Question on freestyle swimming technique?

Question

I'm having problems with my endurance on my freestyle i feel like im doing so much work just to get through a 50 and i see these older people just going along for thousands and there not even out of breath, what am i doing wrong. I have a good pull but i feel like im going through the water diagonally and it helps when i kick harder but then i cant keep the endurace. Whats the deal???

Answer 1

After 30 years of coaching, the most common and significant problem I've observed is poor head position.

If you lift your head out of the water while floating, you sink.  Although it is a matter of degree, if you look forward while you swim you are, essentially, lifting your head up and your feet sink to some degree.  Many coaches still teach their swimmers to look forward so the water hits them in the forehead just above their eyebrows.  That is totally wrong.  The water should be hitting the swimmer's head on the top of the head, above the hairline.  

I'd suggest that you work on keeping your chin almost tucked onto your chest (as if you are nodding your head forward and down).  If it solves the problem, your feet will come up toward the surface and, when you kick, your feet will feel as if they are doing nothing.  You might even have the sensation that you are swimming "downhill" which is a good thing.

Having proper head position is the KEY to all aspects of proper stroke.  In the crawl (or freestyle), proper head position allows for your hips to roll side to side.  When hips roll, you arms can come over the water with your hands close to your body.  Also, when your hips roll, you can create a sculling motion more effectively just after you put your hand in the water.  If your hips roll, your hand can exit the water more effectively.  If your hips roll, you don't need to turn your head for your breath ... and it all comes down to proper head position.

Answer 2

When you breath, do you turn your head to the side? Or do you lift your head straight up? If you pull your head straight out of the water, it's a LOT more work, and it throws off your rhythm. If you do know to turn your head to the side, do you breath to the same side every time or do you alternate? Breathing on both sides gives you better...balance for lack of a better word and again, helps get you in a better rhythm. If you breath only on one side, that could be the reason you go diagonally through the water.

Try a couple of drills and see which ones help:

1) Try kicking three times to each side. When you swim, imagine that your bodies on a straigt pole. You want your head to stay straight but the rest of your body should turn slightly as you pull. When you do this drill, exaggerate that turn until each time you pull, you turn almost completely on your side and then kick three times, and then pull, turn, and do it on the other side.

2) Three count breathing: Breath every three (or five, if you feel like three is too few; as long as it's an odd number). This helps you get into the habit of breathing on both sides.

3)Count your strokes: Find out how many pulls you have to take to get from one side to the other, and then try to reduce that number every couple of laps. If it takes you twenty strokes one time, and only eighteen the next, it means your pulls were more efficient. If you find that it's taking you like thrity pulls to make it 25 yards, then your pull isn't very efficient and your expending a lot of energy for very little actual movement.

If you think you're doing all this right, it just becomes a question of practice. The more you swim the more endurance you build up. Treading water and press outs (kind of like push ups- go where the water is deep enough that your feet don't touch, press up on the wall like you're going to get out of the pool, straighten your arms until you're holding your self straight up, drop back into the water and do it again) are both great ways to build up your muscles.

Hope this helped. Good luck!

Answer 3

maybe you arenbt kicking properly. good kicking gets you really quick, n it's not so tiring. look at videos of some swimmers, n watch their legs. xD

Answer 4

kicking is good, but how you position your arms can help to.  when the arm is streched out bend the elbow up (don't drop it) so when you pull back you grab more water.  also reaching out further with every stroke.

Answer 5

A good kick is important to keep your entire body high in the water. Think of your feet as flippers and keep your legs straight. Use your quad muscles and let the energy flow through to your feet.

On your pull, make sure you are rotating your shoulders correctly. To get used to rotating, try and reach your arms as far out in front of you while turning your shoulders. This makes for a much more effective stroke, and also helps against shoulder problems. Another thing you can do to make your stroke more efficient is think of your hands as a paddle. Bend at the wrist and push swiftly past your body underwater to get a good pull. If you have a fast underwater pull, your hand should flip out of the water at hip-level to make your turnover faster.

Head position is also important. You want to be looking forward in the water while you're swimming, slightly farther back than normal position. DO NOT tuck your chin under! It might make you feel faster because more water is rushing by. But in reality it causes you to swim deeper in the water which adds drag and uses up lots more energy.

Lastly, make sure you're breathing effectively. You should not have to breathe every stroke, only about every 3 arm turns. If you breathe too often, you get too much air. Blow out the "extra air" as you're taking your strokes so you can get a good next breath.

All in all, it takes practice. You don't just gain endurance suddenly! Just stick with it and you will get it.

Answer 6

Dont try to speed trough it

I know its a race but trying to go to fast can shorten your stroke.

Take long glides...stretch your arm out as far as possible

it goes faster and your not as tired.

but in order for this to be fast you have to kick your feet hard.

what im trying to say is dont work your arms to much it can be really tiring. but you must kick.

Answer 7

If you are not kicking properly hten remind yoursel of this:keep your legs straight,use your feet as if they were flippers and kick not to fat and not to slow so you'll be able to keep it up.