I've been working on this now for 3 months at least one hour every day. I am a very dense powerlifter at 113kg. My legs sink rapidly and overall I tend to sink. I can barely get my head out of water floating on my back with my lungs totally full. If I breathe out even 5% of my air, I end up very low in the he water and I need to put out significant energy to get back to the surface. In freestyle, unless I am exerting high energy, I am around 9 inches below the surface when I rotate for a breath. In breast stroke, the top of my hair barely comes out of the water with just one stroke. I need 3 consecutive powerful strokes to get my mouth out of the water for a breath in. Then I sink very deep and I need another three very powerful strokes to get one breath. I feel like instructors don't really understand what the challenge is for dense muscular people. Even with a kickboard, I can't do these drills because my point of buoyancy is lower. That means that if I'm using a kickboard to get my head out of water, it's pushing my legs down even faster. I've been told that my kicking is the problem, mostly because my kicking is always trying to keep my legs up so I can remain flat in the water. This is a problem of the buoyancy point being lower in the water. I wish instructors would practice their teaching with people that have an actual difficult time with buoyancy. I've seen some where the guys are big, but they are always very chubby guys. Where are the videos teaching guys who are 250lb, built like a cross between a bookshelf and wolverine and have a six pack? It's not something that can be solved by a kickboard. Put some 5lb weights on your ankles and another around your waist and then try your methods. It's really discouraging to keep trying these drills and just come up with question marks because when I do what the video suggests, your results are totally different. I've had 4 friends who are experiencing nced swimmers try to help me too, but they don't have any idea why me doing the same thing as them results in me sliding my face along the bottom of the pool or smacking my knees against the bottom of the pool while they are breathing normally at the surface. If I exhaled 50% of the air in my lungs, I'm like a rock on the bottom. I like your teaching style and I these drills look good, but I've been doing these same drills for months and I'm no further ahead. I've improved my distance and speed plenty. I can do 50m in 4 breaths and almost as fast as some of the more experienced swimmers, but improving efficiency just means that more energy is working to push me forward, not up, so I am now swimming even lower in the water. My hand barely comes out of the water at the very top. So frustrating.
You have explained my situation perfectly. No matter how many videos I watch nothing seems to work. I just can't breathe and the moment I breathe I find myself near the floor of the pool.
@@mithunchaudhuri1327 I have found two things have helped me immeasurably. #1 - floating on the back. I do not float on my back. My point of buoyancy is about 9 inches below the surface. Therefore, I need to find a way to get breaths while on my back. This is a different goal and it can be done. I cannot do it sustainably because I can't exchange air very well on my back. But it does help. I cannot do this effectively unless I use a nose pinch. This is because I am thrown off by water entering my nose when on my back (I am now relatively comfortable under water without a nose pinch in all other positions). I am able to use hands and feet to keep myself at the surface and take *some* breaths. It is not sustainable at this time. But it is progress. #2 choosing a useful stroke... And a less useful one. I switch between freestyle and combat side stroke. Combat side stroke uses more different skills and helps me to not hyper focus too much. I get secondary skills from it, scissor kicks, rotation control and a few other things. Freestyle is surprisingly useful. I was told to try breast stroke and I see loads of old people doing breast stroke with their heads out of water for entire laps. Never goes below the surface. For me, it takes 3 powerful strokes just to get my head above the surface, which is so far above my buoyancy point that I end up almost 2 feet below the surface after taking a breath - if I can even get my mouth high enough. Good stroke for buoyant beginners. Terrible for low buoyancy beginners. Freestyle uses a LOT more energy. I practice almost as much time doing bubbles and breathing drills as I do doing the stroke. One detail that helped a lot is to stretch forward with the lead hand during the pull and make sure the shoulder line is angled. Keeping the flow going is critical. Using a nose pinch and just holding my breath helped to learn this pattern (I have not mastered it). I believe that of all the strokes, this one does have potential to work for me at this buoyancy level. I have so far managed to take 4 consecutive breaths in 2-stroke breathing and I think this will be the way forward once it all comes together, from the kicks, to the abdominal control to the rotation, to the hand and fingers to the head position, etc... Rather than seeing it as a single goal, I have split everything into small pieces and make microgoals of everything I can. This helps me to build a sense of progress when I am getting discouraged. One