Please type your comments directly in the reply box - DO NOT copy/paste text from somewhere else into the reply boxes - this will also copy the code behind your copied text and publish that with your reply, making it impossible to read. Our apology for the inconvenience, but we don't see a convenient way of fixing this yet.
-
Posts
-
2019/01/06 – Session 1 of 1
Air Management
Key elements for air management while rotating:
- Keep the head in line with the body, avoid lifting or tilting the head up.
- May hold breath underwater, but as soon as the head rotates to side begin exhaling.
- As the face breaches the surface, apply a little extra force to clear the airway.
- Inhale through the mouth to avoid left over water from coming up the nose.
You may be eager to jump ahead, but I encourage you to go one step at a time. The nervous system takes a gentle touch to introduction and stretch for this to become more natural and happen without hesitation.
Drills:
- Two feet on the ground, Rotate to one Side
- Two feet on the ground, Alternate sides
- One leg straight, One Arm tucked in pocket
- Repeat, Alternating Sides
- Both legs off the ground, One Arm tucked in pocket
- Repeat, Alternating Sides
Video Demo of Side Bubbles for reference.
Elementary Backstroke
The Elementary Backstroke is one of the simplest recreational strokes so long as there is comfort in supine. The arms and legs are synchronized it similar movements, culminating to the glide. It reminds me of a ‘water skipper’ bugs that stand on top of water, distribute their weight and seemingly walk on water as they coordinate the limbs.
There are a few mantra’s to guide your movements. Find the one you like the best.
- “Up. Out. Together. Glide”
- “Ready. Set. Go. And Glide”
- “Chicken. Airplane. Soldier. Glide”
Whichever you choose, they all have the glide in common. This is where the travel happens. Keep the body long, lean and the head back to feel the full effects.
Note: Make sure to keep the hips straight and the knees below the surface. The more bent they are, the more you will sink and the body’s next movements will be dedicated to lifting instead of traveling.
Continuing Front Float to Back Float Transition
When dealing with discomfort in the supine (back float) position, it is natural to curl into one’s self much like a fetal position. However, this very curling-in motion and posture exasperates the sinking. The straighter and more open we are, the better we can hold a frame that supports on the back. Before working on transitioning from front float to back float, take a moment to visualize the activity. See how you balance facing down. Imagine how you will manage your air, either holding your breath or blowing out. Then think through how you will use the muscles in your back and abdomen to help rotate the body on the back. Picture the head resting back, the arms wide. Instead of reaching for the air, open yourself (with your body posture) to the air.
This is both a relaxation, a surrender and a power posture all rolled up into one.
2019/01/13 – Gladys
Elementary Backstroke (Refining Notes)
- Aim for a flat torso with the pelvis flat with the surface, Avoid bending at the hips to a seated position
- Aim for crisp, long and smooth movements, Avoid short, quick movements that don’t get full contact with the water
- Aim for the greatest force being applied as the knees straighten and the legs are pulled quickly together, Avoid being abrupt and jerky when brining the knees up.
- Use those graceful arms of yours to their maximum. Make proud, sweeping motions to your side for the most effect.
Breaststroke Kick
The Breaststroke Kick is very similar to the Elementary Backstroke. On your front in superman position, hinging the hips only slightly, bring the knees together and up. Feet are dorsiflexed. As you kick out and back, imagine you are driving your feet to the wall being you. When bringing the feet together in a sweep, flex the feet into a point. They remain pointed as they slide back up into the starting bent position. Dorsiflex the foot again.
Practice Kick – For now we will separate each skill and later tie them in together. For the kick, remain in superman, practice the kick for as long as your breath will carry you. When the kick feels comfortable and easy with forward movement, then take a side step to practice skullying with the arms.
Skullying
Skullying with the arms is a small fluttering movement of the hands and forearms to create lift in the upper torso. Imagine you are scooping, or rolling two small balls into your palms and forearms, first pressing away from your midline, then sweep them down and back in toward the midline. Repeat is smooth, continual movements. Laying in superman position, skull the hands once and allow the body to come back to balance in the neutral superman position before skullying again. Feel the lift each time you skull.
