This week’s ASCA Talk comes from renowned swimming coach and researcher Ernie Maglischo from the 1998 World Clinic.

He provided some fascinating new insights into the mechanics of swimming propulsion. Having long been a proponent of lift-based theories, Coach Maglischo admitted he may have been wrong in his understanding and presented compelling evidence that drag forces likely play a much larger role than previously thought.

Coach Maglischo walks you through the history of research in this area, from Schleihauf’s early plaster hand studies showing lift dominance, to more recent work calling those results into question. He acknowledged the difficulties in accurately measuring lift and drag on a moving swimming hand. Through his own experimentation using velocity meters on swimmers, Coach Maglischo observed that strokes emphasizing sculling motions led to deceleration, contradicting lift-based theories.

A key realization was that while stroke patterns appear to involve significant in-out and down-up movement, propulsion actually occurs primarily during the backward portion of the stroke. Coach Maglischo now believes swimmers are using their entire arm as a paddle to push water backwards, not sculling it.

He introduced the concept of shoulder adduction as the primary propulsive movement in all strokes. This inward arcing motion of the arm allows it to function like an effective paddle throughout the pull. Flexion of the arm also occurs more abruptly than previously thought.

Overall, this talk provided a fascinating re-examination of long-held beliefs about swimming biomechanics and stroke mechanics. Even though this talk is 20+ years old, I still found it to be insightful.

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