I posted a question -"Can you still be a real swimmer if you can't swim freestyle?" (crawl). This was taped a year ago. Since then, I've straightened head position so that I am looking down at the bottom of the pool. My kick is still awful, despite being an ex runner for 30 years. I do plenty of kickboard and no kickboard drills to improve my kick, with little results. I think my underwater pull is better, although I still sometimes drop my elbows. I'm so confused--I've done all the TI drills, and others given by swim team swimmers, and have watched countless videos. This stroke eludes me and it makes me crazy.
i105.photobucket.com/.../th_2011-09-16_12-08-38_514.jpg
Thanks for your input!:bow:
Former Member
Thanks again. Unfortunately, this video is a year old, and I have really improved head position. I keep it glued to the bottom of the pool (looking at the line). I may waver a bit, but just slightly. Steve, it's amazing you can tell that my left arm recovers, why is my right arm (stronger arm, breathing side) so lazy? It doesn't make sense, but that's what happens. I try alternate breathing, but really feel off, although I know it will even my stroke out.
Fishy, thanks. I thought that my rotation to the right was better than rotation to the left, so I will focus on that today. You are all correct - I have a very lazy pull, and shouldn't have, since I am fairly strong in the upper body from weight lifting and playing tennis.
smontanero, I do the six kick drill with fins, but somehow once I put the whole stroke together, I'm thinking "keep head still," "enter arms properly" "kick" "flex wrist" "pull through the whole stroke" "rotate". arrgghhh, something always gets neglected. It isn't a natural stroke for me. I envy those swimmers who swim miles of free so effortlessly. If I had 3 wishes, swimming crawl effortessly (and fast) would be one of them!
