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Dryland:  Breathing Issues and Full Stroke Coordination

Today's session was a review of general questions as we wind up the course.

Pool Focus: Review of primary drills

Check in on all the main drills that we have developed during the course: streamline posture, single switch, full stroke without breathing, full stroke (breathing to one side, every second stroke), and full stroke with breathing. The focus of the session, like any general practice, is to identify the tendencies (habits) that are inefficient and find ways to focus on them best within a range of simple to complex movements or drills

MAIN FOCUS:

Full stroke with breathing practice: Breathing every two strokes (to one side only, then change sides)

Breathing to one side gives you the following benefits (whether you do it over a short distance or a full length of the pool):

• You can emphasize your stroke rhythm easily
• You can emphasize rotation into streamline on BOTH sides to feel confident in your breathing position
• You get the chance to get air frequently, which can make the exercise easier (once you get used to breathing more often)
• You get many opportunities to practice an aspect of breathing (see list in dryland section above), where many people will tend to take a few too many strokes in order to seek the "perfect breath."
• You can build more confidence with full stroke swimming
• Breathing to one side (and the other) is a great open water and speed skill that will help you develop the feeling of being able to breathe whenever you want to breathe, rather than sticking to a specific pattern.

Key points:

• Keep your stroke rhythm relaxed and patient (it's easy to increase your stroke cadence too much when doing this kind of swimming with a breathing focus)
• Focus on one point at a time.
• If you get off your game, go back to a drill to recalibrate or solve a problem you are seeing (ie. lifting your head). Drills help you simplify your practice and address issues more easily.

This whole progression serves as a great practice in of itself, if you are looking to build confidence from glide to full stroke. Or, if serves as an important warm-up to begin a full swim practice with a reminder of your attention to good posture and movements in the water.

Practice (option: with fins to build confidence and new sensations)

4 x 25m streamline drill with breathing

4 x 25m switches with breathing (switch, pause, breathe, pause, repeat)

* getting off track, do some shorter distances of streamline and/or switches (full pauses) without breathing to get your form and balance back

6 x 10-15m of flowing switches (no breath): ie. 3-5 strokes with less and less pause in streamline until they are smooth and flowing with no pauses

6 x 10-15m of flowing switches (with 1-2 breaths): ie. look to insert a breath or two into your flowing stroke. Look for thinking about breathing as your recovering hand enters the water and not after! 

4-6 x 25m of breathing every two strokes: use full rotations on both sides to get to air with ease. 

* getting off track, stick with the shorter distances and smaller number of breaths before going back to breathing on one side for a whole length

4-6 x 25m of breathing as you like: maintain focus of getting into streamline on each stroke! 

Finish with streamline and switch drills