Swimming tips!
Discussion
Folks,
I've always been a fairly weak swimmer and want to improve. I am currently immensely lucky in that I can swim daily in beautiful sea- So I'm trying to get this swimming lark nailed.
I have a snorkel set and I've found that using that to swim out to sea is really useful because I don't have to think about breathing. As such, my head stays in the water and I actually get somewhere. I'm starting to get stronger, but every time I try it sans snorkel I start lifting my head out to breathe and it all goes tits up.
I think I lack natural timing. What's the key? I just can't manage to breathe in time without inhaling gallons of seawater!
Ta
I've always been a fairly weak swimmer and want to improve. I am currently immensely lucky in that I can swim daily in beautiful sea- So I'm trying to get this swimming lark nailed.
I have a snorkel set and I've found that using that to swim out to sea is really useful because I don't have to think about breathing. As such, my head stays in the water and I actually get somewhere. I'm starting to get stronger, but every time I try it sans snorkel I start lifting my head out to breathe and it all goes tits up.
I think I lack natural timing. What's the key? I just can't manage to breathe in time without inhaling gallons of seawater!
Ta
While I can't help I can relate.
I used to be a reasonably good swimmer (decades ago) and have recently joined a gym to try to become slightly less corpulent, I just can't get the breathing right at all and end up swimming breast stroke with my head constantly out of the water, this is quite literally a pain in the neck.
I will be watching to see what tips you get.
I used to be a reasonably good swimmer (decades ago) and have recently joined a gym to try to become slightly less corpulent, I just can't get the breathing right at all and end up swimming breast stroke with my head constantly out of the water, this is quite literally a pain in the neck.
I will be watching to see what tips you get.
Corpulent Tosser said:
While I can't help I can relate.
I used to be a reasonably good swimmer (decades ago) and have recently joined a gym to try to become slightly less corpulent, I just can't get the breathing right at all and end up swimming breast stroke with my head constantly out of the water, this is quite literally a pain in the neck.
I will be watching to see what tips you get.
This is me all over... swim breast stroke, but for sea I need to get in with crawl... which I still swim without putting my head under the water... I need to be taught rather than self taught like I have been for the past 4 years (shattered leg meant swimming was only good thing for me) and did swim as a kid but never kept it up... no idea why.I used to be a reasonably good swimmer (decades ago) and have recently joined a gym to try to become slightly less corpulent, I just can't get the breathing right at all and end up swimming breast stroke with my head constantly out of the water, this is quite literally a pain in the neck.
I will be watching to see what tips you get.
carreauchompeur said:
I think I lack natural timing.
It's a combinaiton of technique, balance and timing. The technique isn't to lift your head. It's to turn it. Imagine standing up and someone taps you on the shoulder. You turn your head, neck and shoulders (slightly) to look over your shoulder. That's basically the motion you want to make in the water. You don't look up to the ceiling. If you rotate your body, you do so about an axis that enters the top of your head and exits your perineum. Twisting your body into a S shape is a no-no, as is swinging your arms out to balance yourself.
Which brings one onto balance. Like many movemennt sports, the art to breathing efficiently when swimming crawl is to move the absolute minimum to acheive the result you want. That means that you have to be balanced in the water - when you are unbalanced, a movement will provoke a larger counter movement, and so on. This is a bad thing. Balance takes practice and the sea is not the best place to acquire it, because the motion of the sea chucks you around - disrupting your balance - a lot more than a pool does.
Finally timing. Probably the easiest thing to master: breathe out underwater so that when your mouth emerges it only has one job to do. Maximum head rotation is when your breathing side hand is down by your hip - so work backwards from there to get the timing. You can practise this a bit on dry land, but you're best off lying on the edge of a table if you're going to.
You would be much better off finding a swimming teacher at the local pool TBH. They can identify specific repetitive drills to give you to nail in the particular parts of muscle memory that you need.
As greg says get a coach. 3 years ago I couldn't swim two lengths crawl without having to stop. With a few lessons from a coach and a lot of training I can now do 400m in 6 minutes and have swam large distances open water.
One thing to aim for when breathing is a split screen effect on your goggles. So one goggle lens still in the water, one out. This keeps your head flat. As soon as you lift your head to far, not only does that create drag, but worse it causes your legs to sink, which creates even more drag. I would practice this in the pool if you can as you have less to worry about (tides and waves). Also as greg says make sure you breathe out under water, then turn to breathe you only inhale. This is massively important and for most beginners who do it wrong this will make a huge difference.
