Flat Side Against the Wall

Years ago, when Hubby and I were first dating, I wanted to install some new towel hangers in my master bathroom.

Being the independent woman that I am, I bought the fixtures, got my tool set out and started my DIY project.

The fixtures came with instructions -- illustrated instructions, mind you -- and yet I could not get this one little part to fit flatly against the wall. The instruction read "Place (weird, obscure) object with flat side against the wall".

I struggled with this little piece of metal for hours before finally throwing in the screwdriver and calling my (then) boyfriend.

He came over and instantly discovered my mistake. The piece had two flat sides. I had been trying to position the wrong side. He simply turned the (weird, obscure) object around and, POOF. Flat side was against the wall -- and, with a couple turns of the Phillips head, I had new towel racks.

I bring this up now because of what happened last night at my swimming lesson. As previously mentioned in this blog, I've been taking Total Immersion swim lessons. The lessons have been great and I've come a long way. I feel much more confident in the water -- move much more efficiently, and cover more water over less time. All good things.

Tthere have been a couple techniques of this method that continue to mystify me: front quadrant (FQ) swimming and anchoring, or "catching". FQ is basically when you keep your lead arm ahead of you for as long as you possibly can while your stroke arm does its thing. The lead arm should start its motion until both arms are fully extended.

Anchoring is what give you the strength in the water. Basically, the catch position is looks like this: extend your arm in front of you. Now, without moving your upper arm, bend your elbow down as if you were going to touch your desk. Water flowing around your forearm as you continue your stroke drives strength in the water.

Coach Dave has been trying to get me to refine these techniques and, since last night was my last night of lessons, we worked a ton on this. Finally, I 'fessed up I just wasn't getting it. "If I'm on my left side, with my left arm leading in front, my right stroke arm is coming out of the water, elbow high, I get it out to FQ position, how do I move it to anchoring if it is extended?", I asked.

"Um, Amy, you are anchorng with the OPPOSITE arm". (FLAT SIDE AGAINST THE WALL).

Oh.

Yep, took me six lessons to figure out that, in the scenario above, when I'm on my left side, when I hit the FQ positon with my right stroke arm, my LEFT arm goes in to anchor position as I rotate my hips around to complete the stroke.

Sigh.

I've signed up for six more lessons.