I only started swimming freestyle less than a year ago and I'm still struggling with quite a few issues:
1. When breathing to the left, my head head-spine alignment vanishes and it appears as if I'm trying to change direction while lifting my head; I have no clue why I might be doing that.
2. I over-rotate when breathing.
3. Even with a slow hand entry, there's a lot of splashing going on.
In the answers to a few other posts I read that videos help, so I've put a few online:
Back/front view:
www.youtube.com/watch
Right side view:
www.youtube.com/watch
Left side view:
www.youtube.com/watch
In general, breathing in freestyle is problematic for me. When I swim relaxed enough to breathe with ease, my form totally degenerates and I'm wiggling through the water, almost flipping on my back when breathing. If I focus on a certain aspect of my stroke, for example, keeping my chin close to the shoulder or reaching out when rotating to air, or synchronizing my kick with my stroke, I find that I build up so much oxygen debt that I cannot swim more than two lengths in a 50 m pool without pausing.
I can only guess why--I probably forget to breathe out with sufficient force because I'm busy with other things and when I realize that I need more air than I'm currently getting, anxiety kicks in and everything falls apart.
I'll happily accept any comments on my videos or general advice that might help me not drown and maybe even improve my stroke. :)
Thank you!
Parents
Former Member
Here's a youtube video showing Thorpe breathing:
Ian Thorpe swimming freestyle 3 - breathing
I've attached a frame that shows the typical head position, a little bit of the second goggle is visible but the head is facing the side rather than facing upward. Compare it to the second attached image of you above.
I think your fishtail will go away naturally as you fix your roll.
I looked for the inward movement of the arm after the extension that Tom mentioned, you can see it most clearly at the 45s mark of the video in which you swim directly toward the camera, the fourth image above is from this point, just after it has moved to the center. It entered and extended nicely at about shoulder width but then as you rotate it moves inward along with your shoulder. Again, I think this is due to the overrotation.
In the left to right video you have a bit of a scissor kick where your legs separate quite a bit when you are on your side. I don't think you want that much amplitude in your kick when you are just swimming slowly, you just want a small amplitude flutter. Again, I think the wide kicks are to balance your overrotation.
In summary, I think if you can work on getting your breath with less rotation several issues with your stroke will clear up, at which point you could take another video for further analysis.
Here's a youtube video showing Thorpe breathing:
Ian Thorpe swimming freestyle 3 - breathing
I've attached a frame that shows the typical head position, a little bit of the second goggle is visible but the head is facing the side rather than facing upward. Compare it to the second attached image of you above.
I think your fishtail will go away naturally as you fix your roll.
I looked for the inward movement of the arm after the extension that Tom mentioned, you can see it most clearly at the 45s mark of the video in which you swim directly toward the camera, the fourth image above is from this point, just after it has moved to the center. It entered and extended nicely at about shoulder width but then as you rotate it moves inward along with your shoulder. Again, I think this is due to the overrotation.
In the left to right video you have a bit of a scissor kick where your legs separate quite a bit when you are on your side. I don't think you want that much amplitude in your kick when you are just swimming slowly, you just want a small amplitude flutter. Again, I think the wide kicks are to balance your overrotation.
In summary, I think if you can work on getting your breath with less rotation several issues with your stroke will clear up, at which point you could take another video for further analysis.
