Video/pics (finally) comments please ....

[Talvi]

Finally, after a year, I've managed to get some videos of my swimming. Yaaaay!! Or rather, Arrrggghhhh!! :D

Being inOW they don't show that much, but what they do show most clearly was a real surprise. As Coach BobM wrote elsewhere: "It is easy for a pause to creep into your stroking rhythm when you go to breathe", and that pasue has definitrely "crept" into mine! More of a complete takeover in these shots anyway.

The two videos are from the beginning of the swim. I found I got out of breath really fast, which I put down to my axiety to get a decent enough video for feedback. Camera shy! After a 1600m round trip of the bay I must have got better (?), but the cameraman had beat a retreat long since - from the 2cm long horseflies that had found him (hence the camera shake in the second vid!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H36Y...ature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFp8...ature=youtu.be

Anyway now I have MY key focal point I think, but I'm "hoping" (!) you can see others.

I've also attached some stills:

UpperArmSplash ... this is a new thing that happens occasionaly and is irritating . Don't know why it happens. Must be something to do with my rotation.
ArmExit ... that waterfall hanging off my arm seems indicative but of good/bad/indifferent?
HandExit ... my hand looks odd, being so perpendicular, or maybe not?
BodyPosition ... can't see where my legs are but hips seem ok (blue trunks!)?

Thanks in advance :)

[Zenturtle]

WOW, Talvi, you are looking waaaaay better than I expected after all those questions!

Nice and stable. good purchase on the water, good breathing, balance seems ok. Quite smooth also.
You must be a real perfectionist. For me it looks good enough.
Punp up the volume, put a bit more effort and power in it and go....

Will look at the stills later.
You lift the head a bit too much at the second clip and a bit too much thumb first entry.Also some hesitation while breathing. Recovery could be more relaxed. I think you have a bit of scissor kicking but that is hard to see, Litle thrings.
Just think less now and swim more.

Qn a second look, I think you have the same problem as jafaremraf: overrotation on a dropping arm when breathing..Hard to see only above water, but I have a suspicion.
Still, I would experiment a bit with adding some more oommph in the stroke at the same DPS, and to check your arm on the non-breathing side.

[tomoy]

It might help to try to get your breath a little earlier, and suck it in quicker. Then return your head to its face-down position ASAP - before your recovering arm reaches shoulder "height" in its journey to spearing above your head.

Just adding a little more: your head is tilting up at the top a little when you go to breathe. Breathing with the top of your head or your eyes. Try rotating to air with the bottom of your chin, with kind of a neck lift. It's not a head-lift, because we want to keep the crown of your head low while raising your chin to air. It's in an effort to keep your head aligned with your spine.

Otherwise you really are looking smooth and comfortable in the water. Good job.

[daveblt]

.Just some minor details to work out . I think the little bit arm of splash mainly on the right side could be worked out by entering more cleanly in to the water so the elbow does not crash down through the surface . Your stroke looks good though.

Dave

[Talvi]

Thanks guys, appreciated :)

Originally Posted by tomoy

It might help to try to get your breath a little earlier, and suck it in quicker. Then return your head to its face-down position ASAP - before your recovering arm reaches shoulder "height" in its journey to spearing above your head.

Just adding a little more: your head is tilting up at the top a little when you go to breathe. Breathing with the top of your head or your eyes. Try rotating to air with the bottom of your chin, with kind of a neck lift. It's not a head-lift, because we want to keep the crown of your head low while raising your chin to air. It's in an effort to keep your head aligned with your spine.

Otherwise you really are looking smooth and comfortable in the water. Good job.

Great stuff! :) You may not believe this Tomoy, but I actually tried experimenting with the earlier breath you suggest later that same swim!! It occured to me a way to stop the splashing into my mouth while breathing (see the stills). It did seem to work but it didn't feel relaxed, so I reverted after a bit. Having you suggest this though really encourages me to keep at it :) Thanks.

Your advice about the neck tilt/chin lead thing feels good. I'm sure the two things will link together. When I was trying the earlier breath etc I had the focus of "pressing" on/after my arm somehow. Focusing on my chin I think will be much better.

To me that "pause" in my stroke on the breathing looks like the biggest deal at present. Using a TT hasn't eliminated it. I can feel the mess it makes when I switch into 3rd stroke breathing, when I find the ext5ra u/w stroke feels weak and ineffective at first. In 2nd stroke breathing I probably just speed up slow down other bits of the stroke to compensate and enable me to keep the beat.

Thanks again :)

[Zenturtle]

Park has one of the best breathing styles.
He tries to make the mouth the highest part of the body sticking out of the water.
Jusy like the air hole on a whale.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOIYNY-O0Cs

[Jellybean]

Originally Posted by Talvi

Finally, after a year, I've managed to get some videos of my swimming. Yaaaay!! Or rather, Arrrggghhhh!! :D
...
UpperArmSplash ... this is a new thing that happens occasionaly and is irritating . Don't know why it happens. Must be something to do with my rotation.
...

Talvi

I commend you for taking videos! I've found it's the best medicine!

I agree with the earlier comments, especially about the breathing. Your stroke certainly has great fundamentals.

Another thought I have:
Your recovery could be more relaxed with more elbow lead. I'll attach screenshots of each arm. I think you'll see that the wrist is way ahead of your elbow rather than hanging like a marionette doll. I think this is the cause of the upper arm splash you noticed. I know flexibility can be an issue, but if you can relax your forearm and focus on recovering my moving your elbow forward more, I think you'll be able to get a cleaner "mail slot" entry. It seems a small point, but it had a big effect on my own swimming. It improves head-toe balance (yours is good anyway), aligns the arm for a better entry and weight-shift, and of course it uses less effort.

Once again, great videos. Keep up the good work.

Cheers
Tony

[Danny]

Hi Talvi,

I too like your style! For all the complaining you made about not having a bow wave, it seems to me that I see one pretty clearly there.

The one comment I have is consistent with the observations of others. When you rotate to breath, both goggle eyes are coming out of the water. See if you can damp that down so that only one eye is coming out.

Good luck!

Danny

[Rincewind]

Agree with all of the comments above, lifting the head a bit too high when breathing.

[sclim]

@Talvi: Wow, nice smooth basics! I'm sure I'm not in any position to criticise; however I would point out that the head raising on breathing that has been mentioned in the second video and which is pretty well absent in the first clip (to my eyes anyway) seems to me likely related to the fact that they are both done with one sided, i.e. every 2 strokes breathing. The second video swim was with right sided breathing, the first with left sided; thus the problem seems to be related to the right sided breathing stroke.