Swimming Technique: Reach & Rotation
We’ve been talking a lot about ‘distance per stroke’, about ‘getting the most from each stroke’. In many of the Swim Squad Online posts, I’ve mentioned propulsion. I’ve talked about generating a little more power on each stroke to help you travel further in the water.
And this is exactly what we want to do.
However, we also need to think about the length of the stroke and “allowing the stroke to finish” as one of our swimmers tells us below.
Swimmer Breakthrough
In a recent swim squad session, one swimmer had a bit of a breakthrough.
Instead of being in a rush to take the next stroke and generate some propulsion with another stroke, he lengthened each of his strokes a little.
What did he think?
“Wow! Not rushing into the next stroke made a big difference. I felt like I was ‘giving the stroke a chance’. I’ve not really benefited from this before. By reaching out in front, I felt like I ‘allowed the stroke to finish’ and could feel myself moving in the water, and feel the benefit from the extra power.”
This swimmer went on to tell me that he was now swimming faster, in fewer strokes, and with less effort.
The Holy Grail.
What is ‘The Reach’?
Your hand has entered the water and you’ve extended forwards, so your arm is nice and straight. The reach is where we just extend a little further, moving our shoulder forwards.
Why Focus On The Reach?
- Make each stroke that little bit longer
- Give the stroke some rhythm
- It adds some good rotation to the stroke (which, if done right, gives us more power on the pull)
- Gives us time to think and execute each stroke well
What We Should Think About During Our Session
✅ Extending our hands forwards fully, giving us a nice straight arm out in front.
✅ Including a very short glide before starting the catch and pull – we don’t want to be in a rush to take the next stroke.
✅ After hand entry and extension, and during the short glide, we are reaching forward that little bit extra – giving us a bit of rotation through our shoulders and chest.
✅ Keeping our leading arm (during the breathing stroke) high in the water – moving forwards – and not pressing down or pulling too early.
What Does Reach And Rotation Look Like?
The image below shows:
- Extending fully – the hand couldn’t be further forward.
- Shoulder in front of the chin
- Rotation (look at the angle of the chest)
- Hand (and arm) is slightly below the surface of the water – not right on the surface – taking a bit of pressure off the shoulder.
- Ready to start the catch
Swim Style
A lot of our swimmers prefer this style of swimming when we work on it during technique sets.
It feels nice.
It doesn’t feel rushed.
It feels like we’re in full control.
However, when we progress to some ‘faster’ swimming sets, the focus, patience and discipline disappears along with the long stroke and many swimmers revert to a shorter stroke and a faster stroke rate.
If that’s you, I’d urge you to keep the faith and stick with the long stroke.
A long stroke, with good rotation, makes the catch easier and the pull stronger. Which, in turn, makes our swimming quicker. And for a little less effort.
Once we have mastered this, we can then think about making our stroke rate a little quicker if we want to.
I hope that has helped you think about another aspect of your swim technique.
If you need further guidance on this or any other aspect of technique, consider our Technique Sessions or a 1-1 Session.
Enjoy the process of getting that little bit better and that little bit faster.
Any thoughts or questions, please get in touch.
How About You?
How do you compare with this?
Do you take the time to reach forward and extend your stroke? Do you feel a slight glide at the front of each stroke? Do you feel like you are moving really well with each stroke?
Try think about some of the points above in your next swim session – and see what a difference it makes.
Swimming Technique: Reach & Rotation