Headposition?!? Totally submerged or at 45°

[Willem]

Hi folks,

I'm practising TI for more than one year now, took part on a workshop and TI made my stroke a lot smoother and relaxed!!
But lately I'm doubting about my headposition.

According to the TI method, you always have to look straight down. Doing so, my head is totally submerged (but no chicken neck of course) and my legs are close to the surface. I swim with ease but can't swim fast (and being a triathlete, swimming fast AND relaxed is my goal)

Some very good swimmers suggested I should try to view at an 45° angle > when I did that, my legs didn't drop, but I found it easier to roll and pierce trough the water and especially I had the feeling that I could swim a bit faster with the same ease.
> When I lifted my head a little more untill I could look right before me (underwater of course), my legs dropped and it took me a lot more
energy to swim, so this wasn't a good option for me and my inflexible shoulders ;-)

So now I'm confused. To build more speed in my stroke wouldn't it be better to look at a 45°angle instead of straight down, which creates more resistance. The restriction here of course is that my legs or hip don't drop, so I don't have to kick harder to hold my balance.

Grts
Willem

[splashingpat]

Originally Posted by Willem

Hi folks,

I'm practicing TI for more than one year now, took part on a workshop and TI made my stroke a lot smoother and relaxed!!
But lately I'm doubting about my head position.

According to the TI method, you always have to look straight down. Doing so, my head is totally submerged (but no chicken neck of course) and my legs are close to the surface. I swim with ease
but can 't swim fast (and being a triathlete,swimming fast AND relaxed is my goal)

Some very good swimmers suggested I should try to view at an 45° angle > when I did that, my legs didn't drop,
but
I found it easier to roll and pierce through the water
and
especially I had the feeling that I could swim a bit faster with the same ease.

> When I lifted my head a little more until I could look right before me (underwater of course), my legs dropped and it took me a lot more energy to swim, so this wasn't a good option for me and
my inflexible shoulders ;-)

So now I'm confused.To buil d more speed in my stroke would n't it be better to look at a 45°angle instead of straight down, which creates more resistance. The restriction here of course is that my legs or hip don't drop, so I do n't have to kick harder to hold my balance.

Grts

no I'm confused
why are you questioning looking down when you just told us
it works!

i think the guys say get a tempo trainer to increase your speed!

Willem

if you can look forward with being relaxed or straining the neck!

THEN I SAY GO FOR IT,
BUT
THAT'S JUST MY OPINION

and keep us updated!
some looking forward works!
and thanks for your post!

being a tri and learning the water environment ya can 't treat it like land,
so mentally you will be challenged here...
to tell yourself and focus on relaxing and easy does it
IS MORE NOT LESS!

and
remember Mark Spitz did n't care if he looked like the other swimmers!

[CoachEricDeSanto]

I would say two things to your post.
1. As you said, your goal is ease and speed. RIGHT NOW, you feel best with a slightly raised head. That may change as your shoulder flexibility changes and the rest of your technique improves. So don't be afraid to test yourself again later. The fact that your hips did not sink and that you felt more ease and speed is an important observation.

2. Remember that you are working on a 3 sport race. Some people find that if they hold their heads up a bit, it makes it harder to hold the head up for the bike, and their bike split slows. Obviously this gets more extreme as your race distance increases.

[Willem]

Okay thanks for your answers,

I conclude that you can have always some principles to start from and then make some small changes according to your own charasteristic body and development of your style. Those small changes can occur during a whole 'swimming lifetime'.

[Rhoda]

I tend to swim with my head slightly tilted because I had a head-on collision once and just don't feel at ease looking straight down. I'd say it's more of a 10º-15º tilt, rather than 45º. Just enough to see where I'm going.