Cross-Body Reach

How to do it

Stand with the feet wide, about a leg-and-a-half apart, toes turned out slightly. Both legs stay long. Push the hips back and hinge, sending one hand down and across toward the opposite shin or foot — as low as your hamstrings allow, no lower. At the same time reach the other arm straight up to the ceiling, letting the chest turn open and the eyes follow the top hand. Rise all the way back to standing tall, then go the other way. Keep alternating.

Why it's good for a swimmer

A stroke looks like it happens at the shoulder and it doesn't. Every reach travels through the trunk to the opposite hip — the right arm extends and the left side of the body is what lengthens and holds underneath it. That contralateral connection is the thing you cannot rehearse with shoulder circles, and it is the first thing that disappears when the body walks onto a pool deck cold.

This is the shape that rehearses it standing up, in about ten seconds a side, with no floor, no mat and no equipment. It is also the only place in the method where one arm reaches overhead while the opposite hip loads — every other rotation we train is done lying down, kneeling, or with both hips square.

Common mistakes

Reaching to the same-side foot. That is a wide-legged side bend and it trains something else entirely — the hand has to cross the midline. Don't round the back to get lower: the hinge comes from the hips, and the reach stops where the hamstrings stop. Don't force the turn with the arms; if the ribs aren't turning, shorten the reach until they are. And come all the way up to standing between sides rather than swinging from one to the other along the floor.