Yesterday I made mention of the One Goggle in the Water drill and talked about how sub optimal breathing creates other problems for the freestyle stroke. I’m guessing that you may have been wondering about the specifics of how your breathing can cause other problems with the stroke. I’ll mention all of the ways that I know of and there are likely even a few more ways I’ve either forgotten about or haven’t thought about.
Many people rotate their head too far, to the point they have a clear view of the sky above. This will often cause over-rotation which can be as much of an issue as under-rotation. If you’ve ever witnessed this from the pool deck you’ll see how the swimmer rotates when breathing but is very “flat” in the water with zero rotation when not breathing. This brings up Bi-lateral breathing, but that’s another conversation. When a person is over-rotating on one side and not rotating on the other side and only breathes to one side they will often veer to the breathing side. Plus they are not symmetrical in their stroke and therefore not applying equal power on both sides.
Swim Speed = Distance Per Stroke x Stroke Rate. Overcoming drag is the other major component to faster swimming. When one side is not rotating the distance per stroke is much less on this side. We want to strive to create and maintain balance in the swim stroke.
Another mistake I frequently see is swimmers looking too far backward, to the point they can see their shoulder. This causes the lead arm to drift across the center line of the body which causes the swimmer to also veer in that direction. It also causes a wiggle in the body which is wasted energy. This is often referred to as “fish-tailing” as the back end (legs) are moving side to side. We want to get all of our energy moving forward and not waste it moving side to side. Hand entry is also affected by looking too far backward which causes the hand to enter across the center line when we want to strive to have our enter just wider than shoulder width.
By far the biggest mistake with regard to head position is holding the head too high in the water. In one of the upcoming blogs, we’ll get into head position a bit more. In terms of breathing we sometimes see swimmers lifting their head to breathe. We absolutely do not want this as for every tiny bit we lift our head, there is an equal and opposite reaction, that is dropping of our hips which causes drag.
We want our head to be as stable, with as less movement as possible when we swim. And when we rotate it to breathe, we want as little movement as possible. We don’t want to lift the head to breathe, rotate too far, or look too far in the backwards direction. And this is where the genius of the one goggle in the water drill really pays off because in order to successfully keep one goggle below the water line, you can only rotate just enough to clear the mouth. Keeping the one goggle in the water also keeps you from lifting the head, in fact I like to have swimmers point the crown of the head slightly down. As the crown of the head points down, the mouth comes up for more clearance. When the crown of the head lifts, it pushes the mouth down into the water. It’s also very difficult to look far behind you when you keep the one goggle in the water.
Here are several more videos that talk about keeping one goggle in the water.
This next video talks about the importance of rotating the upper body prior to rotating the head. In the middle of the video, the swimmer puts on a front loaded snorkel. See if you can notice how she begins with less rotation and see if you can spot the moment she increase shoulder rotation. Do you see the difference both in her stroke as well as the speed? Notice how much farther her shoulder comes out of the water. At the same time notice how much more distance per stroke she’s achieving. It’s no coincidence that her speed increases as her distance per stroke increases. While a snorkel is an excellent tool you can also do this drill simply by taking as many strokes as you can without breathing, working on rotating the same amount to both sides of the body. Don’t try to go more strokes without breathing than is comfortable. The more you practice, the further you’ll be able to go. Always choose safety (and less strokes) to begin with.
The following video is a better video to help with proper head position and one we’ll come back to in a future blog. Pay attention to when Dave mentions, “keeping the low goggle wet.” This is another way of saying keep one goggle in the water.
If some of you are any thing like the thousands of swimmers I’ve coached, I know you’ll struggle with this drill. If that is you, feel free to comment or leave a question. There’s likely some small tweak you need to make in order to successfully do the drill.
With all things swimming, there’s doing the drill successfully and then there’s the next step which is to successfully incorporate the principal into your regular swim stroke. Next time in the middle of your swim workout do a quick check. Are you swimming with the low goggle wet? This is precisely what I mean by swimming with Intention. If you’re new to the blog, make sure to read about the Diamond Mindset.
Please practice the one goggle in the water drill over the next few days. I’ll give you a few days to practice before posting the next blog. Up next we need to discuss in more detail Body Position, Head Position, and Kicking.
Thanks for reading and for all the positive emails and comments. A special thanks to all who’ve shared the blog with their swim friends!
Happy Swimming! Talk to you soon…
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