How do I keep my hips up? (with video)

Triathlon Forum
1

I know my swimming is a disaster, but any tips on keeping my hips higher in the water? Thank you!

2

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I know my swimming is a disaster, but any tips on keeping my hips higher in the water? Thank you!

-suck belly button in to your spine
-tense butt cheeks
-push your head and chest down
-only have your crown of head showing
-when you breathe, malke sure head is still pushing down
-don’t lift head to breathe, making sure 1 goggle lense is in the water
-your arm weighs about 2kg, when it comes over in recovery, your hips will drop if you don’t get it in the water quickly

4

I know my swimming is a disaster, but any tips on keeping my hips higher in the water? Thank you!

IF:

  1. You know how to make a good open turn at the wall, fluid movement, no stop…pause…look around…weak push…
  2. You know how to push off in a proper streamline
  3. You can execute a single dolphin kick (or two) with at least a little finesse (this one helps, but does not seem to be a requirement)

You can sometimes “encourage” higher hips by doing repeat 50s where the first 25 is kicking on your back (streamline) and the second 25 is freestyle. You can sub backstroke for the first 25.

If you can’t manage the 2 or 3 steps above, I’ve noticed the likelihood of that simple method working seems to go down dramatically. For some, the higher hips will very pronounced and the next 25 will feel dramatically different than any you’ve ever swum. For others it’s a subtle but very real change, you may not notice it but keep at it and you eventually will. It works during warmup or cooldown, so easy to incorporate into your swim without disrupting your main set.

5

I know my swimming is a disaster, but any tips on keeping my hips higher in the water? Thank you!

-suck belly button in to your spine
-tense butt cheeks
-push your head and chest down
-only have your crown of head showing
-when you breathe, malke sure head is still pushing down
-don’t lift head to breathe, making sure 1 goggle lense is in the water
-your arm weighs about 2kg, when it comes over in recovery, your hips will drop if you don’t get it in the water quickly

I’m a sinker too, and pretty much everything that zedzded said above is the stuff that has helped me, but I still have to think about it a lot. Similar to his/her first two points, I find if I think about arching my lower back a bit, that helps.

6

I know my swimming is a disaster, but any tips on keeping my hips higher in the water? Thank you!

https://youtu.be/cYUZtm1Cpko

You might think you’re hearing foul language, but actually it’s the ancient Norse/Viking word for swimming.

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I don’t see any video?

8

Everything zedzded said. But i also found my kick made a big difference. If you are not kicking and dragging your legs behind you they can sink. Look up some videos about 2 beat kick. Takes some practice but it conserves energy while reducing drag and helps rotation. I found it helped my position in the water also.

9

I’m a sinker too. Most fast swimmers, especially male swimmers, are sinkers. That said, I don’t really have any issues with keeping hips up.

  1. don’t overkick. focus on keeping your heels breaking (not splashing) the surface of the water.
  2. make yourself “long” in the water. the longer you can make yourself, i.e getting good extension from the shoulder, the easier it is to keep your legs up.
  3. don’t push “down” at the front of the stroke. set your catch and pull “back”, don’t push down (unless you’re sprinting with a really strong kick, and even then you don’t want to be pushing down too much).
10

I know my swimming is a disaster, but any tips on keeping my hips higher in the water? Thank you!

How are your hips with dry land exercises? If you’re experiencing tight hips while face down / prone on a mat, then that’s going to carry over to the swim. Can you easily kick upwards while in that face down position on the ground?

Many of us lack flexibility yet we don’t accept that will carry over to the swim. If we can’t do it on land, why would we think we can do it in the water?

Do dry land exercises too.

11

I’m a sinker too. Most fast swimmers, especially male swimmers, are sinkers. That said, I don’t really have any issues with keeping hips up.

  1. don’t overkick. focus on keeping your heels breaking (not splashing) the surface of the water.
  2. make yourself “long” in the water. the longer you can make yourself, i.e getting good extension from the shoulder, the easier it is to keep your legs up.
  3. don’t push “down” at the front of the stroke. set your catch and pull “back”, don’t push down (unless you’re sprinting with a really strong kick, and even then you don’t want to be pushing down too much).

Number 3 is the big one, pushing down lifts the front end which submerges the back end.
Just look at swimmers in any pool, good swimmers pull when their fingers face the botttom, poor swimmers push down with a straight arm at the front.

Good swimmers let their hands fall, followed by the forearms, not their whole arms, when the hands are facing the bottom and you have that draped over a 44 gallon drum feel, the major power is applied and you go forward.