You can also practice skullying for treading water. In the shallow end, squat into a sitting position. Widen the arms to about 45 degrees (in between having them out front like superman and directly out form the sides. Arms at 10 and 2) Soften the elbows and skully. The goal, try to not only keep the head up and out of the water, but also avoid bobbing up and down. In a treading water, the legs are what lift you, the arms are what keep you steady and stable.
Breaststroke Kick and Skullying, Combining Skills
Every two to three kicks, skull the arms and lift the head. Repeat.
2019/01/27 – Session 3 of 6
I have you a brief introduction – too brief I am afraid – and I regret that I don’t have photos and tutorial videos on these other strokes, since demand for learning these has been so low, but you are prompting use to put these on our next video shoot day. I’ll do my best to describe the skills and drills in writing until then.
Sections of the Breaststroke
We may divide the breaststroke into these main sections:
- The streamline body position
- The pull to breathe
- The kick and extension back into streamline
The streamline position is the base position for the whole stroke, where you will experience the most forward motion. You want to develop a strong urge to stay in that position, pull to break from it very briefly to take a breath and then kick to slide back into a quickly as possible.
Streamline
The streamline body is the ultimate moment of the stroke where you experience that most forward motion.
The spine is aligned, from tip of head to the tail. Eyes are looking straight down and the crown of the head is aimed straight ahead, down the lane in the direction of travel. The two arms are extended straight in front of the shoulder (unlike Superman Position where they are angled downward slightly), palms facing downward. Toes are pointed (comfortably) behind. The body is stretched out so that this tautness can conduct the wave of force forward, through the body into the leading edges.
The Pull and Breath
We’ll work on the full scoop/pull with forearms and elbows later. For now, practice the arm motion with small sculling (mini-strokes).
When you run out of air, stand to breath. We will walk through the causal breaststroke breathing, keeping in mind the desired end stroke will be to keep the head up for a leisure stroke.
Kick Back into Streamline
Then practice the leg kick, both in standing rehearsal and in prone streamline position, with no arm action.
The scull temporarily lifts the body, but gravity wants to scull it right back down, and you will go back in with it. As the hands return to streamline position, the head quickly tucks in, ears between the shoulders, and you kick at the same time. The kick presses back against the water in such a way that you can drive your head and arms forward into streamline, and into forward motion.
The whole aim is to slide the head and arms into streamline and receive the wave of force from the kick at the right moment so that the body slides forward more than the feet slide backward. Receive the wave into your lengthening body and ride it forward in streamline position.
The kick requires that foot and legs to be shaped in such a way as to push backward on the water. The feet need to be in strong dorsal flexion, so that the bottoms of the feet are facing rearward as much as possible at the moment you press. This means the feet need to be below the surface about 6 inches to achieve that angle. If you pull the heels too close to your hips, the bottom of the feet will be too close to the surface and facing the surface – if you kick from that position your foot will catch air and slice through the water rather than press against it. So, keep the feet a bit deeper where you can feel better water resistance.
When you pull (or cock) the knees, let the knees spread a bit, as if you were doing an air squat in the gym. This position will be a bit easier on the knees when you go to press back (to kick).
The kick legs angles outward slightly at the beginning, then the feet come back together. Don’t drive the legs out to the side widely. In the first part, you are feeling your feet press back against the water (as if you were jumping off the ground when standing up). In the second part, it may feel like you are squeezing water between the inner surface of your lower legs, as they pull back together into streamline.
