DRILL 10: ZIPPERSWITCH

Why We Do It: The compact, relaxed, unhurried recovery you are learning will be an

important key to effectively linking your arm-stroke to the power of core-body rotation. This

drill will also teach you the front-quadrant timing that keeps your body line long throughout

the stroke cycle. The purposeful exaggeration on this drill is to slice your hand in alongside

your ear, before slicing it forward underwater. This corrects the nearly universal tendency to

overreach on the recovery. 

Follow This Sequence

1. Begin as in Drill 9. Move deliberately from Sweet Spot to the Skating Position, then check that you are balanced—feeling great support—with your extended hand below your head.

2. Do a “Zipper” recovery with your hand under water, elbow leading as far forward as possible. Feel water resistance on your hand but don’t fight it. Soften your arm and hand and keep them close to shoulder and ear.

3. As soon as your hand catches up to the elbow, slice it in and forward as you switch and roll to Sweet Spot on the other side.

4. Relax and glide in Sweet Spot for as long as you want (three yoga breaths), then repeat in the other direction. As you practice, emphasize the following:

• A compact and unhurried recovery. Continue to focus on switching through the smallest possible space, but that space is now above and below the surface.

• Hand entry that is exaggeratedly early and close to your head. Drive your hand into the water alongside your ear to overcorrect the tendency to overreach.

• Practice silently, taking all the time you need to feel in your bones the right moment in your recovery to make the switch.

• Continue to feel “connected” to your core body as you switch.