Hi all,
I finally got a short video made of me swimming freestyle, and it is a major disappointment with a multitude of issues :( I am in my late 30s and usually swim alone at least 2 - 3 times a week, sometimes more. My breaststroke has improved, so the last 9 months or so I have been trying to learn freestyle on my own.
The thing is, I have been really focusing on drills and making sure that I keep my head low with one goggle in the water when breathing. The drill I use the most is kicking on the side with one arm in front. I have to use short fins, since without, I find it quite difficult. When doing this drill, it all feels easy. It feels like I always manage to go straight, keep the head low and one goggle in the water. But then again maybe you can still rotate quite much and believe that one goggle stays in the water. It is of course more difficult without fins, but I thought I had at least some proper head rotation in line with the spine. Another drill I use is single arm freestyle.
Now that I look at the video, it all falls apart :( It seems that I both over-rotate and possibly move the head to the side when breathing. I think I am lifting my head too? I thought I had a bit better rotation to my left side, but it seems as crappy as to the right. Not sure if my arm entry is wide enough either, might be slight cross over there too.
Yes, my posture is not perfect either. I work a lot in front of a computer, but swimming has done wonders for me.
From lurking around, I know people here are very knowledgeable. Thought I would take a chance and ask for some advice on how to improve. I do have plans on doing some one on one sessions with a coach later on. My main focus is technique first, since improvement is my primary passion and it really feels great! My goal is to achieve good swimming technique with some time, even if it requires a lot of work.
Here is a link to the somewhat embarrasing video:
www.youtube.com/watch
........The best I could do is making sure that one goggle is always submerged and seeing only the underwater part of the pool ledge. The goggle out however, was looking back, but still seeing part of the roof. I managed to get air, but also more water in my mouth. Had to be much more conscious about moving my mouth a bit upwards...............getting better at breathing out
I'll be honest. I don't try to keep in one goggle. I find it hard, as well. But as mentioned above, trying to fix everything all at once can be tricky. And I haven't been back at it long enough to have it all down, so I go for the big bits.
On breathing out.......do you ever use a kickboard? I think that using a kickboard can be a great way to work on regulating your exhalation. First of all, you don't have to focus on 367 other things to do correctly, and I don't know about you, but my feeble mind runs out of things to recall when I run out of fingers to help me keep count! But yes, the kick sets can help.......IF you use the kickboard the right (my belief) way.
First, don't do like when you were a kid who loved kick sets because you could throw your arms on top, and rest your hwole body on it. Don't even grab it. Push it out in front of you, and place your open hands on top of it. So the back of hte kicboard shouldn't extend beyond the middle of your forearm. When you are swimming, you exert downward a little with your hands......not enough to submerge it, but really what you are doing is keeping your hips up high in the water. Now where the breathing comes into play. Keep your face IN the water, looking down. Don't keep it up above water like you would think you'd do, that'll drop your hips. Now you do have to pick up your head to breathe, so the inhalation will be different, but the exhalation can be worked on like that. Just keep your face in the water, and slowly exhale through your nose. Again, not too much goinig on to think about, so you can focus on the exhalation. Try doinig that every time you do a kick set, and it'll help you make it habit.
Speaking of kicking......really good to see how much you use your feet. So many people will kind of forget they are there. Great to see you use them the whole time.
........The best I could do is making sure that one goggle is always submerged and seeing only the underwater part of the pool ledge. The goggle out however, was looking back, but still seeing part of the roof. I managed to get air, but also more water in my mouth. Had to be much more conscious about moving my mouth a bit upwards...............getting better at breathing out
I'll be honest. I don't try to keep in one goggle. I find it hard, as well. But as mentioned above, trying to fix everything all at once can be tricky. And I haven't been back at it long enough to have it all down, so I go for the big bits.
On breathing out.......do you ever use a kickboard? I think that using a kickboard can be a great way to work on regulating your exhalation. First of all, you don't have to focus on 367 other things to do correctly, and I don't know about you, but my feeble mind runs out of things to recall when I run out of fingers to help me keep count! But yes, the kick sets can help.......IF you use the kickboard the right (my belief) way.
First, don't do like when you were a kid who loved kick sets because you could throw your arms on top, and rest your hwole body on it. Don't even grab it. Push it out in front of you, and place your open hands on top of it. So the back of hte kicboard shouldn't extend beyond the middle of your forearm. When you are swimming, you exert downward a little with your hands......not enough to submerge it, but really what you are doing is keeping your hips up high in the water. Now where the breathing comes into play. Keep your face IN the water, looking down. Don't keep it up above water like you would think you'd do, that'll drop your hips. Now you do have to pick up your head to breathe, so the inhalation will be different, but the exhalation can be worked on like that. Just keep your face in the water, and slowly exhale through your nose. Again, not too much goinig on to think about, so you can focus on the exhalation. Try doinig that every time you do a kick set, and it'll help you make it habit.
Speaking of kicking......really good to see how much you use your feet. So many people will kind of forget they are there. Great to see you use them the whole time.
