Technique questions

death1234567

Firstly for the last few weeks I have been trying to do the tumble wall turn and I am having some success. Is the key to doing this properly every time just practice? I have watched video's of guys doing it online for tips but obviously when I am on my own in the pool its not alot of good. Also my butterfly kick is woeful. Is there a techinque for proper butterfly kicking.

Secondly, I can only breathe on my right side (I'm right handed). I have tried to breathe on the left but find it extremely difficult. Should I just keep practicing it and then eventually the muscles on the left side of my neck will get stronger/more flexible and then I'll be able to breathe on both sides easily. Or should I be exercising my neck outside of the pool first to improve flexibililty?

KieranIRL

I'm exactly like you... Not sure about proper technique yet but i just started an improver course a couple of days ago. As soon as i find out the proper technique ill let you know...

I think your problem with only being able to breath on your right side is just a over doing it regularly because its more comfortable at the start.. It will just take practice to breath on both sides. I could be wrong here so if i am wrong could someone correct me, I'm just going by whats worked for me.

premiercounty

I too have learned tumble turns from a video. Have been doing them when I pool swim for about 8 years now and think i have it right. The key is just practice.
Also I only breathe right side only and never on left and no problem at all. Just what feels comfortable. Wouldnt bother changing if i were you.

Highway_To_Hell

If you plan on swimming in open water, breathing on both sides allows for proper sighting and also allows to breath without getting a mouth full of water from a wave. This is something I really need to work on as I struggle in any sea swim triathlons I do.

sock puppet

OP bilateral breathing isn't the most important thing in the world unless you're an Open Water swimmer. Although I would keep practicing until you're at least able to breathe to both sides.

Tumble turns I think require a good bit of practice. For one it takes a while to figure out how far from the wall you need to be when you turn. Also it'll take you a while to get the flip right too.

diamondtooth

I have the very same issues. With tumble turns I find it hard to do the full turn and for some reason can't finish off the turn properly. Anyway I was told when you are swimming to the wall, begin to turn when the tip of your finger of your outstretched arm is just about to touch the wall. Don't know if that makes sense.

Also I only breathe to the right hand side and don't plan on changing it.

promethius

Keep practising the tumble turns they are not easy to learn and you need loads and loads of practice to get them right, why are you asking about butter fly kick by the way? Are you doing this out of your turn on free style? You dont need to for now, keep it simple and just work on the turn then think about that kick out of the wall.

If you're serious about your swimming then yes you should absolutely be breathing on both sides, even if you never venture out for any open water swimming where it's essential. Even in the pool breathing on both sides more evenly exercises the lats etc meaning you won't fatigue on one side as quickly and also if you ever try any masters racing you will be able to keep a check on whats going on in both sides. It gives you more breathing patterns to choose from in training too, at moment you must be stuck on a 2 or 4 pattern, bilateral would give you a 2,3,4,5 etc.

Like the turn you won't learn it overnight but the benefits make it very worthwhile so keep plugging away. Do a set every session breathing on your bad side.

padraig_f

Couple of tips for tumble turns...

When to start the turn. I start when my head is about a foot from the wall. Start too far out and you won't get enough of a kick on the wall. Start too close and your feet will land above the water-line. I think the general mistake is to start too far out, it's hard to start the turn too close, so if in doubt, move in closer. When starting out it can be helpful to use the markings at the bottom of the pool to gauge the distance, with practice you'll get to know what the correct distance from the wall looks like just by looking ahead.

The turn. The intuitive thing is to try and use your arms in some way to generate the momentum, but this is wrong. Put your arms down at your side and just let them rest there. The momentum is generated by your abdominal muscles. Imagine if you were doing a land somersault, it would be your abdominal muscles that would generate the turning momentum, and it's the same for tumble turns. Go directly down (there's a tendency to want to roll your body at this point, but don't) with sharp, crisp movement. I breathe out through my nose at this point to stop the water going up. Tuck your head in to your chest to reduce resistance during the turn.

