Some advice for a dog paddler before i start lessons

dvdfan

Hi,

Im starting lessons in a month as thats when the next ones start. In the meatime id like to try and improve.

Currently i have no real fear of water, i can stay underwater for as longas my breathe will hold but my technique for swimming is terrible. I can do 4 or 5 lengths of the pool with a breather in between (usually directly after a 50 min workout) i usually start of freestyle and ater watching people doing it i can eventually get the hang of lifting my head for air but every few strokes but i dont seem to have enough time to catch a proper breathe and i usually have to come up quickly and finish the rest of the lap paddling my arms like a dog.

Im sure i just need a better technique, any advise especially on the breathing as i usually go fairly fast when my heads under the water then when i come up for air everything goes haywire and i slow down.

Last thing is staying floating, this is the thing that has evaded me, ive seen people float for ages upright but when i try to do this i sink even in shallower water where im not worried about drowning the only way i can stay buyount is to kick my feet and do the doggy paddle. Any tips for this? Also how should my feet be moving should they be plashing in and out of the water or below it, should they be moving very fast, should they be close together etc

Anyway the main reason for swimming is for exercise but currently im only able to do a length and im out of breathe and i take a break for a min and go again, Ive heard swimming is great exercise etc but is it really, if im thinkning of adding it to my fitness regime whats the equivilant of a 15 min jog as a reasonable speed. Probably just dosent feel the same because your not sweating while under water just wondering was the saying that swimming is one of the best exercises true

Clseeper

As always, it’s kinda hard to really know what your doing wrong without seeing your stroke but I can give you some tips from my experience of what most people do wrong.

Breathing:
From your post, it seems that your normal stroke is good enough but the breathing and the strokes after are the real issue. This, to me, points to your body position. When you start, you’re probably flat enough on the water with minimal resistance from your body. Now a common problem people have with breathing is that they lift their head too high out of the water. This causes your legs and feet to sink and literally saps all the speed you’ve built up in the swim. Once this happens, it’s very hard to get back into your stroke and more than likely you’ll have sunk a good bit which may account for your lack of ability to catch a ‘proper’ breath.

How good is your front-crawl kick?

My advice for this would be to try and kick harder, especially during the breathing. This is where a strong leg kick really pays off. When you breathe, there is a slight pause in your stroke and this is where the kick should compensate and keep up your speed. Also make sure that when you are breathing that your head isn’t coming the whole way out of the water. It should be a rotation to the side, with your side of your face in contact with your shoulder and the top of your head along your arm. You may need to introduce more roll to your stroke to get enough clearance from the water to breath. This will ensure that you body position stays flat and efficient.

Floating:
I wouldn’t worry too much about the floating part. Everyone will naturally float, as long as they have air in their lungs, but it depends on a number of factors. For example, stereotypically, women find it much easier to float flat due to the distribution of their body fat. In contrast, men normally float vertical due to more of their body mass in their upper body.

I wouldn’t worry too much about this as long as your body position is good in your strokes.

Swimming as exercise:
You can’t really compare swimming with jogging as you’re using different/more muscles and a lot of other factors. If you wanted to be real technical you could measure your pulse rate at a set level for a period of time in both sports and see which is quicker? That’s a lot of work, something for a sport science person.

Swimming as an exercise is considered one of the best because of a number of reasons.

• Very little injury as it’s non impact as opposed to running on hard ground (shin splints, knees etc)

• It’s an all body work out. Because of the movements, it exercises not only the major muscle groups but also the motive and supporting smaller muscles.

In the end it’s all exercise and it depends on what you like. I can only last ~30 mins in the gym on my own but could do swim for ~2hrs no bother. It’s all about what exercise doesn’t feel like work or a chore.

And as always, this is in general. You’re hardly going to get a full body work out if you don’t kick in your stroke and let your legs drag behind you. Also you can hardly say you went for an hour swim if you did 10 lengths in that hour in between trips to the steamroom and chatting.

Hope this was some help, you can tell I’m having a slow day in work by the length of this ramble

dvdfan

Cheers for that Clseeper, i think what you described what happens when i take a breathe is spot on and ill try and improve it.

Should you breathe out under water before surfacing to take a breathe, should i be taking a really deep breathe or just a quick breathe?

Clseeper

It really depends on how comfortable you are with the breathing.

Defiantly breathe out before you turn your head. This half’s the amount of time you need to spend on your side. That way you only have to breathe in as opposed to breathing out and in before your arm sweeps over. The long term aim should be a long large deep breath but you’re not going to do that in the beginning because more than likely you’ll end up drinking water. It all up to you and what you’re comfortable with and more importantly what works.

Good Luck