Would like comments on Fly & ***

I watched it again and the breathing problem flows(or doesn't flow) from bringing your hands too far back.Due to that,you don't get lift from your insweep and so must lift your head to breathe.

Your breaststroke looks like it's all kick to me. It doesn't look like your pull is helping you out. Try to narrow your pull in. Try to keep your hands in the direction of travel/don't scoop down. Watch those extra kicks at the beginning, too - especially in an end lane!!! :afraid:

Two things real quick: first, be careful on your start. It looks like you did a couple of dolphin kicks there before your pull. If you didn't, it must have been the water and the camera angle, but it sure looked like it. You're only allowed one dolphin kick, and the downward part has to be done after you start your pull. Also, your start was not so good. You were sort of piked, so your feet and head entered the water at the same time. You want to enter the water through one hole, and you want that hole as small as possible. You also don't want to be sitting back when you get set. I noticed when I looked at your fly video that you are almost sitting down when you get set. All that does is waste time and energy getting your center of gravity over the front of the block. You want to be as close to falling off as you can without actually doing it. I used to do the same thing, and my coach had me look directly behind me with my chin tucked to my chest, and it helped a lot. Second, your recovery is way too slow. You need to accelerate your arms through the recovery. You accelerate through the insweep, but stop when your hands come together. That's a pretty classic mistake, but you can fix that pretty easily. On a related note, your insweep comes back way too far. Your hands are almost at the bottom of your chest, and you want them around your head. I try not to let them come any farther than my chin. Good job on the ***. That's a great time. Thanks everyone for the comments so far, please keep them coming. I believe I only took one dolphin kick, but as I'm still learning it's possible I took 2 (I was prepared for the possible dq…the results haven't been posted so it may still happen, though they didn't say anything to me at the meet). So the dolphin kick has to occur after/during the underwater pull, correct? I think I understand/comprehend the other critiques and should be able to work on those in practice. Since I don't have access to a coach right now I greatly appreciate the comments. Also, while I'm aware of my "piking" issue I have yet to figure out how to correct it. If anyone has any specific suggestions/drills I'd appreciate it. It's hard to find starting blocks where I live during the winter but if I knew of some drills or something I can get to a pool that's about 40 minutes away and do some practicing. Thanks again to everyone. :banana:

Watching Kitajima and Hansen, they start tilting their heads up during the outsweep, but don't actually break the surface until the insweep. Check this out and this.

Re: yor BR,you snuck one past the turn judge.As well as the 2 dolphin kicks you have almost completed your 2nd pull before your head breaks the surface on both your start and turn.You must break the surface before your insweep begins. Pulling too far back is messing up your entire stroke.It gets you caught with your hands together before the recovery giving your stroke a"start ,stop" action.A good drill for you is the "lane line" drill.Lean over a lane line so it is under each armpit,then do BR pull.That way your hands can't come back too far.

On your fly, I definitely agree that your wasting energy moving up and down. Your arms also seem to loop up instead of recovering in more of a horizontal fashion. Get rid of the wasted motion and concentrate on driving yourself forward, not on undulating so much and keep your breathing flatter. When you breathe, you're coming up way too high. On your breastroke, get your hips up. When you finish the stroke, you should also be looking more towards the bottom of the pool. You need more of a wave action to your breastroke in my opinion. Your hips should be up, drving you upper body forward on the recovery. You're generating too much resistance.

You might want to consider switching to the track start. Using the track start gets you in the water pretty quickly and in a pretty straight line. The problem is you are jumping up and out and basically landing like you would if you jumped off the dresser onto your bed. You should try to enter the water sooner. You can keep using the grip start (it's what I use for breaststroke), but keep your legs straighter on the blocks.

Your breaststroke looks like it's all kick to me. It doesn't look like your pull is helping you out. Try to narrow your pull in. Try to keep your hands in the direction of travel/don't scoop down. I just wanted to add to FQ's point... I noticed your head bobbing a bit when you came up for air. While you work on that pull, keep your head still - when your head goes back under water, keep your head in the same position, go into a nice streamline... work that glide on every stroke. 33's a nice time. :applaud: Watch those dolphin kicks. ;)

Just wanted to say thanks again, I've tried putting some of the comments made to use in practice tonight. I've noticed that on my fly if I relax a bit on my recovery while trying to bring the arms to the sides (just over the water), I'm able to cover some more distance with a bit less effort in about the same time. I'm also working on my stroke and hip position on the ***. Again thanks. :wave: