Beginner here in dire need of help/advice

RE: Beginner here in dire need of help/advice

Former Member — Sun, 17 Mar 2019 14:58:51 GMT

Keep at it. You seem much more concerned in improving your stroke that others on our Masters team that have been on it for years! You will keep improving with your outlook. Yes - try to keep your head down by only having one goggle lens out of the water while keeping the other in the water to help staying flat. Thanks orca! Never thought I would get addicted to swimming but I am obsessed. Head position is definitely causing me problems. I like the advice about keeping one lens/eye in the water, I will focus on this next time I'm in the pool.

RE: Beginner here in dire need of help/advice

Former Member — Sun, 17 Mar 2019 05:21:21 GMT

Thank you both for the reply! @scyfreestyler, my instructor tells me a lot of things. She says my issues are partly due to the fact that I'm really tight in the chest area so I'm not pulling effectively which in turn is effecting my rotation. Also my tendancy to stick my head out of the water rather than rotate my head is causing my lower body to sink. I have used both a pull buoy as well as a kickboard to isolate kicking and stroking and I'm fairly decent at doing both separately but when I go to combine them, everything falls apart and I lose whatever form/technique I was utilizing when the movements were separate. I definitely need to work on my head placement, perhaps it's just more time with the buoy until I get the upper body movements down perfectly. @Elaine, I could definitely use some video footage of my swimming. I'll see what I can do! At the moment, all strokes are challenging but freestyle is definitely the hardest!

RE: Beginner here in dire need of help/advice

orca1946 — Sun, 17 Mar 2019 03:38:29 GMT

RE: Beginner here in dire need of help/advice

Former Member — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 16:05:56 GMT

What does your instructor suggest you do? Have you tried swimming with a pull buoy to take the legs and sinking hips out of the equation? A buoy will allow you to work on rotation, breathing and pulling while also aiding in keeping your body in the proper position to the water's surface, parallel. This isn't a universal rule but at your level, I'd try to focus on keeping one eye under the water when you rotate to breathe. Also, pressing your torso down into the water a bit will help to bring up your legs and hips.

RE: Beginner here in dire need of help/advice

Elaine Krugman — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 03:06:26 GMT

:welcome: You came to the right place. In addition to the tips above, I would recommend you have somebody shoot a video clip of your swimming and posting it here on this thread. It would help to have a visual to see exactly what you are doing, so we can provide suggestions on how to improve. Hey, if it makes you feel any better, I am a competitive swimmer, and I have the most difficulty with freestyle technique as well! My breaststroke is way better.