Paddles or not… I rotate to breathe and my left arm apparently has a mind of its own. When I focus on keeping it straight, it almost seems like it’s getting worse. Any tips or drills or advice I’d greatly appreciate it…
Put on some fins (just for propulsion) then do some kicking with one arm out in front while rising ALL THE WAY onto your side. After getting a good position, take a single stroke and repeat. Focus is on rotating to pretty much vertical with arm straight out in front.
@Zoren
Been doing this and I love it! I’m actually doing it to fix overrotation though.
@Zoren
Thanks! This seems like a great drill for me since I do NOT feel confident at all on my side.
Franz said:
@Zoren
Thanks! This seems like a great drill for me since I do NOT feel confident at all on my side.
This drill is the first step we always used teaching non-swimmers to swim competitively. Freestyle is swum on your side, so getting comfortable on your side needs to happen before you can learn the full stroke.
Our progression for freshman was:
- full laps kicking on each side
- 6 kicks + one arm stroke to feel how you rotate from one side to the other
- 6 kicks + three arm strokes to start to transition to actual swimming while still focusing on being on your side.
You look over-rotated here, and I think your left arm is trying to compensate to balance. I would try focusing on a 45-degree tilt.
Drill is glide with 6 kicks on glide to get a sense of balance.
Finnley said:
You look over-rotated here, and I think your left arm is trying to compensate to balance. I would try focusing on a 45-degree tilt.
Drill is glide with 6 kicks on glide to get a sense of balance.
Thank you!
You’re too over-rotated so your arm is swinging out to stabilize you - could possibly be your back end is doing the same. I recommend 6-1-6 switch drill with a float to support the hand, plus rotation drill on the front with your arms down by your side and finally paddlehead drill.
@Cary
Thanks! What is the rotation drill on the front with arms down? I’m trying to picture this in my head and I can’t lol.
Franz said:
@Cary
Thanks! What is the rotation drill on the front with arms down? I’m trying to picture this in my head and I can’t lol.
Essentially rotating from left to right. The rotation should start with your hips. Start with your face in the water, hands down by your side, one shoulder out of the water, and then rotate to the other side with intention. You can do contrast drills where you really exaggerate it and then the opposite where you barely rotate. It’s a popular drill for backstroke if you do it on your back. It’s a lot easier with fins and snorkel when done on the front.
@Cary
Thank you! I was just about to ask about a snorkel cause I don’t think I’d be able to do it without one!
Maybe the fingertip drag, zipper, or the catch-up drill? I know those drills help keep arms lower, and they worked for our team newbies.
(I’m willing to explain what they are if you don’t know, I just didn’t want to make this really long if you already knew lol)
@Reign
Also, I’d like to add, yes you should rotate a little to breathe, but from what I can see, you are rotating too much. Your body is basically on a vertical, which is too far and will mess with your kicking too. The ideal rotational angle is 30-45°, so focus on your rotation more than the arm as it seems to be following your body. I’d assume when you said you try to straighten your arm, you aren’t following with your body, and that’s why it gets worse.
@Reign
Agreed. OP has two eyes out of the water and is over-rotating, and the left arm moves to compensate.
OP - consider using a snorkel to help get yourself dialed in. Also breathe towards your shoulder, which helps you get air while keeping one eye in the water.
@Marlon
Thanks! And I do. It’s like I feel I need to get the most of my face out of the water to get a good enough breath.
Franz said:
@Marlon
Thanks! And I do. It’s like I feel I need to get the most of my face out of the water to get a good enough breath.
Yep, I know that feeling. There’s a balance - if you have your head almost completely underwater, then you need to be on your back for your mouth to get access to air. So even though you want your head to be low to make your body more streamlined, if too low, that’s the problem. Consider lifting your head slightly so that all you need to do is turn slightly to breathe when rotated. Just be careful of lifting your head and causing your legs to drop (or even bowing your body so that your head and feet are high but your stomach drops). You want a straight line from your head to your toes, looking down at the bottom of the pool, but if you have to rotate that much to get to air, it’s too low.
Looking at the pic again, it does look like your head doesn’t have the right tilt - back of your head is lower than the front of your head; if anything, it should be the opposite with your temple in the water.
And it does look like your hips are too low, though it’s hard to tell from this angle.
@Marlon
My head is probably too low … that I can almost guarantee. The back of my head is probably lower since I’m still battling with not instinctually lifting my head upwards to breathe. Hips are low as well lol … have been working on buoyancy. I have these tree trunk legs and rump from running that just want to sink haha.
@Franz
Yep! Try to swim “downhill.” That feeling alone makes a difference!
@Reign
Exactly! My body wants to over-rotate. I have it in my head that I need to do this in order to get a good breath and to lift my arm high enough.
@Reign
Haha thanks! Yeah, I do know those drills and I do them often. I’m relatively new to swimming (a year) and haven’t taken any lessons yet… I think I’m at the point where I’m going to have to suck it up and invest in some.