(no subject)

[ailbhe]

In the morning - well, ok, about noon - we went swimming. I still can't swim very well, and I'm very very inelegant. I swim with my arms, not my legs, for some reason. Niamh cooked Macaroni Cheese for dinner and we spent some of the afternoon shopping. I bought a clip-frame for the watercolour Niamh gave me; a lovely seascape abstract wash type thing. I've wanted some of her art for ages now, and finally I have two pieces.

Comments

[sashajwolf.livejournal.com]

I swim with my arms, not my legs, for some reason.

I tend to do that with crawl and backstroke, to the point where it makes my legs hurt. With breaststroke I do the opposite, but it uses different muscles and doesn't hurt, at least.

There are drills that are supposed to help with that (e.g. swimming a few lengths legs-only, or various other modifications). If you let me know which strokes are causing problems, I could look them up for you, if you like?

[ailbhe]

Breaststroke is the one where I really need my legs; I crawl with my arms and I don't mind that at all. But breaststroke just goes nowhere without the legs. I think I float too flat i the water, too - I lie horizontal, more or less.

[sashajwolf.livejournal.com]

You mean your feet are breaking the water, or you aren't rising high enough when you breathe in at the end of the arm pull?

Here are some drills which my book suggests which might be helpful:-

-Do the breaststroke kick, but lying on your back (arms above your head or by your sides).

-Do one arm pull followed by three kicks (best skipped if your feet are already too high, as it may exaggerate that).

-Alternate three normal strokes with three strokes swum underwater using only the legs.

-If you aren't rising high enough: "seahorse breaststroke". This involves using a butterfly leg kick and an exaggerated wide arm pull, keeping both arms as close as possible together when you push them through the middle. This should allow you to lift your head and shoulders higher then normal.