Hi fellas,
I used to swim quite a lot when I was a kid, but that stopped 10 years ago. Now, I've hit the pool once again and I feel that after 100m, I'm already exhausted. I'm good at everything else: I play lots of basketball, some tennis, I hit the gym regularly, etc, so stamina should not be an issue. Perhaps it takes a while for my body to get used to swimming, I don't know. In the meantime, I thought maybe it's a technique issue, so I've uploaded two videos:
Front crawl: P9090025 - YouTube
Butterfly: P9090026 - YouTube
The one I really care about right now is the front crawl. I'm trying to get my bronze medallion and bronze cross, and the requirement is 600m in 18 minutes. I can do that at an abysmal 16 minutes. I need to get it down to at least 10 minutes.
I'll appreciate every constructive criticism.
Thanks
Thanks guys. I will now practice those points. A few things which I forgot to mention:
* the length of the pool is 23 meters.
* The water is murky and there are no lines at the bottom, hence why I'm looking up a bit so I don't hit the walls.
I totally did not understand the drill!! What do you mean by "rotate away"? How do I rotate AWAY from my own arm? Is there a video of this drill anywhere? That would be very helpful.
Thanks.
What I mean is this. If your right arm is raised, rotate your body counterclockwise. Left arm raised, rotate body clockwise. Keep the hand and arm fixed while rotating. You can also do a variation of the drill by doing it against a wall. Start with the hand flat against the wall, rotate your body as described, then keeping the elbow in place bring the forearm down until the hand and forearm are perpendicular to the wall (fingertips touching the wall). Then lower the elbow, forearm, and hand down the wall as one unit, staying perpendicular to the wall, while rotating your body the other direction until you get to about hip with that "forearm paddle". This is essentially like swimming toward the ceiling. Keep practicing it and let your shoulder amd elbow joints get used to the positions of the catch and pull.
I would also advise you to do a lot of sculling drills and fist drills to improve your feel for the water. You can find these online easily.
Thanks guys. I will now practice those points. A few things which I forgot to mention:
* the length of the pool is 23 meters.
* The water is murky and there are no lines at the bottom, hence why I'm looking up a bit so I don't hit the walls.
I totally did not understand the drill!! What do you mean by "rotate away"? How do I rotate AWAY from my own arm? Is there a video of this drill anywhere? That would be very helpful.
Thanks.
What I mean is this. If your right arm is raised, rotate your body counterclockwise. Left arm raised, rotate body clockwise. Keep the hand and arm fixed while rotating. You can also do a variation of the drill by doing it against a wall. Start with the hand flat against the wall, rotate your body as described, then keeping the elbow in place bring the forearm down until the hand and forearm are perpendicular to the wall (fingertips touching the wall). Then lower the elbow, forearm, and hand down the wall as one unit, staying perpendicular to the wall, while rotating your body the other direction until you get to about hip with that "forearm paddle". This is essentially like swimming toward the ceiling. Keep practicing it and let your shoulder amd elbow joints get used to the positions of the catch and pull.
I would also advise you to do a lot of sculling drills and fist drills to improve your feel for the water. You can find these online easily.
