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
George: Thank you for the warning! I will be careful.
Undoubtedly, I am in much more danger of being hurt by pools without lane end markers.
I sometimes forget to count my strokes and end up recovering and extending into the wall. ;)
David: Thank you for your feedback and encouragement! After reading your post I looked at my footage again, a bit closer this time, and realized there is still a lot of vertical head movement and that my head is completely submerged much of the time. I wasn’t aware of the excessive amount of up and down movement—I “dig in” even deeper to prepare for the breath—and that sometimes during the stroke the back of my head is two or three inches below the surface.
I will have to get that under control, but I believe that it is mainly caused by my poor implementation of the streamline:
I'm trying to streamline as prescribed by Bill Boomer; your telephone pole is probably a good analogy.
Richard Quick created a DVD on “Posture, Line, and Balance” and I’m paraphrasing some of that here:
The idea is to get the neck and spine into one extended, straight line. When talking about extending the neck, Richard quick referred to this as “growing away the monkey bump from the tail bone”.
When standing with the back against a wall, the entire spine and neck would be touching the wall. In doing so, there isn’t a lot of room for playing with the position of the head; it is pretty much predetermined.
I understand the rationale and believe in the concept but the problem is that I suck at streamlining. :D
I will experiment with your visualization drill and imagine myself as a paddling telephone pole. Sounds like fun, too. :)
I am quite optimistic that—one day in the distant future—obtaining a decent streamline will automatically bring my head into the ideal position and keep it there.
George: Thank you for the warning! I will be careful.
Undoubtedly, I am in much more danger of being hurt by pools without lane end markers.
I sometimes forget to count my strokes and end up recovering and extending into the wall. ;)
David: Thank you for your feedback and encouragement! After reading your post I looked at my footage again, a bit closer this time, and realized there is still a lot of vertical head movement and that my head is completely submerged much of the time. I wasn’t aware of the excessive amount of up and down movement—I “dig in” even deeper to prepare for the breath—and that sometimes during the stroke the back of my head is two or three inches below the surface.
I will have to get that under control, but I believe that it is mainly caused by my poor implementation of the streamline:
I'm trying to streamline as prescribed by Bill Boomer; your telephone pole is probably a good analogy.
Richard Quick created a DVD on “Posture, Line, and Balance” and I’m paraphrasing some of that here:
The idea is to get the neck and spine into one extended, straight line. When talking about extending the neck, Richard quick referred to this as “growing away the monkey bump from the tail bone”.
When standing with the back against a wall, the entire spine and neck would be touching the wall. In doing so, there isn’t a lot of room for playing with the position of the head; it is pretty much predetermined.
I understand the rationale and believe in the concept but the problem is that I suck at streamlining. :D
I will experiment with your visualization drill and imagine myself as a paddling telephone pole. Sounds like fun, too. :)
I am quite optimistic that—one day in the distant future—obtaining a decent streamline will automatically bring my head into the ideal position and keep it there.
