Advice with an irritating niggle.

[Livesinflipflop]

I'm looking for advice with the following problem, that I've recently developed when swimming breastroke.

Since this is my first post on the website, I think it's probably best if I explain my current level.

I'm a recreational swimmer, who has returned to swimming in the past six months as a means of keeping fit and as such, I frequent the pool on at three least occasions each week, swimming at least a mile on each occasion.

Within that time, my stamina has increased, my stroke count has improved and the time taken to complete a mile (choosing breastroke) has also reduced. I'm also beginning to reap the rewards of time spent in the pool as my body is developing rather favourably.

However, during the last few visits to the pool, I've begun to exprerience the following irritating niggle.

Having entered the glide phase of the stroke (with my arms extended in front of me and legs straight behind me), I feel as though my body rolls slighty under the water. The best way I can describe the feeling is to suggest that the left hand side of my body is further under the surface of the water than my right.

This doesn't happen as soon as I begin my session; it tends to occur half way through and it doesn't occur with every stroke. It has has no adverse effect upon the effectiveness of my stroke count or times but when it does, it creates a sense of feeling unstable beneath the water.

I wonder if anybody else has sufferred from this sensation and if so, what they did to correct it.

[CoachMandyMcDougal]

Breaststroke is very similar to the foundations of freestyle. When you are in the glide phase of the stroke you mentioned that there are points where you feel somewhat unstable and one side of your body is farther under water than the other. This is a result of being imbalanced and possibly have tension in your shoulders, neck, or torso.
The superman drill is great to focus on so that you can get a sense of being suspended by the water without any effort. The plus side of this drill is that its actually the gliding phase of the breaststroke which is pretty much the majority of your movement across the water. In the superman glide switch around with focal points. For example, first start off with focusing on a neutral head and see if keeping your head relaxed will help you feel that suspension and the feeling of your hips at the surface. Second, focus on relaxed extended arms. Make sure that extending your arms does not cause tension otherwise you will feel yourself wiggle to stay on that imaginary water balance beam. Its all about discovering what it feels like to be suspended effortlessly whether you need to relax more or reposition your arms or neck.

[Richardsk]

Hi there, Livesinflipflop

As a lifetime breaststroker (since about 1947) relatively recently (2006) converted to the joys of font crawl, back crawl and even an imperfect form of butterfly thanks almost entirely to TI and in particular the famous book Total Immersion, I can recommend the drill in which you try to swim a length of the pool in as few strokes as possible. If your experience is anything like mine, and by the sound of things it will be, the slower you travel forward the more unstable you will feel and the more likely you will be to roll to one side or the other. Superman glide is a very good drill to counteract this, paying strict attention to head position and guarding against any tension in the back of the neck. I also find that breaststroke arms with dolphin kick and breaststroke arms with flutter kick are good drills, the second of these being quite an aerobic workout - for me anyway

[Sumeraxe]

Thanks four your suggest, I think it will be a little bit difficult to find that, but i'll ask !!