drill that helps me get started also helps clear my sinuses. I use the nose pinch, exhale about 50% and hold while I do a sort of hand-stand on the bottom of the pool at a leisurely pace. This is to help build tolerance for CO2 buildup as well as getting comfortable underwater. Then, I slowly roll back onto the bottom of the pool on my back. Still just remaining calm and not breathing. For me, anything below 95% lungs full means I will not be able to get to the surface when floating on my back. So 50% exhaled has a buoyancy point of somewhere around the bottom of the Mariana trench. haha. But from this point, without pushing off the bottom, I then use kicking (using hips and keeping legs straight) and hands to get myself back to the surface and take a breath. By the time I get to the surface, I've been holding my breath for around 30-40 seconds and it's easy to inhale. But I definitely won't stay at the surface easily. That's OK, because it's just a drill. It takes me from "non-floating, below the surface" to "non-floating, at the surface for one breath", then back down to buoyancy point at 9 inches below the surface. The rotation from the handstand helps clear sinuses and I find this is a great place to start my training session. I get relaxed, comfortable and mentally primed with a little confidence. I got some fins recently to work on kicking from the hips and thighs rather than the calves and feet. It's very fun, but it makes it feel terrible when I take them off. So I keep the fins to specific drills and limit my time with them. My goals with the fins are to improve kicking form, improve timing of my freestyle stroke execution and if I can get the timing of that down, allow actual breathing that can work sustainably. Patience is super important because it is very easy to get discouraged when you are practicing something that comes much easier to other people. But remember, if it's harder to learn for you, you could be improving your skills so you will be better than everyone who had it easy. Practice often, but don't overdo it. Make sure it is still fun and have a specific goal for every single session. Better yet, have two specific goals, so if you fail one, you can focus on the other. Be structured and disciplined. If you have 1 hour, do your drills according to a plan. And make sure you have a plan. It's like being in the gym. Don't worry that you can't lift a certain weight. Just do the work and trust that you will inch your way closer and closer to that goal.
@@eschelar wow. This was an excellent thread. I was going to say I hate freestyle swimming and actually love backstroke and reverse dolphin kick, dolphin kick and the frog (?) . I swim in a monofin and have since been certified in scuba diving and buoyancy is still my issue bc I take deep breaths but you covered everything by saying patience and practice is key. I too was told my legs drag underwater which limits my endurance and so, it was suggested I swim on my side doing kicks, which helped me a lot. I discovered everyone has to find what works for them.
@@msarikah I've been practicing with fins to try to learn breathing and side stroke is one of the styles I practice to keep variety. I still cannot understand kicking very well. None of my kick methods seem to do anything. I'm using the fins to help shift my focus from Lowe leg movement to thigh driven movement. Just finished my first week of practice with fins. Going to do another week like this. With fins, everything works like the lessons say it works. Without fins, kicks do nothing. Haha I will say that it has helped me to keep my legs *lower* in the water a bit and that helps get the head out of the water for a breath.
I have no issues breathing every three strokes for several hundred meters or even a couple km at a decent pace. But i can't really do dolphin kicks after turns without craving air. Is that normal? Any tips?
Try to start with one or two Dolphin kicks. Don’t try to hold your breath for too long right away.. You can even try to do some freestyle, kicking off the wall. Get used to it then switch to Dolphin kicking. Another recommendation might be taking a stroke or two off the wall without taking the breath .
In my opinion your head position should be much lower than what it is as per now, Hand enrty while swimming ahould be near cheek at eye line, try to tighten your glute this may help and also kick technically without too much knee bend
Most likely the fact that you’re trying too hard, doesn’t let you kick the proper way. Unlock your joints as well as your muscles , focus on rhythmical kicking .
If the water gets into your nose, consider a: tucking your chin down, So the water pressure hits your forehead instead of your nostrils. If you get the water in your mouth: Just close it before jumping into the water 😁
Great video
I think it takes a lot of practice to get there 😁
I've been working on this now for 3 months at least one hour every day. I am a very dense powerlifter at 113kg. My legs sink rapidly and overall I tend to sink.
I can barely get my head out of water floating on my back with my lungs totally full. If I breathe out even 5% of my air, I end up very low in the he water and I need to put out significant energy to get back to the surface.
In freestyle, unless I am exerting high energy, I am around 9 inches below the surface when I rotate for a breath.
