|
Jan 2022
4:24pm, 12 Jan 2022
30,267 posts
|
EvilPixie
I was told to swim downhill as that lowers the head and therefore the legs naturally go higher
but I find that whenever I make an effort to use my legs my speed isn't that much better and I get into oxygen debt and breath heavily and can't keep it up
so don't worry too much as the gains are negated by the effort
|
|
Jan 2022
5:06pm, 12 Jan 2022
132,228 posts
|
GregP
Forgive me - I went running instead of pool.
When I used to swim with East Essex Tri we weren’t allowed to use our arms until we got under the flags each length. I’m guessing that’s about five metres - don’t know whether there’s a standard? Anyway, we had to kick like buggery rather than push’n’glide.
|
|
Jan 2022
5:31pm, 12 Jan 2022
3,460 posts
|
Irontubs
Thanks AC for the book recommendations, I've already got the SS ones but have now purchased the other one, think I got the last one!
Sinky legs will cause extra drag, can be to do with head position or sometimes tight hip flexors.
|
|
Jan 2022
5:48pm, 12 Jan 2022
8,386 posts
|
Northern Exile
I was told to swim downhill as that lowers the head and therefore the legs naturally go higher but I find that whenever I make an effort to use my legs my speed isn't that much better and I get into oxygen debt and breath heavily and can't keep it up so don't worry too much as the gains are negated by the effort
I hope that better swimmers than I chime in here and offer some proper advice, however my thoughts regarding EP's comment above is that the "swim downhill" metaphor is a bit flawed. If you lower your head (well, your chin really) too much, it can really mess with your breathing and head position is crucial. I find it's better to push your chest down into the water and focus on keeping your hips high, RichMac mentioned this a few pages back - ideally you want the "balaclava" effect where you have both bum cheeks and the back of your head protuding from the water. If your head is totally submerged from trying to swim "downhill", you might get some balance gains but equally a lot of drag. Better to extend that head forward (as if you're trying to stretch your neck) and reach to the front of your stroke, that will go some way in counteracting the sinking legs.
Something else to consider is that if you're not exhaling fully then your chest is more buoyant than it needs to be, so focus on getting that exhalation fully done. I have a disproportionately high lung capacity (proven during my navy diving medicals) and so I do struggle with this, it's one of the reasons I can comfortably breathe every 4th stroke when at cruising pace. I have to force myself to breathe bilaterally by upping the tempo.
|
|
Jan 2022
6:09pm, 12 Jan 2022
16,146 posts
|
rf_fozzy
NE - just a quick thought - why not breathe every 5th stroke? And keep your normal tempo?
That was another good drill we did at swimfit (if just an eye-opener) - we did 75m drills, first length breathe every 3 strokes, then 2nd every 5, then 3rd length every 7 (for those that could do it, there was a 4th length breathing every 9 - I couldn't...)
The reason given was that it was to try and improve efficiency, which I'm not sure if I buy, but what it did do is show how shocking my stroke got even breathing every 5. I could barely manage the 7 stroke pattern.
|
|
Jan 2022
6:25pm, 12 Jan 2022
8,390 posts
|
Northern Exile
Fozzy, to answer your question I have tried breathing every 5th and it's just not optimum. I don't know if these things are in vogue nowadays, but when I was doing a lot of swimming (about seven years back) we used to do hypoxic drills that went up to breathing every seventh stroke and back down. I genuinely don't know if they were of any benefit.
|
|
Jan 2022
6:27pm, 12 Jan 2022
8,391 posts
|
Northern Exile
* sorry, just for clarity when I try and get a bit of a serious wiggle on I can't manage every 4th and switch to every 3rd, so bi-laterally. Under serious red-mist conditions every second stroke 
|
|
Jan 2022
7:39pm, 12 Jan 2022
30,271 posts
|
EvilPixie
I happily breath every 4 to the left as I lift my head more when breathing right but do bilateral too
|
|
Jan 2022
7:57pm, 12 Jan 2022
16,147 posts
|
rf_fozzy
Fair enough. Twas just a thought!
|
|
Jan 2022
8:00pm, 12 Jan 2022
132,233 posts
|
GregP
That NE 8391 thing we used to do at East Essex - potentially because it was a drill that was easy to set, rather than because it delivered benefit. I suspect this was true of most if not all the drills we did.
|
