My legs HATE Me!!!

[skie]

I've been swimming regularly during this semester. I swim 3 days a week. My swimming level is a beginner. I currently swim with some friends on the swim team. They have given me some good pointers, but these are the issues that persist:

1. My dam legs just want to go down. I've done workouts with a kick board to focus on my kicking.

2. They say I am tense in the water. I feel ok, but they must be right. I can kick like a son of a gun, but barely move.

3. Rhythmic breathing just sucks. I've worked on this some, but not much.

This is my current swim workout. Don't laugh, it's pretty sad.

400 meters of backstroke
400 meters of just kicking w/ kickboard

It takes me a little under 40 minutes. When giving hints remember your talking to a guy that has NO technique other than what I've been taught from my friends.

[king henry viii]

you can teach yourself how to do the combat sidestroke. A lot of guys have done it, including myself.

Some people might recommend you start out with the front crawl or w/e it's called, to build up endurance and stamina. I don't agree, but I have no background in swimming whatsoever.

I say get rid of the backstroke and start teaching yourself the CSS. It only took me a few sessions in the pool to get it down. My SEAL motivator tweaked my technique a bit, but that was 3 months ago, and since then he hasn't said anything. So I'm assuming I have good technique or he would have mentioned something. I'm attaching the 2 links I used to teach myself the CSS.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=4lUHudMN1TU

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6CM4vCf5rJA

If you suck at swimming, google the BUD/S Warning Order and follow the swimming portion of the program. It starts out having you do only 15 minutes of swimming 4-5 days per week.

Also, if you go to the store on this website, there is a brand new CSS video that I've heard is very good. If I remember correctly the guy in the video actually showed BUD/S instructors how to perfect the technique of the CSS and make it easier and more efficient.

That's all I got. Good luck.

[king henry viii]

oh yeah, if you're legs are going down in the water it's probably because you're lifting your head. You want to turn/rotate your head, as if there is a pole running through the top of your head down through your body and you are unable to lift it. When you rotate your head to take a breath, the only thing that should be out of the water is your face/mouth.

[btx81]

skie, it's called balance. in swimming term we call it the cross or the T. here is what you should practice. do it on land first, lying on your side. get into a ball, knees to chest, chin to chest, arms around the knees. slowly extend your hands forward and your feet back until your body is in the streamline position. now get in the water, get into the ball facing the bottom of the pool, your body will wobble a little bit, and practice moving your hand and feet out into the streamline position. you will have to press the top of your T (your head and chest) down into the water a bit to help your legs float behind you. not everyone has the greatest water balance, but with a little practice you can get there. the idea is to have your entire body floating on the surface in streamline, although your legs may sink a bit. practice this, buy the CSS DVD from this website, and get goin. you should always feel like you're swimming downhill. accomplish this through proper head and chest positioning.

[rsctt83]

Just a thought, when doing freestyle try a mask and a snorkel and see if when you take the breathing component out of the equation it helps you feel more comfortable in the water.

[skie]

Thank you guys for the advice. I'll get started on some of those tips. I do have some quick questions on pushing your chest down. How exactly does that work?

As for the swimming workouts, I think what my buddies are trying to do is build up my confidence w/ easy swims that I am familiar with. After spring break we're going to start working on my freestyle technique, breathing, and as always my kicking. I showed the CSS clips to several of my buddies and they said they'll break it down for me, and teach me the components one at a time.

[mmaakuma]

Your legs sinking might be because your head is too high out of the water. Get the Total Immersion books and DVD's, they address this problem specifically and give you drills to prevent your legs from sinking. I'd explain them here but it'd be better with illustrations and visuals.

[spollen_usn]

Rest your head on your shoulder when you "turn" to get air. You shouldnt have more than 10 % of your head out of the water when you go to take a breath. If you are doing it you should just be able to turn and breath after you make correct movements. Flat in the water, flat, flat flat. Practice and you will be amazed how quickly you can pick it up. Good luck.

[sheep_dog]

I had the same problem. This may or may not help, but my 2 cents:

My legs sank too. I could touch my forehead to the bottom of the pool, straight as a 2x4, but my head would shoot up and my legs would sink. Then I became a diver and figured out what buoyancy does...

My chest was way more buoyant than my legs, because I sucked in as much air as I could, and I held it in. Because of this, legs sank, chest didn't. Balloon vs rocks.

Swim with almost empty lungs. Grab a breath, slowly let it out. Glide, etc, grab another one, let it out. Don't hold it. Keeps everything balanced.

In SUBA diving, you may have a 25 lb weight belt, all your gear (25 lbs), etc, but you cannot sink until all the air in your lungs and BCD is gone, because wetsuits are so buoyant. Same applies to swimming balance.

Hope this helps!

[HandofGod1]

when you swim, instead of pulling your head up to take a breath, you rotate your hold body enough that you get half your head above the water and take a breath, then you rotate back to normal

[tyjanium]

I figured I'd put this out since no one has mentioned it yet on this thread,

Learning the conventional sidestroke before the CSS really worked well for me. I found it an easy way to learn the scissor kick and arm/leg coordination. You don't put your head under at all with the regular sidestroke which allows you to focus on your arm and leg movements without having to coordinate your breathing. Once you get the sidestroke down you start working in the different elements of the CSS

[Romeo7]

Digg this man. Stop listening to your friends and find someone who knows what they're talkin' about. Maybe your legs will learn to love you for taking some quality advice from a seasoned and qualified swimmer. And after you find that person, let me know where to find them because I can barely breast stroke, asnd you have breaststroke 500 yrds in under 12:30 to qualify for BUD/S.

[jjrjr]

Hey, I was competitive swimmer from about 5 years old till college and still coach youth teams.

First, training with backstroke is not the best idea, inexperienced swimmers tend to have horrendous form and because of this you don't get all the benefits of the workout -- I would suggest, as others have, to learn CSS, breaststroke and freestyle or front crawl.

Second, when I teach kids how to breath and kick properly I prefer not to use kickboards all the time because in my experience they cause alot of people to keep their head up out of the water which is terrible for form. Instead I suggest doing laps swimming on your side with your lower arm extended and upper arm tight against your side, doing this, you then pretend as someone else mentioned that there is a pole through the top of your head and body. While kicking lightly you rotate your head into and out of the water (your body will have a SLIGHT rocking motion -- this is normal just make sure its not too pronounced). If done correctly your ear is moving from against your shoulder to just below the surface of the water when you need to breathe. This also helps with kicking because your body is in a more natural swimming position then when you have a kickboard.

Sorry if my description isn't the best, I'm a teach-by-example-type coach. If you have any questions though just send me a message. Again, I'm not a professional or anything but I've been coaching youth swimming and giving stroke lessons since I was 15 so I'm pretty confident in helping with the basics and fundamentals.