In breast stroke, the top of my hair barely comes out of the water with just one stroke. I need 3 consecutive powerful strokes to get my mouth out of the water for a breath in. Then I sink very deep and I need another three very powerful strokes to get one breath.
I feel like instructors don't really understand what the challenge is for dense muscular people. Even with a kickboard, I can't do these drills because my point of buoyancy is lower.
That means that if I'm using a kickboard to get my head out of water, it's pushing my legs down even faster.
I've been told that my kicking is the problem, mostly because my kicking is always trying to keep my legs up so I can remain flat in the water.
This is a problem of the buoyancy point being lower in the water.
I wish instructors would practice their teaching with people that have an actual difficult time with buoyancy. I've seen some where the guys are big, but they are always very chubby guys. Where are the videos teaching guys who are 250lb, built like a cross between a bookshelf and wolverine and have a six pack?
It's not something that can be solved by a kickboard. Put some 5lb weights on your ankles and another around your waist and then try your methods.
It's really discouraging to keep trying these drills and just come up with question marks because when I do what the video suggests, your results are totally different.
I've had 4 friends who are experiencing nced swimmers try to help me too, but they don't have any idea why me doing the same thing as them results in me sliding my face along the bottom of the pool or smacking my knees against the bottom of the pool while they are breathing normally at the surface.
If I exhaled 50% of the air in my lungs, I'm like a rock on the bottom.
I like your teaching style and I these drills look good, but I've been doing these same drills for months and I'm no further ahead.
I've improved my distance and speed plenty. I can do 50m in 4 breaths and almost as fast as some of the more experienced swimmers, but improving efficiency just means that more energy is working to push me forward, not up, so I am now swimming even lower in the water. My hand barely comes out of the water at the very top.
So frustrating.
This is me 100%
You have explained my situation perfectly. No matter how many videos I watch nothing seems to work. I just can't breathe and the moment I breathe I find myself near the floor of the pool.
@@mithunchaudhuri1327 I have found two things have helped me immeasurably.
#1 - floating on the back.
I do not float on my back. My point of buoyancy is about 9 inches below the surface. Therefore, I need to find a way to get breaths while on my back. This is a different goal and it can be done.
I cannot do it sustainably because I can't exchange air very well on my back. But it does help. I cannot do this effectively unless I use a nose pinch. This is because I am thrown off by water entering my nose when on my back (I am now relatively comfortable under water without a nose pinch in all other positions).
I am able to use hands and feet to keep myself at the surface and take *some* breaths. It is not sustainable at this time. But it is progress.
#2 choosing a useful stroke... And a less useful one. I switch between freestyle and combat side stroke. Combat side stroke uses more different skills and helps me to not hyper focus too much. I get secondary skills from it, scissor kicks, rotation control and a few other things.
Freestyle is surprisingly useful.
I was told to try breast stroke and I see loads of old people doing breast stroke with their heads out of water for entire laps. Never goes below the surface. For me, it takes 3 powerful strokes just to get my head above the surface, which is so far above my buoyancy point that I end up almost 2 feet below the surface after taking a breath - if I can even get my mouth high enough. Good stroke for buoyant beginners. Terrible for low buoyancy beginners.
Freestyle uses a LOT more energy.
I practice almost as much time doing bubbles and breathing drills as I do doing the stroke.
One detail that helped a lot is to stretch forward with the lead hand during the pull and make sure the shoulder line is angled. Keeping the flow going is critical. Using a nose pinch and just holding my breath helped to learn this pattern (I have not mastered it).
I believe that of all the strokes, this one does have potential to work for me at this buoyancy level. I have so far managed to take 4 consecutive breaths in 2-stroke breathing and I think this will be the way forward once it all comes together, from the kicks, to the abdominal control to the rotation, to the hand and fingers to the head position, etc...
Rather than seeing it as a single goal, I have split everything into small pieces and make microgoals of everything I can.
This helps me to build a sense of progress when I am getting discouraged.