The key with swimming is to decrease drag as much as possible. If you legs are sinky it will because of two things usually. Either your head is too high or you don't have a strong enough kick. Without seeing you swim I can't say but a coach will see it straight away. Also a lot of people have a scissor kick which is where their legs are too far apart when kicking. This has the effect of opening a parachute behind you. I like to lightly brush my toes against each other when kicking to ensure they stay together.
Swimming at this level is all about technique and efficiency. Strength and fitness really don't factor that much. Coaching is not expensive. My guy charges £45 for an hours session. You can book as many or as few as you like.
If you cant/wont/don't want to get some coaching then do you have a go pro? If so get someone to post a video of you swimming in a pool and we can provide some pointers having seen you swim.
There is also a swimming thread on here, some people in their are way better swimmers than me and will have some tips also.
One thing to aim for when breathing is a split screen effect on your goggles. So one goggle lens still in the water, one out. This keeps your head flat. As soon as you lift your head to far, not only does that create drag, but worse it causes your legs to sink, which creates even more drag. I would practice this in the pool if you can as you have less to worry about (tides and waves). Also as greg says make sure you breathe out under water, then turn to breathe you only inhale. This is massively important and for most beginners who do it wrong this will make a huge difference.
The key with swimming is to decrease drag as much as possible. If you legs are sinky it will because of two things usually. Either your head is too high or you don't have a strong enough kick. Without seeing you swim I can't say but a coach will see it straight away. Also a lot of people have a scissor kick which is where their legs are too far apart when kicking. This has the effect of opening a parachute behind you. I like to lightly brush my toes against each other when kicking to ensure they stay together.
Swimming at this level is all about technique and efficiency. Strength and fitness really don't factor that much. Coaching is not expensive. My guy charges £45 for an hours session. You can book as many or as few as you like.
If you cant/wont/don't want to get some coaching then do you have a go pro? If so get someone to post a video of you swimming in a pool and we can provide some pointers having seen you swim.
There is also a swimming thread on here, some people in their are way better swimmers than me and will have some tips also.
Echo the above, but sea swimming is different from pool swimming.
When I did surf lifesaving sport you would see all the time that the beach guys were not that great in the pool, but similarly, the pool guys were all at sea in the, err, sea!
Often that nice long powerful stroke with turning the head just so to breath isn't too good in the sea. The beach guys who are good at the surf swim have a very crabby stroke. Fairly high in the water, all shoulder driven and big movements to breath to make sure you are getting air and not sea water. Fairly quick turn over too to keep moving forward and not let the waves take you back. They also know how to use the waves to their advantage.
Does sound like the OP needs to work on the core stability. Once that has some strength in it the timing of the arms and rotating the body and head will be easier because everything will happen when you want it to, not when the body decides to react to all the twisting about. Should be rotating the body anyway; as you put a hand in, reach further into it by rotating the body, this naturally puts your head (which should be looking almost straight down), in the right position for breathing to the side.
Would guess OP leg kick is large and scissory. Small tight kicks close to the surface. Reduces drag, makes you keep the body up, keeps the rotation tight.
OP Get on YouTube and look for a channel called TheRaceClub. Great series on there presented by Gary Hall Snr (ex-US Olympian) about how to do freestyle and there are even some videos covering open water too.
When I did surf lifesaving sport you would see all the time that the beach guys were not that great in the pool, but similarly, the pool guys were all at sea in the, err, sea!
Often that nice long powerful stroke with turning the head just so to breath isn't too good in the sea. The beach guys who are good at the surf swim have a very crabby stroke. Fairly high in the water, all shoulder driven and big movements to breath to make sure you are getting air and not sea water. Fairly quick turn over too to keep moving forward and not let the waves take you back. They also know how to use the waves to their advantage.
Does sound like the OP needs to work on the core stability. Once that has some strength in it the timing of the arms and rotating the body and head will be easier because everything will happen when you want it to, not when the body decides to react to all the twisting about. Should be rotating the body anyway; as you put a hand in, reach further into it by rotating the body, this naturally puts your head (which should be looking almost straight down), in the right position for breathing to the side.
Would guess OP leg kick is large and scissory. Small tight kicks close to the surface. Reduces drag, makes you keep the body up, keeps the rotation tight.
OP Get on YouTube and look for a channel called TheRaceClub. Great series on there presented by Gary Hall Snr (ex-US Olympian) about how to do freestyle and there are even some videos covering open water too.
Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Monday 6th June 11:36
Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Monday 6th June 11:38
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