I've been swimming all my life, but never proper strokes. Recently I've begun learning the correct strokes but I'm having trouble with my crawl stroke. I watch other swimmers go back and forth flip turning as they come to end. I can't do more than 50 yards before I'm completely out of breath. I know I'm in better shape than that because I can swim breaststroke back and forth just fine, so I assume I'm not breathing correctly. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can breathe better and how to have enough air after the flip turn to continue?
Also, I feel like I don't go anywhere when I kick unless I have fins (I have the blue zoomers). Any suggestions for improving the crawl kick? I kick across the pool, but I go v e r y slow.
Feeling a little discouraged... :(
Thanks for any advice you guys have got!
Lisa
Parents
Former Member
If you find that a pull buoy (the styro-virus kind) allows you to move with significantly greater ease, then you are likely using your kick PRIMARILY for keeping your hips up when you swim. This is an ENTIRELY different kicking motion than propulsive flutter kicking, and usually evidenced by kicking more from the knees than from the hips, and kicking outside the tube the rest of your body is swimming through.
It may be that you have made a strongly ingrained habit of hip-lift kicking, to the exclusion of propulsive flutter kicking.
Applying the general concepts of great longitudinal balance (head down, press your buoy - that's your built-in pull buoy - and avoiding pressing down on the water in front of you) can allow you to swim freestyle effortlessly without the styro-virus AND without needing to kick AT ALL to keep your hips glued to the surface. This then gives you options for how you might otherwise use your kick - options that, from a practical standpoint, aren't available to you at the moment.
To accept a position that requires kicking effort, even a little, to be squandered on raising the hips (or on keeping them from sinking further) will pay big dividends in the calorie consumption department - but that's about it. Hey, at least it ain't ALL bad news!
If you find that a pull buoy (the styro-virus kind) allows you to move with significantly greater ease, then you are likely using your kick PRIMARILY for keeping your hips up when you swim. This is an ENTIRELY different kicking motion than propulsive flutter kicking, and usually evidenced by kicking more from the knees than from the hips, and kicking outside the tube the rest of your body is swimming through.
It may be that you have made a strongly ingrained habit of hip-lift kicking, to the exclusion of propulsive flutter kicking.
Applying the general concepts of great longitudinal balance (head down, press your buoy - that's your built-in pull buoy - and avoiding pressing down on the water in front of you) can allow you to swim freestyle effortlessly without the styro-virus AND without needing to kick AT ALL to keep your hips glued to the surface. This then gives you options for how you might otherwise use your kick - options that, from a practical standpoint, aren't available to you at the moment.
To accept a position that requires kicking effort, even a little, to be squandered on raising the hips (or on keeping them from sinking further) will pay big dividends in the calorie consumption department - but that's about it. Hey, at least it ain't ALL bad news!
