Made a big change, would appreciate feedback

https://youtu.be/NNXOjJUIass So I made a very short video on my own today. I think I will ask for help in making a longer one next week when I am back in the US if this isn't enough. But I was surprised at the disconnect between what I *thought* I was doing, and what I see in the very short video which I tried to do a couple angles on. Its pretty clear my fundamentals are in need of all around attention and the snaking problem I *think* is due to some level of crossover/fitness/breathing problems. Would love to have one or two things to really work on and nail down as I don't think I can learn more than one or two fundamentals at once.

https://youtu.be/NNXOjJUIass So I made a very short video on my own today. I think I will ask for help in making a longer one next week when I am back in the US if this isn't enough. But I was surprised at the disconnect between what I *thought* I was doing, and what I see in the very short video which I tried to do a couple angles on. Its pretty clear my fundamentals are in need of all around attention and the snaking problem I *think* is due to some level of crossover/fitness/breathing problems. Would love to have one or two things to really work on and nail down as I don't think I can learn more than one or two fundamentals at once. First quick observations: Your left arm has a low elbow/arm on your recovery (looks sort of like you are "swinging" it, which will also send your body in that direction causing some "snaking") Your right arm is recovering way outside your body underwater. You almost have a ninety degree angle with your upper arm/shoulder and lower arm. I have attached some pictures. 11793 Your head seems to always be moving. Try to keep it still when not breathing (sometimes overlooked fact: you don't really turn your head so much as rotate your body so your mouth just peeks above water to grab a breath. You actually don't even need the whole mouth to exit the water, because there is a natural air pocket/bubble that forms as you move through the water and you can pull air in from it!). I don't see much crossover (maybe a little on your left arm as you finish under your body, but NONE on your right arm (see above analysis of underwater recover).

DSG - Calvin and I might disagree on this, but here goes. Your head must rotate during the breathing motion with the idea of keeping one goggle in the water when you breath. My chin ends up about 45 degrees from looking straight forward. To my way of thinking, your shoulder rotation is also about 45 degrees which is not enough to get your mouth out of the water. Turning your head an additional amount (up to 45 degrees) helps your mouth clear the water so you can breathe.. You never want to be looking at the ceiling or having both goggles out of the water unless the water is extremely rough. This video is a close example of how I suggest you practice this: www.youtube.com/watch. NOTE: this is a drill to help you work on just the head rotation. When you put the entire stroke together, you want much less body rotation. I like this drill because the lead arm balances your body and you can go quite slow without "drowning" and really isolate your head movement. Another note - I don't like her chin/head position, but that is just my thinking. :) There is another similar drill with both arms at your side which would is the next progression when you feel good body balance and good head rotation. Hope this helps.

Short answer regarding the video - Yes, they illustrate the head staying in line as well as shoulder & head rotation. Personal preference is that their chins are "open" too much and they don't look down enough. They "get away" with it though. :) As was mentioned in another of the posts, when you set up a practice, break it down into 3-5 sub-sets and focus on something different in each one. At some point, start to combine elements. trying to work on lots of things will frustrate you and could lead to other stuff happening. Good Luck

Thanks Paul, going to apply myself and work on this and the drill. It's nice to know at least where the mountain is that I need to overcome. I was watching this clip today in an attempt to have something to emulate. Is this more in line with how I should be rotating and breathing? www.youtube.com/watch DSG - Calvin and I might disagree on this, but here goes. Your head must rotate during the breathing motion with the idea of keeping one goggle in the water when you breath. My chin ends up about 45 degrees from looking straight forward. To my way of thinking, your shoulder rotation is also about 45 degrees which is not enough to get your mouth out of the water. Turning your head an additional amount (up to 45 degrees) helps your mouth clear the water so you can breathe.. You never want to be looking at the ceiling or having both goggles out of the water unless the water is extremely rough. This video is a close example of how I suggest you practice this: www.youtube.com/watch. NOTE: this is a drill to help you work on just the head rotation. When you put the entire stroke together, you want much less body rotation. I like this drill because the lead arm balances your body and you can go quite slow without "drowning" and really isolate your head movement. Another note - I don't like her chin/head position, but that is just my thinking. :) There is another similar drill with both arms at your side which would is the next progression when you feel good body balance and good head rotation. Hope this helps.

DSG, Your head movement is a huge amount of the issue. I agree with Redbird that you want to"tuck" your chin - looking down will help alot (a similar position to lying on the floor looking up at the ceiling). The cause of your snaking is the way your head moves when you breathe. Your body will go where your head leads it and, because your head moves out of alignment, it causes your hips to move in the opposite direction. This breathing pattern is likely caused by looking forward which makes it hard to breathe which means your turn your head in two planes to "find" air (instead of water). IMO, I would not focus on your arms until your head position and breathing movement change and the snaking is eliminated. I say this because the snaking is causing you to swim very flat and your pulling pattern being outside your shoulders because of your breathing (surprised you don't have shoulder issues). The snorkel will help with head position. Kicking with one arm in the streamline position (and other arm at your side) and learning to breathe by rotating your shoulders/hips (with some additional head rotation) AND keeping your head in contact with your leading arm while breathing will help. This should not be a fast drill, so if you are not a good kicker, fins may be helpful. Paul

Thanks Calvin. This is really helpful and I figure it will be a while to generate these three things. Clearly my head turning has metatiscized into a variety of problems. I will try to get that breathing under control, then work on combining what I do right on arms. I do have a Finis center snorkel but sadly its new from Amazon. Basically you have a good left arm underwater recovery coupled with a poor above water recovery coupled with a good right arm above water recovery coupled with a poor right arm under water recovery! Definitely some rotating kick one arm up one arm down focusing on head position and ROLLING your body to breathe (as opposed to turning head) would help. Adding SOME swimming with a snorkel (center mount, I recommend FINIS brand, and if you can go back in time get one of the version 1.0 snorkels ) will help you feel your stroke without the head movement but only do this once you can keep your head in the right place! Otherwise you are just training a bad habit!