Drills:
We worked through a series of drills to examine each part:
- Streamline (just push off the wall)
- Standing rehearsal of Mini-Pull (sculling)
- Streamline plus Mini-Pull (with just the forearms)
- Standing rehearsal of Kick
- Hold the wall and practice kicking
- Streamline plus Kick
Then we put the three parts together, follow this mantra to follow in slow motion:
- Streamline, Kick
- Glide in streamline for a couple second before pulling
- (from streamline) pull
Streamline Focal Points:
- Pause for Streamline Glide
- Engage Lower Abdomen (Tippy-toes’)
- Eyes directed down, chin tucked
- Hands at target depth
- Press chest forward as the kick concludes into glide
Sculling Focal Points:
- Press down and out with forearms
- Keep elbows straight but soft
- Soft return of hands to Streamline
Kick Focal Points:
- Dorsal Flex foot on the “up and outward” motion
- Soft point to foot on the “together” motion and glide
- Low angle hip bend when knees are bent
You may like to pull up some slow-motion videos on YouTube to see examples of this full sequence…
- Streamline
- Scoop (catch)
- Poke head above to breathe
- Pull knees, then keep legs poised to kick
- Dive head between shoulders
- Kick body in to full streamline extension
2019/02/03 – Session 4 of 6
As a review, we can divide the breaststroke into these main sections:
- the streamline body position
- the pull and breathe
- the kick and extension back into streamline
The streamline position is the base position for the whole stroke, where you will experience the most forward motion. You want to develop a strong urge to stay in that position, pull to break from it very briefly to take a breath and then kick to slide back into it as quickly as possible.
During our first Breaststroke lesson we focused on the Streamline and Kick. Today we covered more the Pull and Squeeze to Breath along with the timing of the stroke sequence.
The Pull
From streamline position, in the first part of the pull, the elbows slide outward as the forearm-and-hand (as one long paddle, don’t bend much at the wrists) angle downward to create a deep, vertical surface (a paddle) to grip the water with. You should feel pressure going up the forearm as you press against the water.
In the second part of the pull, the elbows are wider than the hands. You are aiming to feel a grip on the water with the entire hand-forearm-elbow region, as the elbows come back along side your shoulders. From this point, you pull the shoulders toward the hips, feeling the chest and upper back muscles helping you pull those shoulders back. The last part of the pull, the hands do not past the nipple line of the chest, while the elbows squeeze water against your torso. You can feel the back muscles helping finish this squeeze. Your forearms, through the entire stroke, from streamline to pull to streamline, always stay in the front of your chest.
Squeeze And Breathe
That last squeeze comes from pulling the shoulders toward the hips. This action also feels like you are thrusting your neck ahead. This squeeze is how you thrust your head at a forward angle out of the water for the breath. You are thrusting the head at a forward angle out of the water than more than upward. The shoulders barely come out of the water, just enough, to bring the face out of the water – the face is still looking mostly downward, nose just inches from the surface, just enough for the mouth to be clear to inhale.
At the same time, as you finish the squeeze, the hands immediately slide together gently in prayer (namaste), the shoulders squeeze up toward your ears. Your upper body becomes very narrow, like you are rolled up in a carpet with your hands in prayer.
At this same moment, as the elbows are squeezing, you pull the knees inward also – like cocking the hammer on a gun – and hold for must a micro-second…
Drills:
We worked through a series of drills to examine each part:
- Streamline (just push off the wall)
- Standing rehearsal of Mini-Pull
- Streamline plus Mini-Pull (with just the forearms)
- Standing rehearsal of Full-Pull
- Streamline plus Full-Pull
- Standing rehearsal of kick
- Hold the wall and practice kicking
- Streamline plus Kick
Then we put the three parts together, and I gave you this mantra to follow in slow-motion:
- (from streamline) pull
- squeezeelbows, pull the knees, and hands to prayer
- kickback into streamline
- then glide in streamline for a couple seconds before pulling again
We did not get to work through all of these, but I gave you three steps you could work through, in order to gradually bring the breathing into the full action.
- Follow the mantra with head remaining neutral, underwater (“pull, squeeze, kick” or “ “pull, shoot, kick, glide”)
- Add a little more power to the pull in order to have the back of the head break the surface
- Add a little more power to the pull in order to bring the face out of the water for a breath
There is a lot of material to work through over the next couple weeks. Remember to take your time with the individual parts before trying the whole. Being meticulous in the beginning will build the comfort along with the skills and will give you greater control of those same skills later on.
Let me know if you have any questions. See you again on the 24th!
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.