My coach says my hips ride too high - they break the surface when I roll, and sometimes even when I'm not rolling my rear end is out of the water. At first I resisted his advice to try to sink my hips, since it goes against everything I've heard. Then I saw photos from a meet and looked around at other swimmers. Even those with more "hip girth" than me always swim with their posteriors underwater. When I use all my mental energy to try to push them down, I do seem to go a bit faster, but it's tough.
I have tried raising my head. This does not help. I think it has to do with my spine - my posture on land is not that great, either. I'm 26, 5'3" and 115. I am pretty muscular, but the fat I do have is on my hips/thighs. I think that might be a reason for this "high butt" problem. (I'm pretty flat-chested, to answer the next logical question.)
Questions:
Is my coach right? Should I continue trying to submerge my hips? Does their breaking the surface cause me to slow, according to the laws of physics? Or would it help, since there's no water resistance? What else, besides raising my head position, can I do to fix this, if indeed it should be fixed?
(Swimming background - started swimming 2 years ago. Started basically from scratch. I swim a 1:30/100yd race pace.)
Thanks,
Alice
Parents
Former Member
Thanks for your detailed reply. You are correct about the muscle control of the spine, I'm sure. It figures into my imprecise flipturns as well.
About the kicking "up" - I've never really gotten the hang of kicking. I do a 6-beat kick and the kick that goes with the body roll is strong, but when I do kick sets, I go hopelessly slow.
What is it that my feet are supposed to be doing?
I think I am not pointing my toes and I am supposed to, but I'm not sure that's right. I've heard the motion is like kicking a soccer ball, but I didn't play much soccer and it doesn't seem to translate for me. Not surprisingly, my breaststroke is terrible because my kick is bad there, too.
Thanks for your help.
Alice
Thanks for your detailed reply. You are correct about the muscle control of the spine, I'm sure. It figures into my imprecise flipturns as well.
About the kicking "up" - I've never really gotten the hang of kicking. I do a 6-beat kick and the kick that goes with the body roll is strong, but when I do kick sets, I go hopelessly slow.
What is it that my feet are supposed to be doing?
I think I am not pointing my toes and I am supposed to, but I'm not sure that's right. I've heard the motion is like kicking a soccer ball, but I didn't play much soccer and it doesn't seem to translate for me. Not surprisingly, my breaststroke is terrible because my kick is bad there, too.
Thanks for your help.
Alice
