How do you keep a high elbow on the non-breathing side while adequately rotating the hips? There must be a trick! Either I don’t rotate enough and have a nice catch or I have to turn my head in an uncomfy fashion.
I’m quite sure that’s where I’m losing some momentum…
(I can breathe on both sides, so that’s not the problem…although I do breathe every stroke, FWIW) Then again, maybe this might be a reason to alternate?
Not Doug but I was thinking about your question during warm-up earlier. My guess would be that you’re trying to breathe too soon in the cycle, which throws your head up too early, which is keeping you from rotating far enough on the off side, which leads to you not being able to get the elbow up.
Head rolls with the body. It does not lead body rotation. You’re doing the most inhaling of oxygen when the non-breathing arm has entered the water and is sliding to full extension.
I’m a new swimmer so take this with a grain of salt. What I have been working on to keep from crooking my head/neck to breath is keeping the arm on the non-breathing side extended (nicely stretched reach), streamlined, and high so that I stay higher in the water thus making it easier to just roll to get a breath vs. the head-lift routine that makes my neck feel like I’m lifting 10 pounds of groceries with it after ump-teen repititions. Lifting the head definitely will slow you down because when you do your lower body sinks. I’ve also been working on getting the feeling that water is flowing passed my underarms vs. my chest. Helps to let me know if I am roling enough.
From what I have been taught, the hips generate the roll (bottom-up vs. top-down). When you say you are breathing every stroke do you mean that you breath after each arm-stroke, or are you counting strokes on both sides as 1 complete stroke. I think you are actually breathing every 2 strokes unless you blow out air extremely fast. Every 2 = same side breathing, every 3 = alternate breathing.
OK more timing questions.
First Breathing. When does the breath begin and end according to the position of the recovering arm? I.E. Do you start breathing as the recovering arm exits the water, nears the head or only slightly before it re-enters the water?
For me, breathing, I seem to start breathing as my hand reaches the head and breath “thru the window” my arm makes and stop as I begin to roll back.
Second, kicking - Kick before the begining of the pull, during the pull or slightly after the pull?
For me kicking I have no clue. I was playing with “sprint swim” with fins on and found that kicking slightly before initiating my pull appeared to create a stronger pull and an overall less of slow down thru the cycle. However my kick sucks so badly I notice no such effect sans fins.
~Matt
I have the exact same problem. Got my stroke analyzed with an underwater camera last winter and when I breathe on my right my left arm sweeps low and outside. If I breathe on the left it doesn’t do it, and the right side seems to stay in order.
My only suggestion would be to swim breathing only on your off-side until it feels natural.
I also think this can be a balance issue, and I’m not sure how to correct that.
LOL…well put Mr. Demerly. 
Sometimes it sucks to try to explain things with only text, and I’m hoping that this makes sense. Stand up and swing your arm in a circle. We’ll call directly above your head 0 and straight down by your hips 180. Breathing starts when you start moving your head into place just past 90/270 (depending on arm side) or arm parallel to the floor (which works out perpendicular to pool bottom in the water) with the real inhaling happening when your opposite hand is at full extension at 0.
The idea is that you want your head working with your body, and that’s the point at which your body is naturally rolling in the correct direction if you’re planning to breathe on that stroke. Starting the breath earlier is going to have you twisting your head and neck opposite the direction your body is going, and that’s going to mess up your stroke extension.
The end of breathing comes when your body naturally starts rolling back toward center and your breathing side arm is roughly at 90/270. Arm and body lead the whole process and head should just roll naturally back into proper place if it follows that lead.
Kicking, I’m not so sure about. But if you’re feeling like you’re needing the kick to maintain acceleration, I’d play around with decreasing any glide on the catch, and thinking of getting the hand moving the instant you reach full extension at entry.
How about a visual…
I swim like Brembilla, albeit he’s 1 minute faster in the 400m. But, I bet I can bike and run faster!
