Freestyle Swimming - Need Help

Welcome Rajan. It looks like you have gotten hold of some Total Immersion DVDs or books, no? TI can be very helpful I think for a beginner like yourself, but it really depends on how you use it. The most glaring problem I see from your videos is your balance. You are not yet comfortable in the water and your hips sink. To compensate you kick hard and fast, which will exhaust you pretty quickly. Slow down your kick and try to maintain balance by pressing the top half of your body downward. Make the top half of your body heavy and the bottom half light. You might want to do some balance stuff with both arms by your side until you get comfortable, and then extend one arm out to do the zipper, etc. If you have a pull buoy, use it occasionally just to get the feel of what your hip position should be like.

Thanks for your guidance, i will try to implement your guidance in my strokes. 2 days before you answered my query, I got Total immersions DVDs. As you stressed on pressing the upper half, i would like to know how do we press the upper half when we move to our side. Thanks Again - Rajan When you are laying on your side, press the side of your chest and head (the side of your upper half) downward. Don't let your body bend at the waste as you do this. You have to imagine your whole body as a single, unbending unit, like a teeter totter (see the link below if you don't know what a teeter totter is) www.google.com/imgres Feel your hips and legs rise as you do this. The other thing I would advise you is to stretch your hip flexors. If you google search hip flexor stretches you will understand what I mean. This will also help you keep your hips up. Another important thing is keeping your foot pointed (plantar flexed). They are more likely to sink if they are bent to 45-90 degrees (dorsal flexed). Keep your knees almost straight without locking them as you kick. Too much bend can make them sink. Realize that it takes some time, so keep working at it!

Good explanation, Taruky! Using a pull buoy would definitely give the feel of where the hips and legs should ride in the water, too. During warm-ups, I like to swim 100 yards of freestyle with a pull buoy for that reason. I follow it by swimming without the buoy and concentrate on pressing my chest down and letting my hips rise up. Same goes for backstroke; I think it helps.

Thanks for your guidance, i will try to implement your guidance in my strokes. 2 days before you answered my query, I got Total immersions DVDs. As you stressed on pressing the upper half, i would like to know how do we press the upper half when we move to our side. Thanks Again - Rajan Welcome Rajan. It looks like you have gotten hold of some Total Immersion DVDs or books, no? TI can be very helpful I think for a beginner like yourself, but it really depends on how you use it. The most glaring problem I see from your videos is your balance. You are not yet comfortable in the water and your hips sink. To compensate you kick hard and fast, which will exhaust you pretty quickly. Slow down your kick and try to maintain balance by pressing the top half of your body downward. Make the top half of your body heavy and the bottom half light. You might want to do some balance stuff with both arms by your side until you get comfortable, and then extend one arm out to do the zipper, etc. If you have a pull buoy, use it occasionally just to get the feel of what your hip position should be like.

Keep practicing, videoing yourself and reviewing will definately help.