My other instructor has helped me figure out a bunch of things.
First, she solved my kicking problem for good: I was still kicking from the knees mostly, even though I can do a proper kick on dry land. All the advice I got here was great, but it turns out that no matter what I can reproduce on dry-land, I always go back to my old habits in the water.
I realized it when I put my legs in the water and WATCHED what I was doing: the water made me FEEL like I was moving my whole leg, but really just the lower half was doing anything. Once I started doing it RIGHT, I felt new muscles engaging everywhere.
The other major thing she's done for me is taught me the breaststroke (although I don't have the breathing down very well) and elementary backstroke.
Compared to my regular backstroke, I can just zip across the pool with the elementary backstroke. It's quite fun. I have no idea why this isn't the first thing everyone learns in the pool, as it took me just 15 minutes to get it right (more or less) and I was zipping around in no time.
She also fixed my push-offs and glides. I would push off the wall on my back and then glide, but my knees would be bent. I figured out that I was subconsciously trying to get my legs up to the surface, but the physical result was sinking legs and a knee bend. Once I just learned to straighten them out, they naturally started to come up to the top thanks to the velocity from the glide.
It IS a bit frustrating to see some folks in the group lessons (before my private) picking up freestyle in like an hour. I've struggled with breathing for freestyle under my old instructor for WEEKS. The new one hasn't tried to teach it to me yet, but I'm hoping when she does, it'll become crystal clear... that's the effect she's had elsewhere.
I'm getting really tired of drinking the pool.
I tried the very first TI float drill... it's really frustrating because my legs sink, so I have to start sculling, and then that distracts me, and so on. I've "pressed my buoy" with limited success.
Incidentally, my new instructor also taught me how to scull properly. My old one had me moving my hands in big, wide, slow circles. That did NOTHING for me in terms of lift.
Well, I watched my new instructor do it: small, fast, forceful, little circles. Bam. Lift. I think I could probably tread water now if I tried... I can certainly do it in the shallow end with just my hands, but I'm a little unbalanced.
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Former Member
Breathing patters are not that hard, just roll your body naturally and let your head out to breath.
Why would you try to sit at the bottom of the pool?
I'm a bit frustrated because i haven't gone swimming in 3 days due to an ear infection. :( tomorrow im planning on putting some plugs and going no matter what!
I managed to do some front crawl with proper breathing today... man, it's so much faster than lazy old backstroke!
But I felt like I was swimming "uphill" with front crawl, even though it was faster.
I was trying to sit at the bottom of the pool as a first step toward swimming from the bottom back up to the surface. I couldn't dive to the bottom, so I just 'pushed' myself down there and then breaststroke'd to the surface.
Sorry to hear you haven't been swimming for a few days. =)
I'm taking the weekend off. EVERYTHING HURTS. I'm only swimming 4 days per week, but as a newbie, my muscles haven't adjusted to this 'swimming' business yet.
My shoulders are in agony. And I have muscles growing on my legs in places where I didn't even know I could grow muscles. =)
I told all of this to my girlfriend (former competitive swimmer) who promply called me a 'wimp' because she 'trained 2 hours a day, seven days a week.'
Of course she isn't in the pool AT ALL now, so who is she to say that!
A fun freestyle/backstroke drill I invented is the continuous roll. Start on your back kicking and then roll to your front, then back to your back, then to your front... continuously... no stopping. Round and round.
It's similar to the TI drill but without pauses. It's way more fun without pauses. I'm sure I looked like an idiot, but man, it was fun. =)
Breathing patters are not that hard, just roll your body naturally and let your head out to breath.
Why would you try to sit at the bottom of the pool?
I'm a bit frustrated because i haven't gone swimming in 3 days due to an ear infection. :( tomorrow im planning on putting some plugs and going no matter what!
I managed to do some front crawl with proper breathing today... man, it's so much faster than lazy old backstroke!
But I felt like I was swimming "uphill" with front crawl, even though it was faster.
I was trying to sit at the bottom of the pool as a first step toward swimming from the bottom back up to the surface. I couldn't dive to the bottom, so I just 'pushed' myself down there and then breaststroke'd to the surface.
Sorry to hear you haven't been swimming for a few days. =)
I'm taking the weekend off. EVERYTHING HURTS. I'm only swimming 4 days per week, but as a newbie, my muscles haven't adjusted to this 'swimming' business yet.
My shoulders are in agony. And I have muscles growing on my legs in places where I didn't even know I could grow muscles. =)
I told all of this to my girlfriend (former competitive swimmer) who promply called me a 'wimp' because she 'trained 2 hours a day, seven days a week.'
Of course she isn't in the pool AT ALL now, so who is she to say that!
A fun freestyle/backstroke drill I invented is the continuous roll. Start on your back kicking and then roll to your front, then back to your back, then to your front... continuously... no stopping. Round and round.
It's similar to the TI drill but without pauses. It's way more fun without pauses. I'm sure I looked like an idiot, but man, it was fun. =)
