Josh Amberger & The 'Serape Effect'

[@samn8309]

Nice hearing you talk about this. When I can engage the opposite hip and trunk to the pulling arm it feels great. There is a surging feeling which is nice and exhilarating. Adding this kind of body awareness adds a lot of interest to a sport which can be a little robotic at times and allows the mind to relax too.

[@Fresh79999]

The kick looks insane...so much energy utilised but the guy is a weapon in the water so it clearly works for him

[@kozakon2]

yeah my thoughts exactly..it works for him in the water clearly but he very often gets caught on the bike or run eventually

[@dbo4506]

@@kozakon2 absurd. He just ain’t a super strong rider but he doesn’t well enough. He’s middle of the pack on the bike maybe even slightly above the average. But whether he kicks or not he’s not going to be pushing numbers like wurf etc. we all have ceilings. By not kicking and getting himself to the front in the swim he’s giving himself mo chance to compete by nullifying his biggest strength. That’s just stupid.

[@kozakon2]

@@dbo4506 You are fucking absurd mate :D getting hard over youtube comment

[@amysun6080]

That kicking speed for long distance swimming is insane

[@Cookefan59]

My interpretation of this young man is that he is much like other”mold breaking” young athletes in highly regimented sports that lean heavy on technique. He is like a swimmers Muhammad Ali, he seems to be doing everything wrong, but he has the speed and winning record to back up what his style is. The question will be, how long can he keep it up as he ages. Just like all those other special ones, it would be futile to imitate or try to capture his style. In time other young ones might try but I think that we should all be rotating our hips and doing what’s standard issue. I think it’s ok to analyze him and break it down but I think after that we can just enjoy his genius! Cheers from Colorado Springs, Colorado.

[@philiplacey5430]

Started working on this today on my OWS, water was pretty choppy so it was hard to work on timing but I could feel a difference. The way my mind interpreted it, I was "leading with hip". Looking forward to playing more with this concept.

[@colinsimpson3243]

Thank you for such a great channel

[@SestoElomenTo11]

hmm. (rubber band) recoil effect. Got! It! Thanks..seems it's what i may be doing. I've picked up swimming in 2011 and i'm self taught, it wasn't until around 2016 that i broke through a barrier of being able to swim 1600m in 29 min. I only train for sprint triathlons, but i'm always pushing myself to go further, just a few weeks ago i went for another barrier breakthrough, i went for 3200m in 1:02:26 and felt i could go further, i don't know if this is good pace for a 42 yr. old who works 9-5 and works out sparingly throughout the week, i cant say enough about Effortless Swimming and the impact your videos have made. Thanks for all that you do.

[@robohippy]

Well, no clue as to why you call this a Serape Effect, but in my martial arts classes (Tai chi and Wing Chung) teachers called it spiral energy or rotational energy. Same thing used in any throwing or kicking sports action, crack the whip with rotation. Butterfly would be crack the whip with a body wave. Not a loose whip though, more like the ratan cane/staff. I guess I could add action/reaction to the definition...

[@trykozmaksym]

This channel is golden - I feel almost ashamed watching such a good stuff for free :) the full membership is a bit above the budget but this upcoming video membership looks worthy!

[@mlegrand]

MaxTryk - true 👌

[@mlegrand]

Great video. I hadn’t heard of this snap back effect. 👍

[@brigitt8149]

Yeah, interesting, but imagine swimming like this in advanced years - a near impossibility; such an excessive use of energy. And besides, in the long run, what wear and tear is caused by the snap-back effect? Seems to me to be passing fad, one of manies in the swimming world. We will see...

[@mlegrand]

@@brigitt8149 - Yeah, I guess, that's a good question. We just don't know if it effects durability and that's such a hard thing to quantify.

[@karakokin]

It is spelled “sarape” with an “a” 😅 thanks for the video! And regards from Mexico 🇲🇽

[@matthewconner5378]

The serape effect implies that the shoulders are rotating relative to the hips. Also, rotating the hip before pulling would seem to relax the serape tension which is not, apparently, what one wants.

[@devidia]

More looks like the windmill effect

[@karstenmeinders4844]

It is a puzzle to me: a crazy kick und the arm movement looks as if he does not catch the water. Actually it seems he gets propulsion just by the kicks. But he is a good triathlon swimmer -so it remains a puzzle to me.......

[@alksjdlakjdskfsalkjd4420]

Can I say that : serape effect = proper hip rotation?

