The muscles used in freestyle

At the end of the 2001 season I was in Southern California for the L.A. Triathlon, and one of the benefits of being out there was having the chance to meet Dan Empfield. I called him when I got into town, and we planned to meet for a ride and a run. The ride went well, but I had been having problems with injury during my runs. We went on a trail run, and I didn't think I would make it very far before my injuries started acting up, so I decided to ask Dan questions about run technique and if he had any ideas on what I might be doing wrong.

I posed the question by asking which muscles I should feel when I run. In swimming I often think about technique based on which muscles I use at different phases of the stroke. Dan immediately stopped me and said that my approach was part of the problem. He explained that in running you cannot think about the muscles like you can in swimming—in fact it is just the opposite.

We worked on tempo, not overstriding, and being relaxed. My coach, Lew Kidder, has always told me to relax, but I never could do that while trying to power through each stride.

Swimming, however, is different. It involves locking your hand in the water and then using various muscles to pull your body over your hand. Dan asked if I would write about which muscles I think about throughout the freestyle pull. I started putting it on paper and found that there are five areas where I feel the need to be strong in the upper body. The first phase of the freestyle stroke is the "catch"—the part where you grab the water. Our job as swimmers is to think of the water like it's a solid object. I think of it as a wall under me. I grab onto the wall and initiate the hold by pointing my fingertips toward the bottom of the pool. This requires forearm strength, because you will have to flex the wrist downward.

Next is the high elbow under the water. The elbow must be higher than the wrist and hand if there is to be a reasonable amount of surface area grabbing the water. Our palm and forearm are what hold the water, and the deltoid muscle must be conditioned to keep the elbow up. When we fatigue, then the elbow usually drops and our hand slips through the water. It takes a few months to get the deltoid conditioned, and I notice that I lose strength there quickly when I take time off from swimming.

After you have hold of the water with the palm and forearm you then can begin to pull your body over your hand. This is initiated with the lats. You've probably seen how a swimmer's back is shaped like a V. This is because the lats do a great deal of work in moving the body forward. Another way to understand and visualize this is to press out of a pool. When you're in the water next time put your hands on the deck and begin to pull your body out of the water and onto the deck. Feel which muscles you use. This motion is the same as the swim pull except for the fact that you're in a horizontal position during the swim.

Fourth is the bicep muscle. When our hands are under our bodies the elbow is in a 90-dgree bend. The bicep is working at this phase, and this is simple to condition and establish into muscle memory compared to the high elbow phase and the deltoid conditioning.

The fifth and final muscle I think about is the tricep, and it does its work at the finish of the stroke. It is assisted by a good hip roll (be careful not to over-rotate, though!). The tricep and the hip roll give the final surge of power at the end of the stroke. This, like the bicep, gets conditioned quickly.

If you are going to think about which muscles to engage the next time you jump into the pool, then let me give you one last piece of information. The first two steps are the most crucial. Get the fingertips pointed downward and the elbow high, or else the rest of the pull phase will not be nearly as effective.

The most effective tool I use for conditioning throughout the year is Lane Gainer Sport Vector tubing with handles. Nothing compares to it, and it only costs $20-$25. It will help you learn the technique and will condition your muscles for swimming better than anything you can find in a weight room or health club. If you build up to five minutes of pulling time with the tubing per day, they you're doing great!

Good Luck.

P.S. I do have one question for Dan, though: when I run with that relaxed tempo and no thoughts of actively using any muscles, how come running still hurts so badly?

(Editor's note: we do and will attempt to answer these questions in The Long Run).