I have been told that I have a tendancy to look backward rather than to the side when breathing (on both sides) and that this extra movement of the head and neck creates drag, fishtailing, and can produce neck tension/cramps, etc. I think I definitely get too good a look at my recovering arm and do sometimes get a neck cramp while swimming.
My question is: what is the best way to break this habit? Should I focus on looking directly at the side of the pool? Should the eyes look slightly forward? It seems like where the eyes go, the head follows.
Thanks for any advice or suggestions.
Former Member
Well what's easiest for me is if there is a swimmer next to me I tend to look at their arms coming out of the water. If there isn't one next to me I would look at either the top edge of the pool or the very top of the lane rope on the side your breathing on.
I have the problem of my head dropping when it's in the water, but that's a differnt subject. Good Luck
Kelli,
Read "Air & Gravity" by Emmett Hines (www.usms.org/.../airgrav.htm). Head position is part of the whole body position picture. Address the whole, and your head position will fall in line.
Matt
I'll qualify this by saying I'm not an expert and not a trained coach, but my son had the problem of looking back under his arm when he breathed and he got over it by swimming in the lane next to the edge watching me while I walked just ahead of him. He had to turn his head to a better, more neutral positon in order to see me. He got the feel of it fairly quickly and I only had to walk a couple dozen lengths.
