Sensational Freestyle - Homestudy #3

Date: 
Apr 1 2010 - 7:00pm - Apr 7 2010 - 7:00pm
Coach: 
tyler

Third Week - Home Study

This week we have worked on refining the fundamentals that support easy breathing.

  • Glide
  • Single Switch
  • Repeated rhythmic switches without pauses (no breathing)

Again, this week's homestudy will be as simple as possible, the kind of general practice we recommend as you work on developing more body awareness and comfort in the water with these new skills.

At this stage, we see that it is the fundamentals that still matter the most, even as we discuss how breathing well works for you. We noted that you can still practice glide position and the arm recovery as these two can do the most for putting you off balance and preventing you from getting to air easily.

The more you practice the drills each time you go to the pool and really focus on making your weaknesses your strength, you will find this swimming stuff easier and more fun.

What to Practice Dry Land

Practice the following:

  • Full recovery and switches (one at a time): see notes from this week
  • Body rotations and breath timing: see notes from Thursday

What to Practice in the Pool

Spend 15 minutes on each, still with mini-laps. If you want to practice with 25m lengths, always pause in glide to breath as much as you need to in order to be relaxed and focused. Please don't rush this and you will discover the payoff very soon.

1. Glide position and breathing skills: (start with fins, then without fins).

2. Stroke mechanics: (with fins for 10-15 minutes, then the same without, or switch back and forth more often for a different discovery process). Focus especially on recoveries, forward momentum, and always returning to glide.

3. Fluid switches (3-5) and then adding a synchronized head turn for breath (see notes from Thursday).

Review the session notes from this week to refresh your mind of the various focus points for each of the postures/motions.