What's the purpose of the catch up drill?

My first thought was that this drill is easier initially with fins to keep you going and afloat.  Then that's the first thing they said in that video, so I'll stick with that bit of advice.

maybe the drill has two intents but the benefit you describe has not been my understanding.  I use the catch-up drill fairly often and my intent is to improve my glide in the water and reduce my stroke count.  If I'm taking the time to wait for my pulling arm to catch up then I'm forcing myself to glide through the water.  Further benefit, for me, is that in order to glide I need to concentrate more on my balance in the water and ensure that i'm not swimming "uphill".

ssshaunaaa - 2012-04-19 9:30 AM As background, I'm a 2:10/100m swimmer so I have lots of room for improvement. I had a swim coach watch me swim and she couldn't point out any major flaws other than my arms crossing over my center line when entering the water. My experience with the catch up drill (which I wish I had a video of) is that by touching my extended arm with my catch up arm, it will reinforce my habit of crossing my catch up arm over my center line, and how I'm doing the drill, my pull changes from being a higher elbow catch to a "windmill catch" and my shoulders hurt. Not to mention I feel like I'm sinking every time I have my two arms out in front of me. I've switched to doing the drill while on a pull buoy to keep me more afloat ... Any advice on how I might improve this drill or should I give up and try something else? What skill is the drill useful for? Help swimming pros!

I am no swim coach by any means but I think that this (bolded) is a major no-no and not something that you want to reinforce.

In addition to other things, the catch-up drill helps you work on body alignment - long and straight, from the tip of the out-stretched, extended arm down through your shoulder and side all the way to your feet. The catch-up can help with your breath timing also, in addition, help with learning how to delay starting the pulling until the body is in a good position. The speed of your swim will become faster as your body is in proper alignment and the strength of your pull-thru increases.

You may think drills are silly, but they're an excellent purpose for learning all - to be more efficient in the water.

Good luck,

This is how I feel when I do this drill.  I hadn't thought of using fins.  Maybe I should try them and see if that helps.

my opinion is that if you are using fins then you are artificailly correcting the problem.  work on your body position to correct the sinking otherwise you'll continue to have the problem once you take the fins off.

Total Immersion (been a while since I read that book) explained it pretty well.  While swimming you want to feel as though you are pushing your chest towards the bottom of the pool.  As I get tired I also get lazy and stop doing this.  Once I remember and push my chest down my feet pop right up to the surface of the water.

You should be looking down not forward.  make sure most of your head is under the waterline.  Also, when you breath, turn your head just enough that one eye is out of the water but the other is still under water. 

FWIW, this is my most valuable drill particularly b/c I use it during races.  The washing machine experience of the start is all about survival and I get through it any way necessary.  I find that as the swimmers spread out and I have room I may still be using the short/choppy strokes that got me through the washing machine.  It is not uncommon for me to use the catch up drill for a minute or so to reset my form, concentrate on balance, and establish a rhythm.

Time for a new instructor, stat!  That's among the worse advice I have heard.

I think the catch-up drill is effective for a whole slew of stroke issues such as crossover, alligator arms, sinking hips, dreaded cross over wiggle, etc.  The best distance swimmers in races come very close to swimming catch up as their regular stroke.  

So, I just happened to read this thread before my swim today, and I did a little experiment. I normally swim like the OP, somewhere between 2 and 2:10, depending on the length of my set. Today, I focused on the advice in here - not the drill specifically, but rather the intended rhythm of stroke + glide, and focusing on body length while the working arm is pulling.

This was my mental image: Reach for the opposite wall while the pulling arm is working, don't stop reaching until the other arm is ready to pull.

Result: managed 1:55/100 for 100s, 2:05/100 for 500. 

Coincidence? I think not.

Good for you!!! Keep working on it and it gets better and better. 

Agree that the hands don't need to actually touch in order for the drill to work.  The main thing is that both hands are out, extended in front, before the next arm starts to pull.

My interpretation is that this helps correct you from starting your pull too soon.  Your body is much more hydrodynamic when you are pulling with one arm still extended out.  If you're pulling while your recovery arm is still above your head, you're creating a larger frontal surface that is a lot of drag.  If you're strong enough, and your turnover is fast enough, you can deviate from this a bit...but for most novice swimmers in the 2:10 range, you want to have that one arm out extended in front of you as long as possible.  This allows you to glide through the water and get the most out of each stroke.

alligator arms?

I actually did the 3/4 catch up drill a lot and it fixed my biggest flaw.  I had 0 glide and did the windmill swim like crazy.

the catch up forced me to leave my lead hand out there longer (gliding) and I just naturally became more efficient.  Number one best drill I even did to improve my times.  

Yay, glad to hear things are working a little better.  

OMG, I had the same thing happen today, I kid you not. Just READING this thread and hopping into the pool for my swim, while thinking "gliiiide, gliiiide, gliiide, gliiide" while swimming, shaved time off.

My last 450 yard set (last Thursday) I clocked myself at 9:30ish. Today, same distance, 8:40ish (using analog wall clock...I need a watch!). 

Talk about motivation to learn and use catch-up drills. Imma have a coach teach me to do them right, and soon!