I’ve got very good dexterity in the water. But, I’ve never tried to swim fast, and now I want to swim fast.
I am a tri beginner. As a starting point, I am swimming with my head tucked down as far as possible. I can actually see my feet. In principal, is that a fast swimming posture?
No.
Think “neutral” your eyes should be straight down to slightly forward.
If you can see your feet, that means you are probably bent at the waist, your legs are dragging low, and you have extra drag from your head.
I’ve got very good dexterity in the water. But, I’ve never tried to swim fast, and now I want to swim fast.
I am a tri beginner. As a starting point, I am swimming with my head tucked down as far as possible. I can actually see my feet. In principal, is that a fast swimming posture?
It is amazing to me that you can actually swim while looking at your feet, since you have to have your head at least 1 foot below the surface, which makes breathing problematic. So, in a word, no, that posture is not fast at all but rather is about as slow as you could get. Follow Jason’s guidelines above and maybe get a good swimmer or swim instructor to help you:)
If you can see your feet, you are exposing your entire head, neck and shoulders to the water in front of you.
That is a hell of a lot of drag.
You eyes should be looking slightly forward as a gross generalization.
No.
Think “neutral” your eyes should be straight down to slightly forward.
If you can see your feet, that means you are probably bent at the waist, your legs are dragging low, and you have extra drag from your head.
Yes. I’m sure you are spot-on about bending at the waist and dragging my feet. I’ll try to get rid of that waist bend starting tonight. Stopping the foot dragging and kicking for propulsion are gonna take awhile.
All else equal, I’d have thought that keeping my head as low as possible is best. But, now I did a little more thinking and realized that, resistance to motion in air is much less than resistance to motion in water, so why would I put more of me underwater. I’ve no instincts about hydrodynamics…
I like what you are saying about the proper form! I can do that. I’ll have someone videotape my form in a few days after making adjustments.
thanks!
No.
Think “neutral” your eyes should be straight down to slightly forward.
If you can see your feet, that means you are probably bent at the waist, your legs are dragging low, and you have extra drag from your head.
Yes. I’m sure you are spot-on about bending at the waist and dragging my feet. I’ll try to get rid of that waist bend starting tonight. Stopping the foot dragging and kicking for propulsion are gonna take awhile.
All else equal, I’d have thought that keeping my head as low as possible is best. But, now I did a little more thinking and realized that, resistance to motion in air is much less than resistance to motion in water, so why would I put more of me underwater. I’ve no instincts about hydrodynamics…
I like what you are saying about the proper form! I can do that. I’ll have someone videotape my form in a few days after making adjustments.
thanks!
On average, you aren’t putting “more of you” underwater. Basic physics says that if you have neutral or positive buoyancy, then you will displace exactly your body mass at rest. That means that for every body length you move forward, you have to move your own body weight of water (at least).
The trick is to use as much momentum as possible to displace that water, and to move it the minimum distance possible.
Just watch this guy and try to emulate 
No.
Think “neutral” your eyes should be straight down to slightly forward.
If you can see your feet, that means you are probably bent at the waist, your legs are dragging low, and you have extra drag from your head.
Yes. I’m sure you are spot-on about bending at the waist and dragging my feet. I’ll try to get rid of that waist bend starting tonight. Stopping the foot dragging and kicking for propulsion are gonna take awhile.
All else equal, I’d have thought that keeping my head as low as possible is best. But, now I did a little more thinking and realized that, resistance to motion in air is much less than resistance to motion in water, so why would I put more of me underwater. I’ve no instincts about hydrodynamics…
I like what you are saying about the proper form! I can do that. I’ll have someone videotape my form in a few days after making adjustments.
thanks!
Next time you are at the pool, go find a wall. Or maybe there’s a wall at your house. Use it as a guide.
stand with your back to the wall, heels pressed against the baseboard. raise your arms overhead in a streamline position, until the backs of your hands touch the wall, and albows are pressed right behind your ears. Your heels, butt, shoulders, and hands should all be touching the wall, and you are looking straight ahead.
That is your basic swimming posture, then you just add the pull, kick, rotation, and breathing from there. But you want to remember that basic posture. That’s what gets you horizontal in the water with a minimum effort. Not overkicking, not “pressing the T” or whatever that thng that TI espouses. learn what a straight body position feels like, then add the pull and a little bit of kick, and learn to breathe in a way that disrupts the streamline and pull cycle the least. It’s ultimately pretty simple (but not easy)…
Whithout actually seeing your stroke, I’m not going to speculate on the problems with your technique.
I will tell you that swimmers DO NOT look at their feet while swimming.
