Ironman Louisville : Official Thread (Page 24)

Golfpro:

Sorry for the delay in response, in my opinion bilateral breathing will not improve hip rotation. I say this because 99% of the swimmers that come to me breathe incorrectly and it causes a slew of other issues. If I were your coach I would have you doing skill drills for each specific area one at a time. Doing too many at once and one is going to loose out.

For improvement of hip rotation, I would have you do one or all of the following:

Count drill (can be done with any number)

Kick on your side for a count of N kicks (or counts). Take one full arm stroke to rotate to your other side for another N kicks, and continue through the swim. While on your side, focus on correct body position. When executing the switch, begin by lifting the elbow of the arm on the water surface (top arm) and recovering it over the line of your body. The extended arm (bottom arm) stays extended to maintain a streamlined body position, until the elbow of the recovery arm has passed over your head. Then execute a quick switch to your opposite side. Use core body muscles to rotate, while maintaining a hold of the water with your bottom arm.

Gallop Drill

This is the same as the count drill, but you take three strokes as you switch from side to side. Focus on long strokes and quick hips in these three strokes, completely rotating from one side to the other. Maintain great body position while kicking on your side.

Stroke and Hold Drill

Try to swim normally EXCEPT when starting the pull. One arm should be extended forward and the other at your side. At this point, freeze your arms in place but continue kicking, and "roll onto" the arm that is extended forward. Count six kicks in that position before resuming the pull.

Zipper Drill

Swim freestyle in your regular way and as you recover your left arm, drag your left thumb along your rib-cage making sure to keep your elbow high and to stay on your side. The motion is as you were pulling up a zipper running from the top of your hips to your arm pit. When your hand goes past your arm pit, finish the stroke and rotate your body to the other side. Do the same with your right arm. Make sure to maintain a smooth transition from side to side.

For breathing, I would have you do this:

Swim 500 yards/meters do the first 50 breathing every 3 strokes, the next 50 every 5 and then the third 50 every 7 then back down 5 then 3 etc.

To work on your high elbow issue, I would have you do one of the following drills:

Fingertip drag:

During the recovery, drag your fingertips along the surface of the water.

Zipper Drill Above

Chicken wing:

I don’t call it this, my kids do, on your recovery touch your thumb to your shoulder.

Sorry to cut this short but I have to run to a meeting, if you have any questions feel free to PM me.

Oh and to answer your other question, I can’t swim straight outside of a pool, so when someone is hitching a ride, they are taking the long route. Sometimes, I will slow down and let them do the work for a while other times I will just gun it and go it alone. 

Hey all. In regards to the breathing issue I agree with most of the comments saying do what is comfortable for you, but I also believe it is important to have a way to make sure you are balancing out your stroke. Maybe I am just inconsistent, but there are definitely days when I can't find my stroke or get into a good rhythm, and if that day is race day, bilateral breathing helps me balance things out and get into that groove. However, I do feel the oxygen debt you are talking about so I really don't like bilateral breathing. Solution: in training I use a snorkel at least once every practice. A snorkel (such as this one) allows me to focus on my technique and balance like no other tool and is probably responsible for half of my improvement (in freestyle, at least) during my college swimming years. Obviously you can't take your snorkel with you into the race, and there isn't really an opportunity for a swimming warm up at IMLOU, so I recommend having some other way to find your groove (ie. bilateral breathing).
Just a side note, I absolutely hated the snorkel when I first started using it and thought my coach was an idiot when he gave it to me. But once I got comfortable doing flip turns with it I took off, now I never do a pull set without a snorkel. Pulling with it really allows me to isolate my upper body and hip movement without having to think about anything else. And no, I don't work for the snorkel company, I just really love what it has done for me

No kiddin? That is actually pretty funny. Still, sighting might be tough when I don't have a black line to keep me straight. I probably won't be whipping it out on race day. Then again, I gotta pick my head up to sight either way...