my first swim video (be nice :)) and a few questions

Nice video, real clear.

I'll start by saying I'm no coach and don't pretend to be one.

But it looks to me (hard to tell) that on some of the strokes your arms aren't really getting out of the water, so you'll be fighting against the water reaching forward before you begin the actual stroke. Does that make sense? 

Yep!

And that's one of the things I'm not sure about - how far out of the water my arm should come and where to put it back in - and it's one of the things about TI that confused me (I think they say something like your arm should enter the water near your goggles, and when I tried to put it into practice, it was a big wtf moment) - and that is the result.

It is really hard to tell from the camera angles.  The first thing that jumped out at me was the extremely low recovery which seems to be coming from swimming flat.  The second was the wide kick.

Fred's suggestion to use the fingertip drag drill is a good one.  The other thing you can do is the 6-kick switch drill to help teach more body roll.  Here is a good video of it.

My last suggestion is to focus on only one issue at a time to avoid becoming overwhelmed.

That was helpful - so much more explanation than other swimming videos that show some guy swimming and say, "Here, do this!" I pretty much fail at imitating what I see.

If money were no object, I'd have a coach with me all the time in all three sports. I actually started another thread pretty much devoted to that very question. In the end, a coach is out of the range of what I can afford right now.  Lessons (with an instructor, not a coach) were the other option and there is so much hit and miss potential that I've decided to explore other options online - and apparently I'll be posting lots of videos in the process!

I'll try the fingertip drill. Is there any more to it than just what you said? And if it's a DRILL then where should my elbow/fingertips be, realistically, during recovery in a normal stroke?

Do you have any recommendations for poor people?

Swimming flat....I'm guessing you mean not enough roll? That's good to know. It's hard to tell how much roll is enough. I can assure you that I'm not swimming as flat as I used to!

The 6-kick drill looks very similar to the statue of liberty drill in finding freestyle; the SoL drill just doesn't have the middle part.

Good job with the video!  What a fabulous tool to use. 

I have been swimming since 1972 - May I make some helpful suggestions?  I'm not a coach, by choice, but can happily share through my experience.

1.  The feet and legs need to be closer together - almost touching.  The fact that they are open produces a negative pressure thus increase the amount of drag...slowing you down.  Get the legs together and kick at a quicker cadence independent of your stroke.  I good drill for this is to go to the deep end of the pool in a vertical position.  Kick fast to keep your head above water without using your arms.  Do this for 10 seconds, then from that position, start swimming across the pool as you use the same cadence of kick throughout your swim.  Repeat until it becomes natural.

2.   Your body does have enough roll from side to side.   Try some drills which work specifically on this like;  6-kick drill on your side.  This drill will help.

3.   As another replier commented about the arms being too flat.  After your pull through on your stroke, imagine running your thumb from the side of your leg, up the side of your body to just below your arm-pit before reaching and setting up for your next pull-through.  This exercise will help you get your elbow up high.  Don't forget your body rolling from side-to-side for this to work.

I hope you found this helpful.  I really enjoyed your video.  It was clear and I'm jealous that you get to swim indoors.  Kudos to you and keep swimming.

X2....what he said

Sure...I mean I've gotten as much as I can get out of watching videos online and reading the book. I am really NOT good at reading something and translating it into action, nor at watching someone and imitating them. A lot of what I read in the book I just could not figure out how to do in real life. And as far as watching videos, I am great at thinking I'm imitating someone exactly, and I look nothing like them. (I am like that with EVERYTHING - don't even bother trying to teach me dance moves.) It's just not the way my brain works. So the things I have read and seen that make sense to me and I know I can do, I've implemented....but I think a few of them have screwed up my stroke. I know my elbows are low because I'm thinking of reaching forward like I'm reaching for the wall, which is what the TI book says.

(By the way, I don't know which TI book it was because I got it from the library.)

*sigh*

I'll have to look up the skating drill again. I have NO idea how to enter the water at the goggles. None. And when I relax my head, it floats. It does not go into the water. I have to force the crap out of it to get it in there.

I know I asked for advice.....but holy crap if I'm not getting completely overwhelmed now! Eep!

I found something like that with the local college instructors, but I know nothing about them. I don't know if they primarily teach people who can't swim at all or if they'd be helpful to someone like me. I got enough responses in my other thread that were along the lines of "I paid for an instructor and they pretty much weren't helpful at all" to be nervous about spending money on one.

I have tried to find others who are interested in lessons but to no avail. They're either worse off than I am and are doing group lessons to make sure they don't drown, or they're way better than I am. I would be on my own, and I have yet to find someone who is willing to give semi-private lessons if I don't find my classmates myself.

I'm finding coaches for $60-70 an hour. That's steep to me. Not for one, maybe even two hours of lessons but I'm afraid they'll tell me I need ten sessions with them or something.

Thanks! The suggestions for drills are very helpful. And I really wish I could be swimming outside - I hate laps in the pool!!

YOUTUBE! There are lots of great videos out there on youtube to watch that will help you. 

I agree with the others on the fingertip drill.  Just bear in mind that this is a drill to focus on the difference in position between your elbows (high) and fingertips (low).  When really swimming you won't drag your fingertips across the water surface. 

When doing the drill, and when swimming for real, imagine that you are a marionette, and the strings controlling your arms are attached at your elbows.  The elbow is the support point and the forearm hangs from it. The string lifts your elbows out of the water and your forearm follows, hanging below.

When doing the drill keep the elbows high on the recovery and skim your fingertips across the water.  When swimming for real, keep your elbows high, but clear the water with your fingertips by an inch or two.

One reason for the creation of the fingertip drill is for swimmers who lift their hand high up to the sky, way above their elbow on the recovery.  You'll even see nationally ranked swimmers who do this.   

In your video I also noticed your fingers are pretty far apart on the pull through.  Concentrate on closing them.  It takes a while for your hands to develop a feel for the water and your fingers don't have to be clamped together in a death grip, but concentrate on bringing your fingers together comfortably and slightly firmly.