Courtesy of Gary Hall Sr., 10-time World Record Holder, 3-time Olympian, 1976 Olympic Games US Flagbearer and The Race Club co-founder.
Which way is right? The controversy over this subject has been ongoing for a long time. In elite competition we see both heads tilted forward and heads down in freestyle…yet they both can’t be right. So which one is better?
Finally, a study we did with Olympic champion Jimmy Feigen sheds some significant light on the answer to this ongoing controversy. Jimmy was tested with a velocity meter while swimming at 100-meter race pace for about 20 meters distance, first with the head down. Then again, with the head tilted slightly forward. Here is what we found.
The head down position resulted in an average velocity of .02 m/sec faster than with the head tilted forward. Doesn’t sound like a lot, but over a 50 second hundred-meter race, that is one meter further behind with the head tilted forward than with the head down. That is enough to win or lose a race.
There is more to the story, however. There is a significant amount of additional work involved with one of these techniques. To find out, you will need to go to Lanes 2, 3 or 4 on our new subscription service and check out the video which was just released. There you will find out which technique generates more propulsion and which technique causes more frontal drag.
As far as I am concerned, the debate is over. I hope you will enjoy this new webisode featuring Olympian Jimmy Feigen.
Gary Hall, Sr., Technical Director and Head Coach of The Race Club (courtesy of TRC)
Yours in Swimming,
Gary Sr.
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How can this test be consistent if Jimmy is swimming at (only) 100 meter race pace? If anything, it seems that he should swim all out at maximum effort (50 meter race pace) to make sure his swims are more consistent, further isolating the head tilt as the only variable affecting change in velocity.
Depends on how good is your kick. The way Thorpie was swimming isn’t for everyone but I’m sure he had enough time to try both ways to decide what’s better for his body. No physics required.
I thought that raising your head slightly engaged the lats more, and/or enables us to push our chest down a bit, which is desirable. Is this incorrect?
I feel like theres a lot of unqualified people scientifically/statistically speaking doing these studies on athletes. I doubt theres any quality assurance either
This is very accurate. There is Gary Hall Sr pretending he knows physics frequently in these columns (which is painful to read if you are a physicist), but then there are many engineers who do studies not understanding the intricacies of the infinite number of techniques, or treating the human body as a rigid body, etc, etc. There are absolutely physical laws that apply to swimming, but they are very complicated as not only are humans not rigid bodies (I mean that in the physics term), but any change in technique/position requires different biological components that may affect how strong an individual is in that position or with that propulsion, and even that is complicated b/c slightly different muscles used… Read more »
Ella, while I am not an expert in either physics nor in physiology, any articles I have written in the past two years pertaining to either subject are first being critiqued before submission by two leading experts in physics and exercise physiology that have been so kind as to mentor me in these areas. If you can be specific in your criticism of my articles, I would be most appreciative.
For what it is worth, I agree with you that very small positional changes in the human body may have significant impact on the biomechanics of our swimming motions. In swimming, the positions of maximum propulsion often do not correlate with the positions of minimal frontal drag. Both are… Read more »
Gary: I have in the past posted specific critiques. I’d be very interested to know who these experts are, however.
While I admit that as a physicist I’m naturally skeptical about any bio-related study, I’m going to be more critical when the study has no statistical significance.
One of my favorite physics errors you make (well, maybe 2nd, behind drag forces), is coupling. Coupling happens due to opposite forces (or similar) around an axis on a rigid body. And no, a rigid body in physics does not mean having a strong core… that is what it seems like you think it means. It means literally a rigid body. As with most everything in physics the laws apply to basically hypothetical… Read more »
Strictly speaking, there are no rigid bodies in nature. However, that does not prevent us from modeling and making assumptions, which have had a profound impact on our understanding of many types of real world situations. Swimming is no exception.
As an ophthalmologist, I spent a great deal of time developing FEA models of the cornea for refractive surgery, which very accurately predicted outcomes of incisions or ablations. The accuracy of the model requires that we make accurate assumptions of the material properties of the cornea. Same would be true of a swimmer. Believe me that a swimmer would be much easier to model than a cornea.
FEA modeling of swimmers may be the only way we can… Read more »
Ian Thorpe
Sun Yang breaths into and out of his walls like an 8 year old and he is still a world record holder. There are plenty of great swimmers who are great in spite of their techniques, not because of them.
With a stroke rate of around 60, breathing into and out of turns is likely one of the smartest things Sun Yang does in the longer races. Who else finishes like he does?
Hi Gary,
I’ve loved your articles over the years (especially the one about wearing brown sunglasses on deck to avoid macular degeneration), though the physical descriptions are becoming increasingly abstract.
In this case what does ‘head down’ verus ‘head tilted forward’ even mean?
A picture would be nice. Does ’tilted forward’ mean the forehead is closer to the pool bottom than in ‘head down’ (or vice versa)?
The webisode in Lanes 2, 3 and 4 shows this difference very nicely. However, we are no longer giving all information away for free, so check the webisode…along with many other videos we have there. We found a big difference in the average peak accelerations and decelerations between the two techniques…and not just with Jimmy. We have noted this with others, also.
WOW! With the amount of people and trial-runs you did this study with, you definitely should be trying to get this published somewhere. What a relief every swimmer in the world is a 6’5 215lb man that swims in one particular manner or else we’d had to try this more than once. I mean this really proves the debate is over!
(Yes, I see that they say there is additional work added that you have to pay for, but after watching a lot of the videos this guy posts I don’t have much interest in hearing what he has to say)
Does Jimmy usually swim head-down or head-forward? How many times did you have him swim 20m? The article makes it seem like once each?
Jimmy swam with his head tilted forward slightly. Swimming with his head down was a new experience for him. So was hyperstreamlining. Jimmy swam the 20 meters on the VM twice with each head position.