Hey guys, it's been a while. I've been so busy and haven't had as much time to swim. Oddly enough both my son and I have improved tremendously since the summer season ended, and this is with much less practice oddly enough.
My son (just turned 9) began the summer with a 45 or 46 second 25M. He now is consistently getting 21-23 seconds in the 25Y. We just started working on the 50Y, so his endurance isn't quite up to snuff, but he's getting about 51 seconds. it's really interesting how he plateaus for a couple weeks, then one day he sets a new bar for the next couple weeks. I'll try to get video soon to see what people think, I can post his old video links for comparison.
As for myself, some of you may remember it took me a good 20 some strokes to go 25M. Well, I'm now doing the 25Y in 12-13 strokes. I haven't had a chance to get myself videotaped,so I don't know how good it looks, but I figure with the markedly improved efficiency I must be doing something right. Again, I'll try to post a video soon. One of the things I'm doing is angling my arms slightly downward on the extension and keeping my hand loose and slightly angled downward. I find this reduces the drag I used to get from my hand and makes it easier to keep my elbow high.
Parents
Former Member
Hi Reilly and taruky,
I've seen plenty of beginners kick like crazy to keep their legs and hips up when they do freestyle. As the quadriceps consume much oxygen, the swimmers are quickly out of breath.
Often, the problem isn't the kick but bad balance. Head and chest are too high in the water. As the lungs are the body's buoys and act like a pivot in the water, keeping head and chest high automatically makes hips and legs drop.
So to correct this, in fact you need to do something counter-intuitive: push head and chest deeper in the water so that the body is horizontal and the head aligned with the spine. If you do this correctly, the buoyancy of the lungs will automatically make the hips and legs come up.
A good drill to understand this is "Balance In A Prone Position":
www.enjoy-swimming.com/freestyle-swimming-drills-balancing-on-your-front.html
Good luck!
Hi Reilly and taruky,
I've seen plenty of beginners kick like crazy to keep their legs and hips up when they do freestyle. As the quadriceps consume much oxygen, the swimmers are quickly out of breath.
Often, the problem isn't the kick but bad balance. Head and chest are too high in the water. As the lungs are the body's buoys and act like a pivot in the water, keeping head and chest high automatically makes hips and legs drop.
So to correct this, in fact you need to do something counter-intuitive: push head and chest deeper in the water so that the body is horizontal and the head aligned with the spine. If you do this correctly, the buoyancy of the lungs will automatically make the hips and legs come up.
A good drill to understand this is "Balance In A Prone Position":
www.enjoy-swimming.com/freestyle-swimming-drills-balancing-on-your-front.html
Good luck!
