Sinking with Zipperswitch?

[mcgillen]

Hello everyone,

I've been teaching myself to swim using "Total Immersion. The Revolutionary Way to Swim Better, Faster, and Easier" along with the TI Easy Freestyle DVD.

I'm a novice, so I've worked a lot on relaxed exhalation and balance, and I now feel quite comfortable in skating position, and I've gotten a lot better at maintaining a stream-lined needle-like position doing the underswitch.

I'm now trying to work on the zipperswitch, where I bring my elbow out of the water, but keep my hand under the water and yield gently to the pressure of the water. I feel balanced when skating in this position, though it still doesn't feel as quite natural as when my arm is by my side or moved up to my goggles under the water.

Anyway, my question concerns a problem I've been having when doing the zipperswitch. I've been focusing on keeping my arms, head, and core body connected as I rotate, and I've been leaning on my lungs to keep the hips and legs up, but I find still my whole body sinking after one or two switches. So when I rotate to breathe in sweet spot, my shoulders and head are below the water. I feel as if I have to kick myself up to the surface to get air, and this is throwing off my balance.

It would be easier to maintain a calm and relaxed sense of balance if my whole body, and especially my upper body, would stay closer to the surface. But it seems that as I exhale, I lose some of my natural buoyancy, even when I 'lean on my lungs'. I have a rather lean build and am definitely a sinker with both arms by my side, but I'm wondering why I keep better balance and stay closer to the surface with underswitch, but now am struggling with zipperswitch.

Does anyone have any insight into this difficulty?

Many thanks for your attention!

Michael McGillen

[Rincewind]

I find that when doing switches my head and shoulders naturally sink deeper when my hand passes my head, because the weight distribution shifts more towards the front at that point, but my legs usually rise as a result. I think this is normal.

But are you saying that your whole body including the legs sink, or is it just your head and shoulders?

[mcgillen]

Thanks for your thoughts.

Yes, it seems as if the whole body is sinking, the legs along with the upper body. It feels a bit as if I'm bobbing up and down slightly while moving forward. I lose a bit of balance because when I rotate to the air, I'm not quite at the surface.

Michael McGillen

[daveblt]

I believe it is ok to sink a little in zipperswitch as long as you sink evenly but a couple of thoughts would be to try and not over rotate , just rotate enough to clear the shoulder and try keeping the hands on wider tracks . Try this and see what happens .

Dave

[CoachSuzanne]

where is the recovery elbow when you are sinking?