While a high elbow recovery is the most common type of arm recovery for freestyle, the straight arm recovery may be a good option for many swimmers.  Practicing and experimenting with both can help you find your best stroke.

To achieve the straight arm recovery, at the end of each pull, imagine that your fingers are going to reach as high in the air as possible.  One advantage this can give you is that to reach high, you’ll need to rotate.  

You can see how much our swimmer needs to get to her side to recover the arm above high above her.

Of course, as with most things in swimming, an effective straight arm recovery will require… yes… good balance.

Lifting the arm this high into the air can put some additional weight on the body if you move the arm too slowly.  This weight held high in the air can push you down unless you’ve mastered body balance.

Here you can see how our swimmer is able to recover the arm high while keeping the lead hand extended with a beautifully long and balanced bodyline.

One advantage of this extra weight held high up in the air, is that it will want to fall.  This fall, or dropping that arm into extension can help shift the body around more quickly and add more power to the pulling arm.  

Sign In to watch video

Straight-arm recovery