If you got the starting distance right, your feet should land right on the wall, ready for the push-off. Just as your feet land on the wall, rotate your body 90 degrees, so you push off in a side-on position. If you kept your hands at rest from the down-at-the-side position, they should now be pointed above your head, still away from the wall (you don't need to do anything with them during the turn to reach this position, the resistance of the water will hold them in place).

Then just push off with your feet.

You won't get it overnight, there's a bit of a feel thing to it, so keep practicing. What I used to do is leave a few minutes at the end of a session to practice - swimming out 5m and coming back practicing the turn. Be prepared to look a bit silly getting them wrong but I found them good fun to practice.

marky boii

death1234567 wrote: »

Firstly for the last few weeks I have been trying to do the tumble wall turn and I am having some success. Is the key to doing this properly every time just practice? I have watched video's of guys doing it online for tips but obviously when I am on my own in the pool its not alot of good. Also my butterfly kick is woeful. Is there a techinque for proper butterfly kicking.

Secondly, I can only breathe on my right side (I'm right handed). I have tried to breathe on the left but find it extremely difficult. Should I just keep practicing it and then eventually the muscles on the left side of my neck will get stronger/more flexible and then I'll be able to breathe on both sides easily. Or should I be exercising my neck outside of the pool first to improve flexibililty?

You should stay breathing from the right hand side.Don't worry about not being able to breathe on the left hand side.

AngryHippie

On Bilateral breathing,
It is not essential, unless you are swimming 1km or over in every session and more than 2 or 3 sessions a week, If you are covering that sort of distance, then believe me, it will pay off in the long and short run.
Reasons for Bilateral breathing:
1) Balancing the exercise, instead of stretching on your favoured side all the time and leaving those muscles more flexible than your non-breathing side, you will have balanced exertion and flexibility on both sides, you dont do bicep curls with just your right arm in the gym, its not that different
2) Control, most peoples problem with bilateral breathing is one of practice and not ability, everybody can do it, unless they suffer from severe vertigo, but it does take time, the ability to breath on both sides can be particularly useful if you've got a splashy swimmer in the lane next to you, or if you are trying to pace your breath control more precisely
3) Rythm, After some practice, you will find a very comfortable stroke rythm at 3 strokes per breath, you can keep oxygen levels up, maintain a comfortable stroke rate, and keep consistent speed and power.
4) For general swimming skill, it will pay off if you like the beach, or the lakes, or any other outdoor watersport where you may find yourself needing to swim in choppy or wavy conditions, if you've got a weak side, the waves will get you eventually, and it can come as a bit of a nasty shock to get a gob full of water when you've just blown out all your air 100m from the shore.

It is worth practising, but it is by no means the most important aspect of front crawl to practise.


On tumble turns:
Most pools have marks on the floor in paint or tiles for these, its basically a T-bar at the end of the line marking the centre of the lane. This line is the easiest indicator to use, typically I like to turn about 3 ft from the wall but I'm 6ft + and not small, so my turn isn't tight or particularly fast, bend at the waist, use your abs, keep your hands by your sides and don't start to roll onto your front until you are halfway through your push-off, instead of rolling onto your side during the turn, angle your hands at 45 degrees fingers up a little, and when you push with your legs, your hands will roll you over without flopping around.

Happy practising

Dubbhoy

guys not sure if this gets posed here. Am starting to do a fair bit of swimming and just curious alot of the lads shave chest suppose to be better... anyone tell me why :eek:

KieranIRL

Dubbhoy wrote: »

guys not sure if this gets posed here. Am starting to do a fair bit of swimming and just curious alot of the lads shave chest suppose to be better... anyone tell me why :eek:

LMFAO

emzyo1990

Dubbhoy wrote: »

guys not sure if this gets posed here. Am starting to do a fair bit of swimming and just curious alot of the lads shave chest suppose to be better... anyone tell me why :eek:

shaving is normally only practiced by professional swimmers as body hair can slow them down. hair absorbs the water and can be heavier and also streamlining is an issue as the water does not move as easily over hairy skin as it does over smooth skin. this will only save split seconds off time but it may be more comfortable! try it and see!!