Now if only I could swim "right"

[cjsmith]

I have developed a weird style that has arms from, oh, the breaststroke or the butterfly or something, and a scissor-kick from the sidestroke. My head bobs on every stroke; at the high point I breathe, and even at the low point my eyes are usually still out of the water. (That last is very handy for me. I veer if I'm not looking.) I'm bothered by the asymmetry of the scissor-kick, but not enough that I spend time doing it the opposite way.

I have almost completely forgotten how to do the basic crawl. I can flutter-kick, and I am comfortable doing that when I am on a kickboard, but the flutter-kick doesn't go well with what my arms want to do. The arm and head motion of the crawl feels very wrong to me, and besides, it puts water in my ears. I am convinced this is the main purpose of the crawl. :-)

Comments

Re: Awkward

[cassidyrose.livejournal.com]

It's a SKILL and its better exercise once your technique is up.

It is also better exercise once one can do it for longer and more consistently. Interval training is also key for the more advanced swimmers. (I swam competitively for many years as a child and teen, then again recently as a master's swimmer). Increasing yardage as one progresses, doing a variety of strokes, and doing a mix of middle and long distance training with sprint training all make it more challenging in terms of cardio and strength.

Re: Awkward

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I think what I most want out of swimming is cardio fitness. Secondary to that I need to avoid injuring myself, which is a good reason to learn the "correct" ways to swim!

Strength and speed aren't primary goals for me, although I recognize that I may need to work toward those to keep my interest up. I admit I'm very intrigued by things like the swim from Alcatraz. Having a challenge, even a major one that will take time to reach, does help keep me going. I'd need MUCH more speed (and thus probably much better technique) to ever tackle something like that!