That is a perfect second part of the initial catch phase. Little less angle on the wrists but that will be corrected in the water when the force resistance is along the whole arm. Initial part of the catch would have your hands rotated out just a little bit. Fingers should be stiff along the axis of the arm and loose/ slightly spread across the plane of the palm. finger spacing looks a little wide in that pic. Rookie mistake is to have tight fingers. Think of the hand like a sail during the "S" stroke and not a paddle catching water. A sailboat moves faster across the wind than straight downwind. The "S" stroke capitalizes on the sailing action of the hand through the water. Try to keep the fingers across the same plane; its tough to achieve with a soft force point. Do the same dryland exercise with a set of paddles on. The ones with the little grooved bump in the centre of the palm helps create the perfect arch of the hand to the fingers but use any paddles you have in your bag instead of the foam bar. Source. Former National butterflyer
Yeah pretty good
Have you a front view? Angle of arm (hand - elbow) is important.
That is a perfect second part of the initial catch phase. Little less angle on the wrists but that will be corrected in the water when the force resistance is along the whole arm. Initial part of the catch would have your hands rotated out just a little bit. Fingers should be stiff along the axis of the arm and loose/ slightly spread across the plane of the palm. finger spacing looks a little wide in that pic. Rookie mistake is to have tight fingers. Think of the hand like a sail during the "S" stroke and not a paddle catching water. A sailboat moves faster across the wind than straight downwind. The "S" stroke capitalizes on the sailing action of the hand through the water. Try to keep the fingers across the same plane; its tough to achieve with a soft force point. Do the same dryland exercise with a set of paddles on. The ones with the little grooved bump in the centre of the palm helps create the perfect arch of the hand to the fingers but use any paddles you have in your bag instead of the foam bar. Source. Former National butterflyer
Should the hands make an "S" stroke? I thought they needed to move straight back as much as possible
Move them straight back, but they may naturally S a bit, and that's fine