Thanks Paul. This is immensely helpful. After watching the video I'm even more conscious of this. Indeed - the impetus for this thread was trying to change breathing sides because I knew it was affecting me significantly. After watching my video I was shocked at how much. I will try working on the drill with the snorkel, but if you have any videos of perfect breathing that you could point to when you remember them that would be helpful. I'm trying to juggle not rotating so much to where my belly button is pointing perpendicular at the wall so I don't have to move my head to capture some air; with just shrugging into angling my head when my right arm is recovering. DSG, Your head movement is a huge amount of the issue. I agree with Redbird that you want to"tuck" your chin - looking down will help alot (a similar position to lying on the floor looking up at the ceiling). The cause of your snaking is the way your head moves when you breathe. Your body will go where your head leads it and, because your head moves out of alignment, it causes your hips to move in the opposite direction. This breathing pattern is likely caused by looking forward which makes it hard to breathe which means your turn your head in two planes to "find" air (instead of water). IMO, I would not focus on your arms until your head position and breathing movement change and the snaking is eliminated. I say this because the snaking is causing you to swim very flat and your pulling pattern being outside your shoulders because of your breathing (surprised you don't have shoulder issues). The snorkel will help with head position. Kicking with one arm in the streamline position (and other arm at your side) and learning to breathe by rotating your shoulders/hips (with some additional head rotation) AND keeping your head in contact with your leading arm while breathing will help. This should not be a fast drill, so if you are not a good kicker, fins may be helpful. Paul

Thanks for posting the video, both above and under water. It's great to see that you are so motivated to coach yourself and learn about the areas of your stroke that need improvement. For not having been a swimmer before, and having only practiced swimming for five years, you certainly are doing a great job! There are a few main areas that you can work on to fine-tune your stroke, based on the video you posted. I would suggest working on keeping your head/the vertical axis of your body still. As you can see in the underwater video, your head and body are constantly moving from side-to-side. This can be caused by several different factors: a wide pull (see below for more explanation), lack of kick, and even your breathing pattern. Think about rotating around that axis. This will allow you to get a good rotation while keeping your head still and body line streamlined. In my opinion, your current head position is just fine. Another area that will help keep you swimming in a straight line is working on avoiding the crossing over tendency - as you noticed - with the right arm. Despite that tendency to cross over you simultaneously have a very wide pull, that extends outside of the body line. This means you are not taking full advantage of your pull to move you forward. This also can contribute to the excessive head movement mentioned above. You can practice the "early vertical forearm" pull by trying drills such as these: www.youtube.com/watch Finally, I would suggest working on maximizing your distance per stroke - in other words getting a full extension at the front of the stroke and a complete finish at the end of the stroke. As you can see in the underwater video, you start your pull immediately upon entering the water with your hand. You need to get more of an extension at the front of the stroke prior to beginning the catch phase of the pull. In the process of lengthening your stroke, you will also develop more of a kick. Working with a coach - either remotely or on-deck - can also help you design structured workouts that will be geared towards your current swimming needs and building up your endurance. Good luck!

Thanks Julia, this is a really helpful drill I will try. Some really helpful tips here, too, on what I can gradually work on. Thanks for posting the video, both above and under water. It's great to see that you are so motivated to coach yourself and learn about the areas of your stroke that need improvement. For not having been a swimmer before, and having only practiced swimming for five years, you certainly are doing a great job! There are a few main areas that you can work on to fine-tune your stroke, based on the video you posted. I would suggest working on keeping your head/the vertical axis of your body still. As you can see in the underwater video, your head and body are constantly moving from side-to-side. This can be caused by several different factors: a wide pull (see below for more explanation), lack of kick, and even your breathing pattern. Think about rotating around that axis. This will allow you to get a good rotation while keeping your head still and body line streamlined. In my opinion, your current head position is just fine. Another area that will help keep you swimming in a straight line is working on avoiding the crossing over tendency - as you noticed - with the right arm. Despite that tendency to cross over you simultaneously have a very wide pull, that extends outside of the body line. This means you are not taking full advantage of your pull to move you forward. This also can contribute to the excessive head movement mentioned above. You can practice the "early vertical forearm" pull by trying drills such as these: www.youtube.com/watch Finally, I would suggest working on maximizing your distance per stroke - in other words getting a full extension at the front of the stroke and a complete finish at the end of the stroke. As you can see in the underwater video, you start your pull immediately upon entering the water with your hand. You need to get more of an extension at the front of the stroke prior to beginning the catch phase of the pull. In the process of lengthening your stroke, you will also develop more of a kick. Working with a coach - either remotely or on-deck - can also help you design structured workouts that will be geared towards your current swimming needs and building up your endurance. Good luck!