Breaststroke and Free Style

However when I attempt to swim free style I feel like I am sinking/drowning. Does anyone else have this problem? If so what suggestions would you make to correct/lower the learning curve. Check out this video: www.youtube.com/watch :welcome:All four strokes are on here, but you can fast forward to the freestyle section. I feel this is an excellent method of learning freestyle. Good luck!

Breaststroke always came much more easily and naturally to me than freestyle. When I swam in high school I hated doing freestyle but now, many years later, that's what I swim for the bulk of my workouts. I don't really have any suggestions on how to get there (talk to your coach since he/she can see what you are doing and make suggestions) but know that there is hope - if I can do it, you can too!

as far a "sinking" you need to work on a faster kick... I'm going to have to disagree with my friend Oz, here. Sinking in freestyle is generally a matter of poor body position. With proper body position, you can swim freestyle with very minimal kick. The most common issue with beginners is holding the head up to look forward, and/or lifting the head to breath. Either pushes your hips down. Let your hips get too far down, and you sink. To stay as horizontal as possible, you need to look down, not forward, and swivel at the neck to breath, not bend to lift your chin. That'll help move your center of balance from your upper torso down closer to your waist where you want it. You may almost feel like you have to "lean into" the water to get that center of balance right. Good position also takes a fair amount of core strength. If you're midsection isn't tight, and you're bending in the middle, even proper head position isn't going to help much.

Definitely work with your coach to improve your crawl, but if you have a naturally good breaststroke be glad and work on it.

It sounds as if the coach looked at the "pigeon toe" stance and deduced that would be a great start for breaststroke kick.as far a "sinking" you need to work on a faster kick and more pull correction with the hands. Work with the coach for months to see if you improve.

I'm going to have to disagree with my friend Oz, here. Sinking in freestyle is generally a matter of poor body position. With proper body position, you can swim freestyle with very minimal kick. The most common issue with beginners is holding the head up to look forward, and/or lifting the head to breath. Either pushes your hips down. Let your hips get too far down, and you sink. To stay as horizontal as possible, you need to look down, not forward, and swivel at the neck to breath, not bend to lift your chin. That'll help move your center of balance from your upper torso down closer to your waist where you want it. You may almost feel like you have to "lean into" the water to get that center of balance right. Good position also takes a fair amount of core strength. If you're midsection isn't tight, and you're bending in the middle, even proper head position isn't going to help much. Concur. Dan

Check out this video: www.youtube.com/watch :welcome:All four strokes are on here, but you can fast forward to the freestyle section. I feel this is an excellent method of learning freestyle. Good luck! Good advice. I too swam breaststroke better than freestyle when I started.

Definitely work with your coach to improve your crawl I would second Allen's opinion here, you should work with your coach on improving your stroke. I would suggest not limiting your focus to one particular aspect of the stroke - such as head position - in trying to improve. Rather, it will be an overall combination of a neutral head position, stable kick, strong core, good body rotation, comfort with breathing by turning the body to the side rather than twisting the neck, and other elements that will need to be worked on consistently. Good luck!

I would suggest not limiting your focus to one particular aspect of the stroke... Though it may well be easier to focus on the different aspects one-by-one. Trying to work on several changes all at once can be challenging.