Here's a swimming exercise I invented recently to improve my aquatic posture. It seems like a pretty obvious idea now, so maybe I'm just reinventing the wheel. But anyway, I'd never heard of it, and it seems to be working well for me, so here it is.
I stand in shallow water with aggressively straight posture--I think of myself as a statue of a soldier standing at attention. I scan my body for any places that are slacking off, preventing me from expressing every millimeter of my true height, and attempt to iron them out. When I feel quite sure that even the drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket couldn't find anything in my posture to chew me out for, I gently rotate my head to one side, being very conscientious about moving *only* my head, keeping my eyes straight ahead, and keeping my chin level with the ground. Then, while trying to stay straight, I topple over to the side opposite the one I'm facing. If I keep my body sufficiently straight, I land in the right position almost effortlessly: hips right at the surface of the water, top arm glued to my hips, nose pointed straight up at the ceiling with the feeling of the waterline in exactly the right places on my chin and forehead. Everything immediately feels right.
Have any of you done this? What do you think?
great drill, but 2nd part may not work for those of us who legs instantly sink.
I neglected to mention in the OP that I always swim in long fins. No such thing as sinky legs when you're wearing rocket thrusters. The more momentum you have, the less you have to rely on body tension and leaning into your lungs to counteract sinky legs.
I haven't tried this exercise in bare feet yet. I'll do so tomorrow. I have a feeling I'm going to be drinking some chlorine.