[@jeanineengelbrecht5180]

Goodness me, he kicks like a maniac!

[@THX-wc2jo]

Kick is PHENOMENAL! Fast and strong

[@raphael9148]

nice

[@deanb61]

This shows the problem of trying to look at the pro's. I mean, seriously that looks like some of the 'before' video's that you show. It's a bit like studying Chris Froome and trying to learn cycling technique...you just wouldn't do it.

[@rogger55]

agreed

[@kuyikyuzme9293]

Thk you 👏

[@jplay0426]

The stroke rate is insane

[@christoph_wattever]

Incredible how very different swim styles lead to good swim splits. It looks so inefficient in a way but still he's usually first out of the water. But also he's probably doing fast intervals in this video I'd guess

[@MrDamonLeBeouf]

him being first out of the water doesnt necessarily mean others cant be first out of the water. he typically runs out of gas in on the run because he put everything into the swim and bike.

[@thomasbarnes6983]

Can you do this effect if you swim catch-up?

[@ancestro2404]

whats the drill to develop this

[@etiennechevrier3201]

I must admit this is frustrating, so much emphasis made by coaches to work on stroke length and catch and I keep seeing these fast triathlon swimmers like Amberger, Wltshire, Amélie Kretz who have short quick catch with not pause at the front.

[@EffortlessSwimming]

Reach and catch is still worth working on as you can always increase your stroke rate and have less time spent reaching. For triathlon though if you can get a reasonable catch and good power diamond and find your rhythm, this is a big part of it what’s makes you fast. We will do a video on it

[@wtfgadget]

but it looks exhausting ?

[@adamding3873]

Not perfect skilled, but this guy is ridiculously strong and enduring. Just look at the kicking...

[@martinrea8548]

not very pretty though.

[@chizumulu]

To me it looks like he's using a lot of energy to swim not particularly fast.

[@irondoc1251]

Rob Green To me too. But he‘s Triathlete not a Swimmer!

[@MattDion]

He averages around 1:15/100m for an Ironman swim leg (3.9k).

[@CarlosGonzalez-xi6cg]

His one of the most faster swimmer in ironman

[@alexander944]

@@CarlosGonzalez-xi6cg most faster???

[@matteozavaglia7154]

He went out first in Kona... just try to stay close to his feet guys and then judge him

[@LikeKoby]

This technique is brought to you by bi-lateral breathing. It doesn’t cost you a thing!

[@trykozmaksym]

Does this not contradict to how 2-beat kick works? That seems and feels really confusing to work with one side, instead of with the diagonally opposite, which indeed feels natural.

[@spoor24]

MaxTryk I think the body rotation simultaneously with the pull as your arm goes under your shoulder is the most important thing. I wouldn’t worry about the kick initially, maybe do some swimming with a pull boy and paddles and a band if you have one

[@trykozmaksym]

@@spoor24 Andrew? I'm taking back my words - have tried this yesterday and it felt like, instead of wasting a part of my pull energy on body rotation, I was able to apply more of it backwards for propulsion.

[@spoor24]

MaxTryk good to hear bro! The rotation and the power phase of the stroke should work in unison to compound the total power you can get. (Say you’re pulling a heavy weight toward you with a rope, obviously using your whole body with a rotation is more powerful than just ‘rowing’ it towards you with just your arm)

[@trykozmaksym]

@@spoor24 pieces of the puzzle come together... thanks!

[@coachjacki1282]

This is the first time since you started that I disagree with you! When the hip is not rotated at the catch, there is more cross-body connection and the "snap back" then happens when the hip releases at the end of the stroke. Dropping the hip at the same time as the hand diminishes it. This fella looks like he's just using a straight arm stroke that overworks the shoulder and doesn't access the larger lats. He could be faster.

[@EffortlessSwimming]

Nothing wrong with healthy disagreement! Can you clarify a bit more? Are you saying the hips shouldn't be rotated during the catch to get more cross-body connection? This snap-back effect happens as the hand is moving passed the naval and going towards the hip as that's when the muscles have shortened, I agree there.

[@labeckipiotrek]

tip from me - don't try to swim like a pros;)

[@RicardGomes76]

Do faster swimmers use this style? No? So what's the point?

[@limitlesslife6992]

Not look like an art..elbow position not looking so good..speed is slow although putting so much effort..i cant swim to this level but can say that he is not gliding smoothly..