I have always had a problem keeping my legs up on my Crawl stroke. I'm 66 a new swimmer ( 3 years ). My masters coach has gotten my arm stroke straighten out, no pun intended, so I do catch the water and keep my elbow up.
But he continues to tell me I drop my hips with many suggestions like drop my head, swim down hill, suck up my butt, push my chest down. But I still have a problem.
In fact I really don't care if I have a good kick, I just don't want my legs to sink and slow me down.
Are their any dry land drills that will help me,
I am devoting Jan & Feb to improving my technique and the hell with any endurance training, so I still have 36 days left to get my legs up.
Thanks,
Bob
My coach would have us work on a surface kick "swim/drill" where we consciously caused the feet to break the surface on the up stroke which caused a slightly exagerrated kerplunk as the foot kicked down.
I suppose for people with dropping legs, that's a good drill. For me, on the other hand, that's a stroke flaw. You can see me doing it in my avatar: My left foot is up out of the water, and I am just about to smack the top of my foot back down on the surface.
Several people have noted the relationship between head/chest position and leg position, but I would also advise paying attention to the angle of the pelvis. If, while you are on your front, you tilt the pelvis "north" (as they say in Pilates) so that the curve in your low back flattens out, your legs will sink. If you tilt the pelvis "south" so that you increase the curve in your low back, your legs will rise.
I find that I need to tilt "north" a bit more while on my front and "south" while on my back so that my legs in either position are in the best place for a strong kick. People whose legs tend to drop while on the front, though, may need to try tilting "south" more.
My coach would have us work on a surface kick "swim/drill" where we consciously caused the feet to break the surface on the up stroke which caused a slightly exagerrated kerplunk as the foot kicked down.
I suppose for people with dropping legs, that's a good drill. For me, on the other hand, that's a stroke flaw. You can see me doing it in my avatar: My left foot is up out of the water, and I am just about to smack the top of my foot back down on the surface.
Several people have noted the relationship between head/chest position and leg position, but I would also advise paying attention to the angle of the pelvis. If, while you are on your front, you tilt the pelvis "north" (as they say in Pilates) so that the curve in your low back flattens out, your legs will sink. If you tilt the pelvis "south" so that you increase the curve in your low back, your legs will rise.
I find that I need to tilt "north" a bit more while on my front and "south" while on my back so that my legs in either position are in the best place for a strong kick. People whose legs tend to drop while on the front, though, may need to try tilting "south" more.
