Faster Swimming With an Early Vertical Forearm Position in All Strokes

The Catch, High Elbow Position, and Feel for the Water

From Thomas Topolski

It’s simple, if you want to swim faster, improve your propulsion! Effective propulsion revolves around an Early Vertical Forearm (EVF) position. This vital component of swimming is also known as a Catch, a Feel For The Water or a High Elbow Stroke. An EVF is the engine of a swimmer and research accompanied by new EVF training technology will be changing the way they train.

Most of what we know about swimming propulsion and technique was produced from the research that Dr. James Counsilman (Doc) started in the late 60’s. Doc, along with many of the gifted researchers and coaching icons of that era, laid the groundwork turning the art of swimming into the Science of Swimming. When Doc found that swimming great Mark Spitz, had a more efficient feel for the water (catch) than everyone else in the world, he was onto something that would forever change swimming.

The catch Doc Counsilman was talking about can be described by the following analogy: When a person lays on a surfboard and paddles out to find a wave, the arms straddle out from the sides of the board, allowing the vertical forearms and the hands to hold or catch water and propel the board.

The catch is now defined as an Early Vertical Forearm (EVF) position and it clearly differentiates every level of swimmer, as George Block, former president of the American Swimming Coaches Association put it. When a swimmer has a great kick, great stamina, a great streamlined body position, and a great mental attitude - but doesn’t have a great propulsive engine - you have a great looking, but slow, swimmer. The importance of establishing and improving an effective EVF cannot be stressed enough.

When you watch the underwater video of Olympic Gold Medalists you’ll find it hard not to notice their spectacular EVF. In every underwater shot that showed arm positions of winning swimmers, each had an early vertical catch. It didn’t matter what competitive stroke was being swum, all of the Olympians shown in the underwater films displayed a high elbow stroke. The best video taken showed the EVF of the backstroke finals and it all but rubber-stamped Faster Swimming Starts Here on each swimmer.

Every good coach knows how important an EVF is, but it’s remained a very obscure fundamental of swimming and thought to be the gift of a talented swimmer. We now know that an EVF is exactly like every good habit that can be observed, measured, and evaluated. An improved EVF can be successfully acquired by every swimmer willing to work hard.

An effective EVF however, escapes most swimmers for the following and intertwining reasons:

1. Swimmers don’t have the strength in their shoulder to maintain an effective EVF.
2. While new EVF training equipment is just surfacing, swimmers are forced to use equipment that inhibits an effective EVF.
3. Coaches and swimmers aren’t devoting near enough time to effective EVF training.