Fish Drill for learning Freestyle

Hi

A friend gave me the Freestyle made easy dvd. I started and was able to go as far as the lengthen you vessel part. Today i tried doing the fish drill as shown in the dvd. I was able to put my head under water from the sweetspot position, but whenever i try to take my head out of the water after breathing out through my nose, water rushes into my sinuses so i loose my balance and just sink. Everytime i take my head out this happens. That always happened even when i tried breathing while doing freestyle. Well my technique wasnt perfect so i decided to try freestyle made easy and the same thing is happening. I need help with this. It is affecting my confidence to go to the deep areas of the pool.
Thank you for the help.

The guide at my swimming pool keeps telling me to close my nose and i have no idea what that means.

You have to keep blowing out all the to air
ie keep blowing bubbles as your face is turning to the surface and until it bresks the surface.

if you dont water will go up your nose when it tuns sideways

you also need a brief blow as you turn you face back in.

Dive underwater face down and roll over onto your back
water will rush up your nose once you start to turn over

now do it again blowing bubbles out the whole time and you will see that no water can get in.

you dont have to blow from nose the action of blowing from the mouth will seal off the nose and give a small trickle from there

I will try this and tell you how it goes. Thanks ��

[CoachBobM]

Originally Posted by avsharma

Today i tried doing the fish drill as shown in the dvd. I was able to put my head under water from the sweetspot position, but whenever i try to take my head out of the water after breathing out through my nose, water rushes into my sinuses so i loose my balance and just sink. Everytime i take my head out this happens.

Are you able to breathe in your sweet spot before you roll to fish? If so, then the only reasons you wouldn't be able to breathe when you roll back to your sweet spot are:

1) you really aren't rolling back to exactly the same position, or

2) the rolling of your body is momentarily pulling you under the water.

If it's the second of these, then it's just a matter of being patient and giving your body a few seconds to bob back to the surface. If it doesn't bob up far enough to allow you to breathe, then you need to mentally review what your body position is and how it compares to your what your body position was before you rolled to fish, and allow yourself to find your sweet spot again.

For your information: We no longer use the fish position, in which your body is all the way on your side (rotated 90 degrees from being flat on your stomach) with your shoulders stacked. Instead, we use a position in which your body is rotated only about 45 degrees from being flat on your stomach, since (a) it is easier to balance in this position, and (b) it is closer to the amount of body rotation you will want to use when you are actually swimming freestyle.


Bob

Thanks bob!

I am able to get back to sweetspot and I am also able to take a breath, just that my nose is flushed with water and when i take the first breath after returning to sweetspot, thats the time when I loose balance

[CoachBobM]

In that case, I'd suggest the following:

When you're exhaling underwater, always save about 20% of the air that was in your lungs. Then, just as your nose and mouth are reaching the surface as you return to your sweet spot (or for normal freestyle breathing), blow that last 20% out through your nose. If you do this, it should keep you from inhaling water.


Bob