One drill that helps me get started also helps clear my sinuses. I use the nose pinch, exhale about 50% and hold while I do a sort of hand-stand on the bottom of the pool at a leisurely pace. This is to help build tolerance for CO2 buildup as well as getting comfortable underwater. Then, I slowly roll back onto the bottom of the pool on my back. Still just remaining calm and not breathing. For me, anything below 95% lungs full means I will not be able to get to the surface when floating on my back. So 50% exhaled has a buoyancy point of somewhere around the bottom of the Mariana trench. haha. But from this point, without pushing off the bottom, I then use kicking (using hips and keeping legs straight) and hands to get myself back to the surface and take a breath. By the time I get to the surface, I've been holding my breath for around 30-40 seconds and it's easy to inhale. But I definitely won't stay at the surface easily. That's OK, because it's just a drill. It takes me from "non-floating, below the surface" to "non-floating, at the surface for one breath", then back down to buoyancy point at 9 inches below the surface. The rotation from the handstand helps clear sinuses and I find this is a great place to start my training session. I get relaxed, comfortable and mentally primed with a little confidence.
I got some fins recently to work on kicking from the hips and thighs rather than the calves and feet. It's very fun, but it makes it feel terrible when I take them off. So I keep the fins to specific drills and limit my time with them.
My goals with the fins are to improve kicking form, improve timing of my freestyle stroke execution and if I can get the timing of that down, allow actual breathing that can work sustainably.
Patience is super important because it is very easy to get discouraged when you are practicing something that comes much easier to other people. But remember, if it's harder to learn for you, you could be improving your skills so you will be better than everyone who had it easy.
Practice often, but don't overdo it. Make sure it is still fun and have a specific goal for every single session. Better yet, have two specific goals, so if you fail one, you can focus on the other. Be structured and disciplined. If you have 1 hour, do your drills according to a plan. And make sure you have a plan.
It's like being in the gym. Don't worry that you can't lift a certain weight. Just do the work and trust that you will inch your way closer and closer to that goal.
@@eschelar wow. This was an excellent thread. I was going to say I hate freestyle swimming and actually love backstroke and reverse dolphin kick, dolphin kick and the frog (?) . I swim in a monofin and have since been certified in scuba diving and buoyancy is still my issue bc I take deep breaths but you covered everything by saying patience and practice is key. I too was told my legs drag underwater which limits my endurance and so, it was suggested I swim on my side doing kicks, which helped me a lot. I discovered everyone has to find what works for them.
@@msarikah I've been practicing with fins to try to learn breathing and side stroke is one of the styles I practice to keep variety.
I still cannot understand kicking very well. None of my kick methods seem to do anything.
I'm using the fins to help shift my focus from Lowe leg movement to thigh driven movement. Just finished my first week of practice with fins. Going to do another week like this.
With fins, everything works like the lessons say it works. Without fins, kicks do nothing. Haha
I will say that it has helped me to keep my legs *lower* in the water a bit and that helps get the head out of the water for a breath.
Many many Dan for sharing useful tips.K. I. U.
Thanks for your support, it means a lot
I’m a NYC summer lifeguard, if you ever need assistance let me know
Which pool/ beach do you work at?
I have no issues breathing every three strokes for several hundred meters or even a couple km at a decent pace. But i can't really do dolphin kicks after turns without craving air.
Is that normal?
Any tips?
Try to start with one or two Dolphin kicks. Don’t try to hold your breath for too long right away..
You can even try to do some freestyle, kicking off the wall. Get used to it then switch to Dolphin kicking.
Another recommendation might be taking a stroke or two off the wall without taking the breath .
Try hard but my legs itself come down while swimming.
In my opinion your head position should be much lower than what it is as per now, Hand enrty while swimming ahould be near cheek at eye line, try to tighten your glute this may help and also kick technically without too much knee bend
Most likely the fact that you’re trying too hard, doesn’t let you kick the proper way.
Unlock your joints as well as your muscles , focus on rhythmical kicking .
@@danswimnyc thanks a lot
Anytime. Feel free to email if you have any other questions
Danswimcoach@gmail.com
@@danswimnyc definitely will
Thanks, this was helpful! I struggle with inhaling water when i'm jumping into the pool. Any tips on that?
If the water gets into your nose, consider
a: tucking your chin down, So the water pressure hits your forehead instead of your nostrils.
If you get the water in your mouth:
Just close it before jumping into the water 😁
Keep working on it you will be perfect
Now I know one has to rotate whole body
Please more video for beginner thank you
For sure, more videos are coming
i can swim 1.5 km brace stroke, non stop - but not more than 200m free style ...
I can't do treading