RE: Back in a master's group after hiatus

Former Member — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 15:01:44 GMT

There is a Catch 22 with underwater swimming. The more air you hold in your lungs the more buoyant you will be, requiring more effort just to stay under. By exhaling completely before you submerege you limit your time under water but you also have less of a fight on your hands. At least this has been my experience. I don't do 100's under water but I do practice dolphin kicking and *** kicking under water when the mood strikes me.

RE: Back in a master's group after hiatus

FindingMyInnerFish — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 12:16:36 GMT

Thanks for your perspectives! I'm relatively new to swim workouts of this kind (not to swimming, which I've known how to do since I was a kid--just never tried to swim competitively until recently). As a newbie, I kind of take it all in, figure whoever's coaching has his or her purpose for the workout element, and I try to be open minded about learning new skills. As for the underwater work, during my cooldown, I took a couple of dives to look at what the more experienced swimmers were doing--some looked as if they were doing dolphin kicks, others freestyle kicks, others a sort of *** stroke... so there didn't seem to be any one method that all agreed on. I *** stroked (awkwardly) while I was doing my underwater swimming. My first experience with the underwater laps was a week ago Sat.--with the usual coach not there, someone else substituting. She said the same thing about pushing the air out of my lungs. But that seemed to me a guarantee I'd be right back up to grab whatever air I could get hold of. But interestingly, sometimes when I'm just swimming an easy *** stroke (and this was before I did any masters' practices), I'd keep myself under as long as I was able just to enjoy the view (especially true in open water)--came up when I wanted/needed to, never thinking it was too big of a deal, just something fun to do. Only wished I could stay under longer b/c there was so much to see. :) I think if I take it that way, not worry about whether I stay under for two strokes or 5 or 10, just enjoy what I can do, I get the feeling it'll go more easily.