Looks like he is not keeping his off-elbow high and/or as high as his right.
Heck, neither is the guy on his left!
So…perhaps its just the way it is…
I’m not a crappy swimmer…just trying to sharpen the edges like everyone else.
Little bit of asymmetry in freestyle doesn’t hurt most people, and actually works well for a lot of people. There are about 100 different perfectly correct ways to swim freestyle. Check out some video from the men’s 1500M in Montreal and Athens, where the top 4 guys all have very different strokes, and all of them are going sub-15:00. (and I’d bet Yuri Prilukov’s freestyle would drive many a coach nuts trying to fix it if he wasn’t so darn fast)
I’m not Doug, either, but I had a lesson with him while I was in New York for the triathlon last month. One of the EIGHT flaws he found in my technique was that I breathe too late in the cycle. I am a right-side breather, and I take the breath when my left hand is close to its full extension in front of me. Doug was adamant that I should be taking the breath just about as my left hand is entering the water. Of the EIGHT flaws he detected, I have made fair progress on six of them, sporadic progress on that damn pesty kick of mine ---- and virtually no progress on coordinating breath-taking with hand-entering. This is clearly a deeply-imprinted “habit” I have of breathing late in the cycle. And yet when I experiment with breathing to my left, I am taking the breath at about the same time my right hand is entering the water. I am swimming so poorly this year that I am actually considering switching over and learning to effectively breathe to my left…
Note: When in or near New York, try to schedule a lesson with Doug – time and money well spent!
When I see Yuri swim I just think that if he was more symmetrical maybe he would be ahead of Hackett 
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A snorkel is a great investment! I would start out by just doing drills which work on hip rotation and single arm swimming. Eventually progress to full-on swimming. The only tricky thing is that it can make flipturns tough; however, it actually improves your flip-turning once you have learned how to do it. As for your breathing, I think it will do you wonders!
Though Hackett’s a bit lopsided himself. And Dave Davies takes way too many strokes for a guy. Darn it, Larsen Jensen is the one that looks like he’s supposed to win it all. Prettiest stroke of that whole bunch.
I can’t get comfy w/ that snorkel at all. Seems like in no time I have some water in there that rattles around and makes me very hesitant to breathe.
I am a right-side breather, and I take the breath when my left hand is close to its full extension in front of me. Doug was adamant that I should be taking the breath just about as my left hand is entering the water… This is clearly a deeply-imprinted “habit” I have of breathing late in the cycle. And yet when I experiment with breathing to my left, I am taking the breath at about the same time my right hand is entering the water…
I don’t get it. If you swim anything close to a catch-up style, and I mean anything close at all, you are going to be turning to breathe WAY too early. As your left hand hits the water, IMHO and that of all the coaches/instructors I’ve met so far, you are just starting your catch/pull with your right. How could you be breathing then? You would at least need to wait until you naturally roll, which wouldn’t be before your pulling side forearm is pointing down to the bottom and ready to pull.
Hey, I’m a dopey new swimmer so what do I know? Just sounds like “late in the cycle” might be a stretch.
Smitty,
I am in Lake Placid righ tonow on vacation and will give you a more in depth answer when I get back to my computer.
You might be overextending you arm as you finish your stroke causing you hand to exit the water first. Bag the back end a bit which means do not fully finish your stroke. Start your recover by shrugging your shoulder then lift your elbow. Keep you fingers close to the water on recovery.
Speak to you next week.
DougStern
Smitty,
I am in Lake Placid righ tonow on vacation and will give you a more in depth answer when I get back to my computer.
You might be overextending you arm as you finish your stroke causing you hand to exit the water first. Bag the back end a bit which means do not fully finish your stroke. Start your recover by shrugging your shoulder then lift your elbow. Keep you fingers close to the water on recovery.
Speak to you next week.
DougStern
Best way to describe this is – Pull your hand out of your back pocket.