于手掌沿前进方向轴有一个顺时针旋转动作，并有外划动作，译者注），向内回扫，最后当手掠过他们的大腿时回臂出水，这将产生一个“S“形。大家相信这种技术会增加划水距离，，即在你的身下，你的手掌正沿比直线划水更长的路线划水。然而，这样做的好处却从来没有被证明过——相对于直线划，它不提供任何动力方面的优势（看下面）。事实上，它更慢。
    可能S形划水最大的危险是：拇指领先入水是造成肩伤和肩部疼痛的主要原因。我们建议你们应象对待瘟疫一样避开它。

The Correct Catch And Pull Technique


1. ENTRY TECHNIQUE
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 TECHNIQUE

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 TECHNIQUE

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 TECHNIQUE
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 technique, but one that is not overly long.

Good job!

Early Vertical Forearm (EVF)
EVF is the current buzz phrase in the elite swimming world, it refers to achieving a vertical forearm position as early as possible during the catch and then maintaining it through the pull phase. Pioneered by Australian freestyle greats such as Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett, EVF offers the potential for greater propulsion.

EVF is becoming increasingly prominent outside of the elite swimmer world as some swimming coaches are now teaching this technique to non-elite swimmers too. Here are our thoughts on this emerging area:

- Extreme EVF used by elite swimmers requires a great deal of shoulder mobility and stability. Most amateur swimmers do not have this specific flexibility or strength and because of this they risk shoulder injury by attempting extreme EVF - particularly if they do not have the benefit of close coaching.
When coaching advanced swimmers, we have found that extreme EVF requires extremely good rhythm and timing to be effective. The vast majority of non-elite swimmers lack the flexibility and co-ordination to achieve an extreme EVF position at racing speeds.

- As a rule, beginner and intermediate swimmers have very poor catches with dropped elbows, dropped wrist hand positions and very little elbow bend. During the catch phase they tend to push down on the water rather than pushing it back behind them. This is also common to see in advanced level swimmer's stroke technique. For nearly every non-elite swimmer and triathlete, there is a very large scope for improvement in their catch without aiming for extreme-EVF positions.

In our opinion, extreme EVF isn't a priority for the vast majority of amateur swimmers and triathletes. Simply developing a good 'conventional' catch (you could call this 'non-extreme EVF') will improve their propulsion dramatically. we coach such a catch to non-elite swimmers, as we described in the section above. A conventional catch technique is much more achievable for those with non-elite skill levels and carries a much lower injury risk.

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 technique 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.

To best develop your propulsive technique you need the full range of Swim Smooth drills and techniques in our DVD Boxset to work from. They will help you isolate and practise each movement in turn. There are several simple techniques we use to help you tune into the feelings of the catch and pull whatever level of swimmer you are - beginner, intermediate or advanced.

正确的抓水和拉水技术 The Correct Catch And Pull Technique

1. ENTRY TECHNIQUE（入水技术）

      (图一）当你手入水，要注意确实是按着指尖先入水来做的。顺着该侧肩部前方向前延长，同时中指指向泳池对岸方向。避免跨过中线，这是保持后续的高肘抓水和拉水的一个关键。

2. EXTENSION TECHNIQUE（扩展技术）

     （图二）当你以一个良好的身体滚动向前进的时候（这里滚动非常重要），确保你的手掌面向池底，但指尖的角度略微低一点。这应该是从手腕处弯曲（而不是指关节），我们需要你保持手掌是平着张开，手指放松地并拢在一起。
避免“拉刹车”并伴有沉腕和向前推动作。（你一定很惊讶有太多的游泳者做这样的动作！）


3. INITIAL CATCH TECHNIQUE（初始的抓水技术）

     (图三）全程无沉肘，感觉象你正翻倒你的一个桶前面的指尖（又要在腕部弯曲）它将开始抓水。同时开始弯曲肘部并用前臂接近垂直的姿势向后压水，
    这是你在抓水中保持高肘的全部。
    一个易记的方法是想象这样的行为，即当你游泳时，要展示一个画在你手掌中的笑脸。当你开始抓水时，向下翻倒你的指尖向你刚离开的池壁展示你掌上的笑脸。这象是锁定你的手到位，有效地感觉到水。
    现在你将向后压水多于向下推水。
  
4. PULL THROUGH TECHNIQUE（拉水通过技术）

集中你的努力只是向你身后后压水，手掌一直向后“看”。.
相比良好的滚身，这个拉水过程带来一个有效的长划臂技术，但这个并不长得过度。
很好！

Early Vertical Forearm (EVF)（早竖前臂，简称EVF）


   “早竖前臂”是目前在世界优秀游泳领域近似的词语，它是参考“在整个抓水过程中，尽早实现一个前臂垂直的姿势然后保持它到通过划水过程”词语的意思。由澳大利亚自由泳巨星首创，如索普和哈克特。EVF 提供一个更大的潜在动力。EVF正变得日益突出，在优秀游泳者世界之外，一些游泳教练也正在教授这一技术给不怎么优秀的游泳者。这是我们在这一急切领域的一些想法：
    被杰出的游泳运动员使用的极端EVF要求有非常灵活和稳定的肩。大多数业余游泳者没有这种专门的灵活性力量，正因为这样，他们企图进行极端EVF将冒肩部受伤的风险——特别是如果他们没有身边的教练，
    当教授高级游泳者时，我们已经发现极端EVF要求极其良好的节律和时机才会起效。绝大多数非优秀的游泳者在比赛速度下缺乏实现极端EVF姿势的灵活性和协调性。
     作为一个规律，初级和中级选手都会有不好的抓水技术，有沉肘，沉腕的手部姿势，很少有曲肘的。整个抓水过程，他们倾向于在上面向下推水，远多于向后推水到身后。这还是我们在高级选手的划水技术中看到的。几乎每个非优秀的游泳者和铁三选手，在目标不瞄向极端EVF姿势情况下，他们的抓水都有一个非常大的提高范围。
    我们的观点是，极端EVF对于绝大多数业余游泳爱好者和铁三选手都不是一个优选。只需开发一个良好的“常规的”抓水（你可以称之为‘非极端EVF’）将显著提高你的动力。正如我们在前段中描述的，一个常规的抓水技术对于非优秀游泳者更具现实性，同时会带给你更少的受伤风险。


Summary总结
   当你们获得正确的抓水和拉水路线，它感觉象一种光滑流动的行为，它感觉容易但一直给你很多动力。你将会获得这样一种认识：你正在使用你胸大肌和背阔肌去驱动，以及运动的时机。努力提高你的抓水和拉水技术，避免陷阱，同时使用我们上述的小贴士。