Here’s a video that demonstrates proper head position:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC3vTXrW8Q8
If you’d like to see a video going over the different ways top swimmers swim freestyle, check this out:
Whithout actually seeing your stroke, I’m not going to speculate on the problems with your technique.
I will tell you that swimmers DO NOT look at their feet while swimming.
Here’s a video that demonstrates proper head position:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC3vTXrW8Q8
If you’d like to see a video going over the different ways top swimmers swim freestyle, check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b746O3Ltz44]
Those videos are really good. I had seen the first one, but not the second. Thanks!
It is if you are about to do a flip turn.
Otherwise, not so much.
It is if you are about to do a flip turn. Otherwise, not so much.
I don’t even see my feet when flipping; only time i can see my feet, kind of, is when swimming backstroke, and even then i have to lift my head a good bit and still only really see the splash from my feet, not the feet themselves. TBH, I can’t see how anyone can even make any sort of forward progress in freestyle if their head is so far below the water surface that they can see their feet. The whole concept boggles my mind:)
And you shouldn’t see your feet doing backstroke either.
And you shouldn’t see your feet doing backstroke either.
As I said, i don’t see them normally, unless i raise my head a lot and look back there, and even then i only see the splash, not the feet themselves:)
.
The whole concept boggles my mind:)
I’m not even sure how it’s possible to see your own feet while swimming.
The whole concept boggles my mind:)
I’m not even sure how it’s possible to see your own feet while swimming.
Ya, i don’t how you could actually be moving forward while you were so curled up that you could see your feet:)
.
Ya, i don’t how you could actually be moving forward while you were so curled up that you could see your feet:)
I just went for a swim and meant to try it but forgot lol, I was having a mad sesh and had to cut it short because the pool was closing 
.
No.
Think “neutral” your eyes should be straight down to slightly forward.
If you can see your feet, that means you are probably bent at the waist, your legs are dragging low, and you have extra drag from your head.
Yes. I’m sure you are spot-on about bending at the waist and dragging my feet. I’ll try to get rid of that waist bend starting tonight. Stopping the foot dragging and kicking for propulsion are gonna take awhile.
All else equal, I’d have thought that keeping my head as low as possible is best. But, now I did a little more thinking and realized that, resistance to motion in air is much less than resistance to motion in water, so why would I put more of me underwater. I’ve no instincts about hydrodynamics…
I like what you are saying about the proper form! I can do that. I’ll have someone videotape my form in a few days after making adjustments.
thanks!
Next time you are at the pool, go find a wall. Or maybe there’s a wall at your house. Use it as a guide.
stand with your back to the wall, heels pressed against the baseboard. raise your arms overhead in a streamline position, until the backs of your hands touch the wall, and albows are pressed right behind your ears. Your heels, butt, shoulders, and hands should all be touching the wall, and you are looking straight ahead.
That is your basic swimming posture, then you just add the pull, kick, rotation, and breathing from there. But you want to remember that basic posture. That’s what gets you horizontal in the water with a minimum effort. Not overkicking, not “pressing the T” or whatever that thng that TI espouses. learn what a straight body position feels like, then add the pull and a little bit of kick, and learn to breathe in a way that disrupts the streamline and pull cycle the least. It’s ultimately pretty simple (but not easy)…
Thanks for this post Jason. I’ve tried this wall set and when my heels, butt, shoulders are against the wall I can’t get my arms up over my head with my elbows pressed right behind my ears. I’m a MOP swimmer and do a lot of surfing. I’ve always had extreme tightness in my shoulder blade area. I’m starting to try and take some steps to ease this shoulder blade tension which I think will help with my swimming posture and basically my posture in general. Do you recommend any specific exercise, stretch or have any videos/articles that can guide me in a direction of solving my problem? I appreciate it.
Nothing specific. I tend to stretch a lot during the day (it’s really just a habit now) when I’m sitting at my desk at work. basically just put my arms in a streamline position and stretch up and back. I usually do that when I start feeling tight. Also, I’m on the computer pretty much all day, so having a good chair and workstation setup helps. My main monitor is set up at eye level, feet flat on the floor, etc etc.
Massage can help.
A month or so ago, I started going to this voodoo doctor (TCM - for reasons that I don’t wish to disclose here. It’s a long story…) doing acupuncture with electrical stimulus, and cupping about once a week. I don’t really buy into TCM, but… maybe coincidentally, I have had a chronic pain in a couple of ribs for several years. I just noticed that it’s gone now.
I still haven’t tried them, but the Race Club has a couple of videos on yoga for swimmers. http://theraceclub.com/ You might want to try those out.
The other thing is to work on getting into a good tight streamline off of every single pushoff in the pool. Every single one. I think that ultimately helps
“Swimming while looking at my feet?” Isn’t that a song or something? Lol.