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
I was thumbing through a book of drills while watching the Olympics last night, trying to find something to address overrotation. The problem most people have is underrotation so I didn't find anything explicitly aimed at reducing overrotation.
I downloaded your video and watched frame by frame and one thing I noticed, which George pointed out earlier, is that you swim very low in the water, your head only breaks the surface when you breath and there are points where no part of your body is breaking the surface. This no doubt is contributing to your feeling you have to rotate your head and therefore body so far to breath.
One note I saw in the drill book was that if you have trouble getting a breath try swimming faster! I've attached another image showing you and Mr. Phelps at a similar point in your stroke. Note not only that he isn't rotated nearly as far but also that he is pushing a wave, and breathing in the trough behind that wave. You aren't swimming fast enough to create that wave. Furthermore, since your entire head is underwater, any wave you do create will be in front of your shoulder, right where you are going to try to breath.
So, one thing you might try is picking up that kick to give you a little more speed, and pick up your tempo a little, that alone should lift you a little higher in the water and also create a little bow wave and trough to breath into.
For fun, in a deep pool get into a vertical position with your arms at your sides, and see where your water line is. How much of your head is above water? Now try lifting one arm above your head and see what level you float at. During your arm recovery the weight of your arm is going to push your body down into the water in a similar manner unless there is some counteracting upward force, and the slower you go the more it will sink you.
I am not sure but at some points I got the impression that your lead arm when extended directly in front of you is actually pointing somewhat downward, which could contribute to your low body position, you might like to try experimenting with trying to get that hand right up near the surface and see if that makes any difference.
Another thing that you could experiment with is a rotary timing where you start the catch as the other hand finishes the pull/push rather than waiting for the recovering hand to move forward. To experiment with that you can pause at the end of your pull where you have one arm extended straight out front the other at your side and then concentrate on starting the catch and the recovery at the same time. After some practice with that you can slowly eliminate the pause to produce a continuous stroke. I am not saying you should switch to this style of swimming, just that you may learn something from trying it as a drill.
This video of Popov shows rotary timing: www.youtube.com/watch
Finally, while I am not generally a fan of head-up freestyle as a drill, in your case it might be instructive to give it a try and see what happens. It might lessen your rotation, and you might have to swim faster to make it work. The adjustments you have to make may give you hints on how to adjust your regular stroke.
Slightly less extreme, you could try swimming with the water at your hairline - as a drill not as something to achieve in your regular stroke. Again, look for what adjustments you need to make to get your head up, and then see if you can use them in your regular stroke.
I was thumbing through a book of drills while watching the Olympics last night, trying to find something to address overrotation. The problem most people have is underrotation so I didn't find anything explicitly aimed at reducing overrotation.
I downloaded your video and watched frame by frame and one thing I noticed, which George pointed out earlier, is that you swim very low in the water, your head only breaks the surface when you breath and there are points where no part of your body is breaking the surface. This no doubt is contributing to your feeling you have to rotate your head and therefore body so far to breath.
One note I saw in the drill book was that if you have trouble getting a breath try swimming faster! I've attached another image showing you and Mr. Phelps at a similar point in your stroke. Note not only that he isn't rotated nearly as far but also that he is pushing a wave, and breathing in the trough behind that wave. You aren't swimming fast enough to create that wave. Furthermore, since your entire head is underwater, any wave you do create will be in front of your shoulder, right where you are going to try to breath.
So, one thing you might try is picking up that kick to give you a little more speed, and pick up your tempo a little, that alone should lift you a little higher in the water and also create a little bow wave and trough to breath into.
For fun, in a deep pool get into a vertical position with your arms at your sides, and see where your water line is. How much of your head is above water? Now try lifting one arm above your head and see what level you float at. During your arm recovery the weight of your arm is going to push your body down into the water in a similar manner unless there is some counteracting upward force, and the slower you go the more it will sink you.
I am not sure but at some points I got the impression that your lead arm when extended directly in front of you is actually pointing somewhat downward, which could contribute to your low body position, you might like to try experimenting with trying to get that hand right up near the surface and see if that makes any difference.
Another thing that you could experiment with is a rotary timing where you start the catch as the other hand finishes the pull/push rather than waiting for the recovering hand to move forward. To experiment with that you can pause at the end of your pull where you have one arm extended straight out front the other at your side and then concentrate on starting the catch and the recovery at the same time. After some practice with that you can slowly eliminate the pause to produce a continuous stroke. I am not saying you should switch to this style of swimming, just that you may learn something from trying it as a drill.
This video of Popov shows rotary timing: www.youtube.com/watch
Finally, while I am not generally a fan of head-up freestyle as a drill, in your case it might be instructive to give it a try and see what happens. It might lessen your rotation, and you might have to swim faster to make it work. The adjustments you have to make may give you hints on how to adjust your regular stroke.
Slightly less extreme, you could try swimming with the water at your hairline - as a drill not as something to achieve in your regular stroke. Again, look for what adjustments you need to make to get your head up, and then see if you can use them in your regular stroke.
