I figured compling my random questions into one post was better than two or three.
1. When I breath to my left before I do a flip turn then I can't do a good one. I end up rolling sideways, like over my shoulder, rather than front, tucking my head and going. I've tried looking to the left and then rolling in the middle of the pool and the same thing happens. I just can't seem to get my head back to being straight before I roll. Any ideas of how to fix this other than just breath to the right because sometimes my stroke count doesn't work out so that I can do that all the time?
2. This new backstroke rule...Im still kinda confused. So when I roll onto my stomach then I have to either roll immediately or take a stroke that is part of the continous roll motion right? I can't glide to the wall?
3. How can I improve my lung capacity? I need to be able to hold my breath longer so that my underwater kicks can take me as far as I know they can and not be hindered by a need for air.
I think that was everything for now. Thanx for all your help!!
~Kyra
Former Member
Kyra, as far as the back rule change, check out the post just one page back in general discussions, there are a lot of replies there unless you did already.
As far as the lung capacity, I am working on the same thing right now and my guess would be pretty simple but I think effective - just work on taking fewer breaths on more strokes, staarting maybe with 1 on two strokes and working your way until you can swim one length with one breath.Try swimming taking more and more strokes on one breath and once you feel comfortable with that add another stroke or two.
Here's my 2 cents (about 1 cent over-priced):
Backstroke rule: Don't know. First time I saw this new turn was at the '04 Olympics. When I was swimming competitively (early '80s) as an age grouper, we were just beginning to see the standing backstroke start (which now seems out of vogue, like me).
On lung capacity, try breath control drills, e.g. pulling and breathing every 3, 5 or 7 strokes; no breathers (as far as you can make it at first gradually increasing to 25 yards and farther as you get really good); etc. At the end of my workouts, I will pull 6 -8 100s and breath 3 times per length, once about two strokes out of the turn, once at mid-pool (about 5-7 strokes later) and once about 2 strokes before the turn.
On your turns, don't breath right before your turn. I was always coached to take my last breath about 2 strokes before executing the turn (for me that's a stroke before the big black T on the bottom of the pool). Your body length and stroke will tell you when to take your last breath. In this way, your head is already forward and your body in the correct position when you execute your turn.
Does this make sense? I am trying to describe it without using my hands and a diagram, a tall order for a lawyer.
You actually aren't working on your lung capacity but rather your CO2 tolerance.
The co2 accumulation is what makes yo feel that you have to take a breath. It comes pretty quickly and all you really need to do is to keep doing flip turns.
The other things mentioned will also help too. But you'll be comfortable in no time.
That "wonderful" tingling, stinging, eye watering, breath taking sensation that starts in you nose and spreads over every square inch of your scalp and penetrates down into your brain...
Originally posted by laineybug
That "wonderful" tingling, stinging, eye watering, breath taking sensation that starts in you nose and spreads over every square inch of your scalp and penetrates down into your brain...
Nicely put. That and the pulling/breath-control set mentioned earlier and I'm good for a week.
laineybug has a great point: it is normal human reaction (I think) to exhale during a flip turn. First you are contracting your abs (by bending in half) which seems to force air out your lungs through your nose and/or mouth. Second, you are instinctively trying to prevent water from rushing into your nose.
But with practice and focusing on controlling the amount of air you release as you make the turn, you can conserve more air in your lungs for the push off the wall. I think about this as I am doing pull sets because the whole purpose (mine anyway) of the pull set is to develop lung capacity (or CO2 tolerance or VO2 max or whatever the thing is called where you can swim further without breathing).
In my very unscientific mind, I believe this capacity can be increased just as muscles can be trained to go further faster. Someone with a lot more training in physiology or biology or medicine may set me straight but you only paid 2 cents (one cent more than its worth) for the ramblings. A bargain at twice the price!
Figuring out a balance between exhaline and retaining air has really helped me. To begin with I was exhaling almost all of my air while I flipped to keep the water out of my nose... that meant I was almost out of breath by the time I was pushing off and felt the need to surface and breathe quickly. While watching a video on turning I noticed that the swimmer was barely bubbling water out and that low bubbling continued the entire time he was dolfing underwater. It takes practice to figure out the balance between how much you need to exhale to keep water out of your nose and keeping as much air in your lungs so you can stay underwater as long as possible. Be prepared for chlorine rushes.
Originally posted by laineybug
That "wonderful" tingling, stinging, eye watering, breath taking sensation that starts in you nose and spreads over every square inch of your scalp and penetrates down into your brain...
I am glad I noticed this thread, 'cause I was wondering why I could never pull out of the water after a flip-turn not dying for air.Now I did it a couple of times after reading the comments here and realised that I exhale all the air right away.Well, I tried to pace it and found out exactly the above quoted discription of the chlorine rush.Thus, I wanted to see now if you have ways preventing those "wonderful sensations" or is it inevitable when you try to save air on turns?
