Hey there guys. This seems to be a common problem but I cant find a solution. Im an aspiring triathlete and excel at running and biking but cant swim at all. The fundamental problem is that i sink. Im not afraid of the water and feel comfortable in it but I just sink. Even with lungs full of air. As a kid and younger adult I was able to float but I am extremely lean now with less than 5 % body fat and I think this is deterimental . I have used a few swim instructors and no answers. With a pool buoy Im fine. Can anyone help? Suggest any drills? Anything at all?
Things that I have tried:
1-extend my arms and reach
2-keep lungs inflated
3-look down and dont raise my head
4-relax
Thanks in advance
Sounds like everything has been covered except swim more. It will come but it takes time.
Swim with a band & only a band. You also have to imagine that you are bowing from the waist. Looking down is not enough, you have to press with the head & chest as one towards the bottom of the pool. I feel this is easier to understand on the back, pressing the head & shoulders down to get your legs up, envision a teeter totter.
Keep your legs/feet within 1 ft. of the water surface
Swim with a band & only a band. You also have to imagine that you are bowing from the waist. Looking down is not enough, you have to press with the head & chest as one towards the bottom of the pool. I feel this is easier to understand on the back, pressing the head & shoulders down to get your legs up, envision a teeter totter.
Man, if OP can’t keep the legs up without a band, he won’t even make it 10 yards with band alone!
Swim with a band & only a band. You also have to imagine that you are bowing from the waist. Looking down is not enough, you have to press with the head & chest as one towards the bottom of the pool. I feel this is easier to understand on the back, pressing the head & shoulders down to get your legs up, envision a teeter totter.
Man, if OP can’t keep the legs up without a band, he won’t even make it 10 yards with band alone!
I think you have to do this to learn body position in the water, even if you can’t do it efficiently. I also didn’t say “swim a 1000” with a band. I’d start with 1 length of the pool, remove the band from one leg for 75 y, & repeat.
Hey there guys. This seems to be a common problem but I cant find a solution. Im an aspiring triathlete and excel at running and biking but cant swim at all. The fundamental problem is that i sink. Im not afraid of the water and feel comfortable in it but I just sink. Even with lungs full of air. As a kid and younger adult I was able to float but I am extremely lean now with less than 5 % body fat and I think this is deterimental . I have used a few swim instructors and no answers. With a pool buoy Im fine. Can anyone help? Suggest any drills? Anything at all?
Things that I have tried:
1-extend my arms and reach
2-keep lungs inflated
3-look down and dont raise my head
4-relax
Thanks in advance
I am a lean sinker too. What helped for me is to engage my core to raise of my legs at the hips. If I relax my core my legs sink. It is somewhat contrary to being relaxed but with time you can hold this position with little effort. Press chest down, look down at bottom, keep face and most of head in water and only turn enough tol get one goggle and mouth out of water. If I start to feel my legs sinking, I engage core and kick a bit more to get myself flat. When I am doing it in a way that seems to be right, it almost feels like I am swimming downhill.
I don’t know much about swimming but the lungs full of air is wrong if your legs are sinking. That creates buoyancy in the upper half of the body but exaggerates the sinking of the lower half.
This video helped me understand how to engage the back and glutes to help.
The other piece of advice that helped me was to “swim to the bottom of the pool”. The more you try to go down the more your legs come up. Obviously not really going down but if you film yourself I’d bet you’re not as head and chest down as you think.
the one drill that may help is called pressing the buoy. all about basic body position, good place to start.
Man, if OP can’t keep the legs up without a band, he won’t even make it 10 yards with band alone!
I’d start with 1 length of the pool, remove the band from one leg for 75 y, & repeat.
Now I’m confused. Remove the band from one leg? Isn’t that the equivalent of removing it from both? I don’t understand what you are trying to communicate.
I wish I could remember the video so I could give you a visual reference but try this:
Push off from the wall (gently) with your arms in front like superman and just float. Barely kick your feet so you can feel them at the surface. Just float. It gives you an idea of good body position and how it feels to have your feet near the surface. It is a good way to get a reference point. Relax your core too.
I’m very lean with muscular legs and this helped me a lot to understand where my feet should be (near the water surface) and I’m constantly aware as I’m swimming laps.
Always breath the air out of your lungs when your head is in the water.
Practice different head positions (ie, straight down, looking forward a little, etc…) and see which one works best for you. I was trying to “press the buoy” (push my chest into the water) and keep my head straight down because other triathletes told me my head was too high. Found a good swim coach and one of the first things he did was have me look forward a bit more. It made a huge difference.
Ditch the swim trunks, 
and get a pair of Roka SIM swim trunks. Keeps your skinny as# up and lets you work on other aspects of your swim. After you feel comfortable in the water and have worked on breathing, pull technique and upper body endurance you can alternate and do some swimming sessions with regular swim shorts.
More than likely all your Triathlons will be with a wetsuit and the SIMS swim trunks really mimics the feeling of a wetsuit but without the heat buildup.