RF > In above-water swim without fins (crawl stroke for speed), the actions
RF > are in the ARMS and SHOULDERS -- you simply drag your legs along.

That's a simple statement for EMPHASIS (contrasting ARMS and SHOULDERS
vs LEGS) based on (a) my own training in collegiate competitive swimming,
(b) observing the strokes of the Olympic swimmers (as Chuck did), and
(c) CURRENT empirical/scientific knowledge about the Crawl!


Lee > This is not be relevant to the point being made,

Then you could have saved your superior knowledge about the Crawl
for a swimming LIST when the "technique" is of prime concern, or until
your comment is relevant to the point being made.

Lee, you've palmed yourself off as an "expert" in every scuba ngs
and LISTS in subjects of which you have little or no knowledge.  You
even tried that tact in techdiver, making a public baffoon of yourself
(because they are not as POLITE as those you think you can fool ALL
of the time) and you SHOULD have learned a lesson about tampering your
postings with more knowledge, and MUCH less "argumentative rhetoric"
as you had practiced on me for years until I no longer discuss anything
with you;  then you turned to Strike, pissing him off completely;  and
you were trying your hands on Mike Wallace and David Hale ...

And back to ME???   No way, Jose.  I am going to clue you in NOW:

This is just a blanket CLAIMER that when you shoot off your mouth
on my posts (for no reason other than being your egotistical and
annoying self), the only response I'll make (henceforth, if I
respond at all) will be CITING OTHERS (divers whose knowledge and
reputation about DIVING are seldom challenged by anyone but Lee Bell
when Lee Bell was on the WRONG) on what they said of you.


Lee > but is a statement worth correcting on its own merits.  In doing
Lee > the crawl, one does not simply drag the legs along.

On WHOSE own merit?  Because YOU said so?  Because YOU think you are
an authority on the crawl stroke technique?  Do YOURSELF a favor by
keeping your mouth shut when you have nothing worthwhile to say, let
alone correcting someone on topics in which you have NO KNOWLEDGE and
no BASIS for your opinion in any relevant sense!


CH > Actually, the legs are used mostly for balance.  They have no real
CH > part in motion.  Unless that is you have feet resembling fins.
CH > If you watch an olympic swimmer they dont kick all that often
CH > compared to the number of strokes they take.  When I swam 1500M,
CH > kicking was not done much at all.

An excellent practical and observational summary of the correct technique.


Now let's hear from an EXPERT and SCIENTIST on the crawl stroke:

>  Charles Silvia described the great Murray Rose's stroke as possessing
>  four distinct parts that together formed a stroke that was humanly
>  mechanically superior. The 'Big Four,' as Silvia named it, are:

> Inertial shoulder girdle elevation and upward scapular rotation
> Shoulder joint medial rotation and elbow flexion
> Shoulder joint adduction and downward scapular motion
> Inertial round-off and release (partial supination and shoulder joint
> lateral rotation).

It's all in the SHOULDERS and ARMS, as what I said in my simplified
statement.  My statement is sometimes referred to as the "drag theory"
(that the feet only drags along; for balance, as noted by Chuck).

> Silvia also advocated the drag theory of swimming propulsion, and
> that theory has been debated in recent years, but his kinesiological
> analysis of the mechanics of Rose's stroke has not been successfully
> challenged.

For the serious "crawl stroke" swimmers, you can find the above and
MUCH more about the stroke in "Thoughts on the Crawl Stroke" by
Marshall Adams, in

http://www.swiminfo.com/articles/swimtechnique/articles/200007-01st_art.asp

-- Bob.