On my right side, which is how I learnt as a kid, I tend to find that I don't balance in the water as well as when I breathe on the left (the side I forced to learn bilaterally in recent months).
Feels like my lead arm (left) goes down (I think that's a reflex in trying to push my head up), and I've worked on holding the stretch.
That didn't fix it. Still feels like I begind to sag in the water.
I have now been tinkering with pulling back further on with the right arm (because I started to cross compare) to getting a better roll and glide; this seems to be working a bit.
Does that make sense? Is cutting the pull short (in slower paced swims) likely to cause a sagging feeling?
Undoubtedly I have a bad habit well ingrained...and without a coach to look at my stroke it's a bit of "cat and mouse" for me to analyse.
I have books with drills etc but I want to try and ID the issue if I can.
Sprints are not such an issue...but there are less breaths and faster turnovers.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
Rich
Parents
Former Member
SwimStud,
To answer your question, yes, cutting your right arm pull short could very well be the cause. If your arm exits early and begins to recover, it is going to start pulling you out of your rotated position and back to the center. If you are still trying to breath when this happens, you will feel the urge to press down with your bottom arm to lift your head to breathe. If you lengthen the right arm stroke, you'll have more time to breathe so that when you do recover your arm, your head will be ready to move back in line with your body. You may also want to check to see if you are exhaling underwater before turning your head to take a breath. If you aren't, that may be causing you to leave your head turned too long as well. Hope this helps!
Chlorini
Thanks C ! I was trying to figure it out it's been baffling me as it's my natural side...Then I tried just comparing how my left arm stroked and realised I was pulling right back to the hip, and feeling a nice smoothe "breach" before rolling back. The other side felt very choppy and quick a feeling of rushing to breathe. Then I felt my arm not pulling back so far. It seemed to help when I thought about it. Now to work on that in drills and ingraine it! Again, sprints haven't been an issue, which is probably what I learnt as a kid--go as fast as you can--but anything more focused on technique or distance I struggled to keep a nice balance.
I'm a tad baffled about the breathing thing--probably my misreading it. I normally finish the exhale before breaking the surface with my mouth. I try to keep it rhythmic. Breathe, exhale, 2, 3, Breathe exhale 2, 3. I think that part is working for me...although it could be wrong--I guess i'll self analyse a bit there too on my next swim!
SwimStud,
To answer your question, yes, cutting your right arm pull short could very well be the cause. If your arm exits early and begins to recover, it is going to start pulling you out of your rotated position and back to the center. If you are still trying to breath when this happens, you will feel the urge to press down with your bottom arm to lift your head to breathe. If you lengthen the right arm stroke, you'll have more time to breathe so that when you do recover your arm, your head will be ready to move back in line with your body. You may also want to check to see if you are exhaling underwater before turning your head to take a breath. If you aren't, that may be causing you to leave your head turned too long as well. Hope this helps!
Chlorini
Thanks C ! I was trying to figure it out it's been baffling me as it's my natural side...Then I tried just comparing how my left arm stroked and realised I was pulling right back to the hip, and feeling a nice smoothe "breach" before rolling back. The other side felt very choppy and quick a feeling of rushing to breathe. Then I felt my arm not pulling back so far. It seemed to help when I thought about it. Now to work on that in drills and ingraine it! Again, sprints haven't been an issue, which is probably what I learnt as a kid--go as fast as you can--but anything more focused on technique or distance I struggled to keep a nice balance.
I'm a tad baffled about the breathing thing--probably my misreading it. I normally finish the exhale before breaking the surface with my mouth. I try to keep it rhythmic. Breathe, exhale, 2, 3, Breathe exhale 2, 3. I think that part is working for me...although it could be wrong--I guess i'll self analyse a bit there too on my next swim!
