Do you do the Pelizzari shoulder shake?

[mrjomac]

In the video below you can see Umberto shaking his shoulders in time with his kicking.

The few times I've tried this my impression was good power/speed and maybe less leg fatigue, but methinks perhaps you're moving more water around with your shoulders so using more energy/O2.

Has anyone tried this and found advantages/disadvantages compared to just limiting kicking movement to your legs/hips?

Here's the vid where you can see Umberto moving his shoulders in time with his kicks as he comes back up.

 

[ThomasB]

Not sure it's efficient but damn it's pure elegance

 

[akwaman]

What do you think about the head position on descent? Chin not tucked in. But it is on ascent.
I get oscillating hips from keeping my fins straight to avoid the "pigeon-toed" finning. That might look like a "shoulder shake" if you look at the shoulders and not the hips.
That is also what i remember from Pelizzari's "Encyclopedia". (I wish I had a copy on hand to cite a quote) But in this video he looks like he is deliberately moving his shoulders, which, I agree, doesn't seem efficient.
As for elegant... there's another discussion. Let's just say the editing is: dramatic music, dolphins, post-surface protocol

 

[mrjomac]

One advantage might be helping you relax, I was trying this shoulder shake on every ascent yesterday and it felt totally chilled out, pretty easy on the juice and I'd say from some times I checked that I was maybe a little bit faster than usual too.

About the head not tucked in on descent, I dunno. Maybe just a look down then head back to equalize and streamline, although it looks like Guillaume Nery freefalling Dean's Blue Hole has his head back looking at the bottom most of the time.

 

[ThomasB]

That was a stunt. I doubt Nerý or any other dives with that head position.

 

[mrjomac]

You reckon just to look good in the video...

 

[ThomasB]

You reckon just to look good in the video...

You tell me

 

[growingupninja]

It looks to me like he is just very relaxed when he is kicking up, and his shoulders are just moving in response to the force of his kicks. I imagine during training he concentrated a great deal on technique but for a record attempt he wasn't thinking about it and just trusted that his training would carry him through. I don't really know his approach but for myself, in all sports I have done--swimming, kickboxing, freediving--I beat myself up in training and then for competition just relax and work in autopilot.

 

[Vov]

... and his shoulders are just moving in response to the force of his kicks.

My shoulders started to move that way when I first did kicked with very little knee bending... I believe its a compensating movement, because our legs cannot move symmetrically in both directions. So where is the peak of efficiency between how little I bend my knees and how much I move my shoulders is a matter of repeating practices - I believe.

 

[growingupninja]

My shoulders started to move that way when I first did kicked with very little knee bending... I believe its a compensating movement, because our legs cannot move symmetrically in both directions. So where is the peak of efficiency between how little I bend my knees and how much I move my shoulders is a matter of repeating practices - I believe.

The upstroke of your kick has a direct bearing on shoulder movement. Many diver do not have a very good upstroke, and the upstroke will depend on whether you're swimming vertical or DYN. A good drill to develop upstroke is to swim DYN with full lungs and no weights--the upstroke of your kick, along with your speed, will be the only thing keeping you from floating up to the top. For a powerful upstroke I find it helps to lengthen the leg and even flex the foot, really point to the toes, towards the end of the upstroke. Your flexibility can also be a limiting factor with upstroke--stretching, hanging back extensions (even into hyper-extension if you can do it without injury), and barre work can all increase this flexibility.

 

[Vov]

Mmm, I still think it's the need to compensate for the unequal movements of our legs forward/backward (up/down in horizontal swimming)... I've seen these shoulder movements in videos of divers who bend their legs as little as possible, which differs a lot from the "bicyclist" type of kicking where knees are bent too much, which creates significant drag around the knee area. If the movements of the forward-going leg were completely symmetrical and equal in force to the backward-going leg, there would be no need to twist the upper body.