MY UGLY STROKE NEEDS HELP!!!

You don't know an ulgy stroke - yours looks great!!!  You are doing everything my coach just told me to do!!!

But what do I know????

You look nice and relaxed. Your logs are empty so we don't know what sort of volumes or paces you are currently doing. This info would be helpful.

Your right arm comes too far towards center; left less so. Your kick should be tighter so as to stay in your slipstream; less bend at the knees.

I agree with the comment about the right arm. And the kick - you look like you're rotating your hips a bit too much. Try to really use your lats and your stroke (dropping your shoulder when you stroke) to rotate your torso, engaging your abs and your hips will follow. Your legs are scissoring out a bit too much, which is usually an attempt to rebalance yourself. Your core should be balancing you.

Your stroke looks like it could actually reach a bit longer (again, use your lats, not the tops of your shoulders, and drop the shoulder that is stroking to really reach)- your hands are entering the water sooner than they could be. You look like you're very concerned about proper form, which means a very insistent and often a little too stiff and careful stroke. Which is fine for now, but the farther out you reach, the more pull you can get.

Thanks! after watching i could see my balance seems to be off with my legs flopping around and bending at the knees. also i noticed my right arm seems to enter the water real close to my head...     the most frusterating thing is having to stop after 50-75 meters for a few breaths. Any thoughts on how i can increase my distance without stopping for air? Does it just take time to build endurance?

-Donny 

How long have you been swimming? How often are you swimming? How long per session? How hard are you pushing the pace? Endurance takes a while to build. Worry about endurance first and speed second.

Take a look at the 0-1650 swim plan

OK, first, a disclaimer:  I am very new to swimming myself.  What I'm saying is just my experience, to be taken very lightly if at all.

Yes, it takes time to build endurance.  For me, what seems to work is:  (1) 100s with short rests (10-15s) in between; (2) ladders (like 100,200,300,400,300,200,100); (3) just getting in the pool and saying "I'm not gonna stop until I hit 1500m or nearly drown".  By following these strategies, it still took me a while to get up to longer distances.  Also, as I've become more relaxed in the water, I've found it easier to 'catch my breath' while continuing to swim when necessary.

Now, I'm going way out on a limb here, but I'll mention one thing about your stroke that hasn't been mentioned, and was pointed out to me by my coach:  it looks like your fingers are pointing upwards a bit during the 'glide' phase of the stroke.   If what I'm told is correct, you don't want that.  They should be straight (horizontal) or slightly downward pointing.

I always find the first 200-300  to be the toughest.  Finding the right pace, rhythm, breathing, etc.  I often have to struggle to keep going through that initial distance and then most of the time, vioala!!, I'm cruising... sometimes feel like I could go on forever after that first 300.  

to mdhillslug,

ya i have been trying to go 4-5 times a week, 45 minute workouts (most of it spent panting on the edge of the pool) I will definently check out the bt training logs. I will use the 0-1650 program thanks!

1. You're impinging your shoulders - more on the left than the right (i.e. - your elbow should not be over top of your body, too accute an angle between arm & torso on recovery).
2. Legs come way far apart on kick, especially when taking a breath.
3. Balance - hips too low. Should have some of your butt at/breaking the surface.
4. You lift your head when you breathe - head comes up, hips go down.
5. As mentioned, right arm almost crosses over.

To fix 1 &5: Exaggerate reaching to the side, and finger drag with your fingers about 2' wide of your torso.
3&4: Stand at attention (eyes facing forward), slowly fall forward in water while maintaining posture. Kick (arms at side, no need for a lot of propulsion at first) as far as you can while trying to lift your butt to the surface. May need to start w/fins, but eventually add in arms for full stroke while maintaining posture.
2: Focus on keeping a tight kick at all times. One training aid is a large rubber band that allows for a little give, but your legs can't fly apart.
Keep the faith - if you work at it, it'll all come together.

Check out Evan's Coaching on YouTube.com.  Lots of good stuff.  He's helped me a bunch. 

Example LINK:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25_Fd_mEqVs

For just starting out I think you are doing well...but wise to work on improving plus brave for posting your video. May be worth spending some money getting good coaching now to fix as much as you can before they become ingrained as bad habits.

Beyond what others say your stroke is not balanced left/right due to only breathing on your right. I speak from experience break this habit now before it becomes ingrained as being able to breath both sides allows your stroke to balance out. If you like breathing every 2 fine go up pool right side and back on left side.

