Side Stroke

[Gregzilla89]

When I go to the gym and swim, I almost always swim side stroke in order to begin preparing for BUD/s and the PST test. The first time I swam 500 yards, I did it in roughly 15 minutes. I've been able to cut it down to 12 minutes, however I still need to improve. One of the problems I have is swimming on my right side. I have problems with timing my stroke with my kick. I also have problems with how to kick while on my right side. While on my left side, I am very competent at side stroke. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

-greg

[DonW]

Greg,
Use your left side as the benchmark and keep practicing on your right side until they both feel the same level of comfort. You can work on your scissor kick on your right side with your right arm extended over your head and simply scissor kick across the pool in this position. When kicking on your right side becomes more comfortable using the scissor kick, start to add in the recovery and arm stroke. You don't have to add the arms on every kick at first, but add the arms more and more as your comfort level improves. Let me know how this work out. DonW

[Gregzilla89]

Thanks, I'll try it and let you know.

-greg

[snow85]

hey greg--

sorry about being a little late on the uptake. what's your kick like? i posted this to tingkka on another thread, and will just repost it here for you. hope it helps.

-s


"it's hard to say without actually watching you swim, but it sounds like your kick is inefficient. side stroke is ideal for resting and towing people or equipment, so if your hands are otherwise occupied, your kick is crucial to propulsion through the water. the best way to fix this is to train with the kick board on both legs. when you're holding the board, don't lay on it. hold it out in front of you, hands on the bottom edge of the board. it's only supposed to provide you with a minimum level of buoyancy. lay on your side, ear in the water. you can rest your 'top arm' on your hip or wherever is comfortable for you-- just try to create as little drag as possible.

when you kick, your feet should be flexed and pointly slightly outward. (if you were standing, this would look almost like a ballet dancer, but with a smaller turnout of the feet. make sense?) when you bring your legs back together, your legs should be straight. (bend knees, kick out, feet & legs back together, glide). try to focus on your feet and on a correct finish of the kick. at the end with the beginning of the glide, your toes should be pointed. feet are flexed when in the scissor movement and pointed on the glide. with 'normal' sidestroke, your bottom leg goes forward-- so i'll bet you've got more propulsion when you're laying on your right side. the power phase of the kick is NOT the split-- it's when you bring your legs back together. when you do this, you're essentially displacing the water with your feet and propelling yourself forward."