Not sure if this goes in this forum or not, but I could really use some help on this. I finally have got my freestyle times to be below 40 sec. consistenly for 50 yds (i know it's slow but it's the fastest I've ever been personally), and now I would like my backstroke times to come down. I feel like I've tried everything I know to make them faster and I'm feeling kind of stuck. I do some interval training but they still seem to be in the mid-40's for 50 yds. I think I roll enough (I show my shoulder on every stroke) and my kick is decent, but when I kick hard, I feel like I sink. I've tried everything that I can think of and all kinds of combinations of kicking and arm speed to get myself to go faster and no matter what I do, I still can't get my times to come down. So anyway, now that I'm done complaining (sorry)I was wondering if anyone had any tips to help me out? Thanx a bunch!!
~Kyra
i scrunch my nose
one swimmer i know presses her top lip over her nose holes
(no clue how she does that)
some people wear nose plugs
some swimmer blow air till they surface
ande
Originally posted by nkace
It's good to know I am not the only one getting water up the nose when doing backstroke, yuck. How does one prevent this?
Originally posted by SwiminONandON
As with most things in swimming ... practice, practice, and more practice ... Technique is huge obviously, make sure you are starting your kick from the gut and using your hips. Work it on every backstroke set. Do underwater 25s with no breathe.
yeah I'm going to have to do just that I know.. I'm assuming those underwater 25's would be on my stomach,, not my back, correct? there's NOOOOO way I could do that on my back!..
lol.. boy that would be an ugly thing to witness!
I also have the question of how the heck do you keep water from getting up your nose while holding your breath??... do you have special nostril exercises, or are you all just genetically advanced?? ;)
Also,, my coach told me (many times, because I used to hold my breath as a habit), not to hold my breath on push offs, but let a little out as I'm streamlining, or I will go into oxygen debt faster and my energy level will suffer..
is this true, or perhaps just training to get used to that oxygen debt is what will overcome that?
J.
ohhhhh, 25 KICKS.. I thought you meant to start swimming 25 yards underwater on my back.. whew!
Thanks for the tips! I'll give em' a go at practice tonight!
also after thinking about it a bit I'm wondering if because I breathe out so fully on my back if the water rushing into my nose is perhaps due to an involuntary reaction to start sucking air back in?... Maybe if I don't breathe out all the way I won't get the water up my nose...
Though it may just be the genetic advantages that allow you all to do this correctly! lol.. ;)
Originally posted by EyeoreSAM
I do 25's underwater fly kick on my back, not on my stomach.
As far as getting water up your nose I also can scrunch my top lip to cover my nose.
ahhhh.. thus the genetic enhancements!.. damn!.. 25 m underwater fly kick on back..impressive
ok then.. I have some goals now at least!
Heather I figured you meant 25 dolphin kicks underwater on back, but I initially thought you meant 25 Meters, though you may have actually.. hmmmm....
I'll do as many as I can anyway, and work from there!
J.
As with most things in swimming ... practice, practice, and more practice ... Technique is huge obviously, make sure you are starting your kick from the gut and using your hips. Work it on every backstroke set. Do underwater 25s with no breathe.
The flow of the water isn't going up your nose, it's going against your body so it'd be going the opposite direction. I really don't get it, I am fairly gifted genetically though ;)
No, those 25 kicks would be on your back, I can pop out at 15m on underwater dolphin kick on my back no prob (well off of the first wall, it's all down hill after that) Build up to it! Make sure you are in a super tight streamline, have good technique on your kick. Go as far as you can, pop up for air, go back down ...
Hmmm ... see these are all things I just do, I don’t really think about ... I think I start blowing out water when I am in my streamline unless it’s a sprint and then I hold my breathe a little longer ... it really depends on the race. Oxygen debt for a 50 free isn’t a problem, but on a 1650 you want to be getting in as much oxygen as you can. Make sure you really empty your lungs, too. I actually usually intake just a bit of water before I turn, and spit the water out first (it’s a weird habit that I actually like).