Like others have said:

1. Kicking way to much and your feet are to far apart..need to have them be within your slip stream
2. Turning head to breath to much..both your goggles clear the water aim for just one.
3. #2 above causes your right arm to recover really big without much elbow bend and it isn't very recovery like..ie easy and helping prepare you for your right stroke.
4. R arm enters to close to center line which probably is part of the reason you kick more to keep your balance
5. Work on overall balance so your hips/legs are higher in the water. I do that by just doing deadman's float face down and letting my arms/legs extend but not holding on tight. Also work on KOS drills (see swim expert article posted here on BT). I like to check my balance doing KOS if my arm that is up and on my hip I can just lift my pinky and it clears the water my hips are up.

To work on bilateral breathing what helps me most is doing single arm swimming then move to 2-5 strokes one arm then switch to other for 2-5 strokes..helps me get right balance when doing my weaker side breathing. Keeping extended arm what feels wider helps with the balance issue.

I'm a swimming newb, too (started barely 3mo ago with a 50m max).   I'm in decent overall shape from avid cycling.   My running has come along nicely, but swimming is frustrating for me.  Can't keep all the advice straight in my head while swimming.  Lately doing a little better (100m down from 3:30 at first to 2:30 now, & doing 400+m without stopping).  I'm working on staying relaxed & concentrating on technique of each stroke.  I've been told to swim easy enough that you feel like you could miss a breath (or 2) without hurting too bad.  If you go so hard that you really need every breath, then one problem (bad stroke or another swimmer kicking/splashing your head during a breath) & you're hosed.  Controlling effort level is important for swimming longer distances, but that's sometimes hard to do.  I usu start increasing my stroke rate too much, which hurts my technique/rhythm & kills my endurance.  It takes time to build serious endurance, but I think for most of us real newbies it's getting comfortable/balanced in the water & resisting the urge to go too hard (i.e. wasting tons of energy flailing around with very poor stroke mechanics).

A trick to help balance out the difference between the left and right arm height is to drag your fingertips across the top of the water as your arm goes from your hip to the forward position (while out of the water). 

Obviously this is only for practice, but it helps train your elbows of the proper movement from the back to the front.  Literally drag the tip of your finger in the water.  It will force you to have pointy elbows.  Then when your arm is out in front of your head your thumb and pointer finger should enter the water first.

Both high school and college coaches give this drill to their teams.  It gets pretty annoying after awhile, but it works.

Also think about a swifter kick.  A quick, short flutter kick is better than a long slow kick.

Hope it went well.

I type out tips or focus points I want to work on and put it in a ziplock next to the pool.

Focusing only on one point at a time helps otherwise you get overwhelmed with so many things to work on.

Tons of good advice already.  Here's my comments.

If that stroke is a result of 3-4 weeks of swimming only then you are way ahead of a lot of folks in this sport.  I think things look great for just starting out.

A few comments:

Finger tip drill with reinforce having your hand enter flat into the water in front of you.  You are entering with your pointer finger and then twisting your hand.  In all it's not terrible but could be a little more efficient.

Be careful with your right arm as well.  At the beginning of your pull you skull your hand out first and don't start the pull properly.  It's a tough habit to break.  Catchup drill and watching your hands begin the pull can help.

You are nice and relaxed in the water.  Maybe a little too relaxed from you core down to your legs.  Focus a little more on engaging your core and keeping your legs from traveling all over the place. Thick bands around your feet could help with this and also swimming with a pull buoy pressed between your legs might help as well.  

Head position while breathing looks generally good.  Be careful of over rotating and looking "back" or "up"  You didn't do it that much but I suspect when you get tired that might happen.  Engaging your core properly will help this as well.  

Kicking with a faster kick (In kicking sets only you don't need a hard kick for Tri) 4-6 beat kick either on your back or with a kick board will also help you engage your core and tighten up you kick.  By working on this in a kick set you will reinforce good habits that will translate over to your freestyle.  

Lastly I think your second post identified what you need to do.  That's swim more and get stronger in the water.  It's just about time now.  But you are on the right track.  

save yourself time trying to sort out on your own and get a coach. money spend of few pvt lessons will yield better results than all the tips/youtube videos.

cheers

ya the kick needs some work and it looks like your fingers are spread through your pull. don't do that.