Uphill Swimming - how do I help?

DOn't rely on the pull bouy too much.  Have him turn over on back and skim along the water kicking only (lightly) and work on being even in the water...neck and head aligned all the way through feet.  hands near hips just relaxed.  Have him do 4 x 25yds.  This is a balance drill.

After that, have him turn to his side and do a similar thing adding in face in water to work on breathing.  To help keep his body alligned have him put his down arm out in front about 45degree angle.  This will work on balance, breathing, and rotation.

But probably, if the body is at an angle...it is due to looking forward and not down.  Try to get him to look straight down (exaggerate it) and once he is comfortable he can look slightly forward but prob just a a yard or two...there is no need to look straight forward.  (EXCEPTION: OWS in tri of course he will have to learn a sighting technique...but even that doesn';t need to be done the entire swim.)

Lastly.///try Youtube...lots of great vids on the subject of swimming.  

JohnAgs3 - 2009-02-05 11:59 AM

...it is due to looking forward and not down. 

Agreed..this is the most likely culprit. Have him float...looking straight down. And then have him pick up his head and see how his hips/legs sink (i.e, "stalling". Once he gets the dynamic of it, and realizes what is going on, he will figure out what he has to do. I always tell people that if they can't "feel" the top of the water with a light flutter kick, their hips and legs are stalling.

That is 100% a description of what he is doing... his legs are so low there is no way he can touch the top of the water while kicking... add in a kick and Im pretty sure he is holding himself back speed wise!

He also cant seem to flutter kick... its like he just cant get his legs going up and down in a logical pattern at all!

I have spent last 2.5 months overcoming this issue. Read my blogs for more info. But I'll share steps that have helped me.

Have him float face down and see if he can be completely relaxed and have his feet/legs float with no kicking or movement with legs/arms. What I have to do is actually arch my back and hold my feet up. In time I come to neutral and it becomes easy to float. I need to make sure I'm not extending my arms and legs and have tension in them to keep the position. I practiced floating a lot for the first few weeks as that is stage one.

Next I would use flipper if needed and kick and float and move forward. Check his head position looking down and havve his head framed by the water.

After he gets that he can try do kicking on the side.  This is the hardest to do. It take a lot to keep hips/legs up. Have lower arm extended and top arm along side by hips. For me two keys are to doing this well is the shoulder position relative to my head. I need to have my upper shoulder pulled forward and lower shoulder not to far extended. Shrug his upper shoulder and he should feel how different the whole body position is when shoulder are different. I can tell when I'm doing it right as my upper arm will be out of the water and if I lift my pinky it clears the water. My swim coach suggests I need to feel like I'm doing Pilates and lay on my side and lift my legs slightly. I used to push my head under water to help my lift my legs so now I do it with my shoulders and then make sure my head is proper position. I actually have to feel like I lift my head and not press it to far down.

I do floating and body position drills ever swim and now I can tell when I'm swimming if I'm not pushing my T (chest) and need to do it and my legs rise.

I hope this is clear as it is hard to explain.  I have worked on this on and off for 6 years but I'm at a different place and am getting it on a different level than before.

Cool thing is now when I swim my feet and legs are near the surface.

I used to teach 8 and under kids swimming, and many of them had this exact problem. They didn't have any feel for the water so had no concept for right and wrong.

 I used to do two things:

 1. Exactly as Kathy described, he has to learn how to float first. Just a relaxed deadman's float.

2. Get in the water with him and hold him up by the waist of his shorts so he's in the right position. This will force his head down and he'll get a feel for it. Arms stretched out in front, have him kick calmly and breath to the side (doing sort of a 1 arm catchup drill when he breathes). If his legs are flailing like you describe, he'll be doing his flailing *in the air* which he'll surely feel as wrong.

Good luck!

Does his swimming look like "my friend's" video?  "He" improved using balance drills like sax and CathyG are describing.  Alright, I admit that was me in the video but I have improved since that time.

A drill that helped me with balance awareness is this:  Have the swimmer push off in a streamlined position - face down, arms in front - while gently kicking.  Whenever a breath is needed the swimmer can take it in any fashion.  The focus will be pressing the chest into the water and getting the butt to the surface.  Another swimmer will follow beside this swimmer and each time the butt comes to the surface his butt is tapped letting him know that position is what is needed.  We call this drill the "tap that a$$" drill.  It may take minutes to get across the pool since kicking is gentle.  Remember that balance is the purpose of this drill no propulsion.

Thanks for all the tips - having been swimming off and on for years Ive never had to solve this myself so all the help is much appreciated!!!

Just hope I can make this feel fun rather than a school lesson... or a class designed for 3yos

Congratulations on your swim improvements... yes that pretty much looks like it although your kick is better