How do I get more efficient at swimming? - Page 3

QFT, solid advice (former swim team also)


So true, when I finally broke this habit I actually started to win occasionally.

watch this video of phelps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax77_hHq9Dc (embedding disabled) Notice how when you kick you keep your knees pretty much locked and kick with your whole leg. When you take strokes, make sure you extend your arm all the way, pretty much locking it too as you see in the video. You want to make it feel like you're reaching in front of you. Shape your hands like cups and keep your fingers together to maximize the amount of water you're pulling back. When you take strokes make sure your hands are slicing into the water and not slapping it, after strokes pull your arm all the way back and when it comes out of the water bend your elbow so you can make the slice with your hand. When you are taking a stroke and extending, use your whole body and extend it forward to get the maximum distance. When pulling your stroke under water, make sure you pull all the way through and bend your elbows underneath when you pull, don't pull straight down. For breathing, I generally breath every other stroke normally on one side. Make sure you are constantly exhaling through your nostrils so when you come up for a breath you aren't exhaling and inhaling at the same time. For actually taking breaths, when your arm is up, simply rotate your head and kind of tuck it under your shoulder so you don't get a mouthful of water. Forgot to add, when your head is down keep it parallel to the bottom of the pool except when you occasionally look up to see how close you are to the end, just tilt it up a little underwater, never take it fully above the water to see.