Physique Swimming: Lesson 10

I had my final swimming lesson with Physique Swimming today!

We started off with a variant of the streamline. You take the streamline position and then you take a breath by moving your arms apart to take a breath and then back into streamline. I had a lot of trouble staying afloat after coming up for air. This was due to a few issues:

• Instead of simply parting my arms I was pulling them too far back. This meant that when I put them back into streamline, I was creating too much drag. The key is to part them slightly and push down slightly to get air. 
• Don't jerk your head up too high or your legs will sink. That's like the basic mistake.
• Exhale slowly. Don't breathe it all out at once. This prevents you from feeling out of air too quickly and keeps you buoyant longer. 

We then worked on streamlining and turn. You would swim in streamline on your stomach and then turn onto your back while still holding streamline. Every time I turned, I would keep kicking but my face remain submerged under water. 

• I'm kicking my feet up - this is sending me into the water. Try to let your legs drop a bit lower and kick downwards a bit. 
• Your hands are not tilted upwards. Tilting it up will help push you higher in the water. I have no idea why.
• You are dropping your hips. Don't drop them or else your feet will go up and your butt will go down and cause you to sink. 
• Maintain your streamline. Keep your arms outstretched.

Note: Not having your arms outstretched makes it significantly easier to stay afloat. 

Finally, we did some treading. I think I finally got it! We started by just trying to keep our head on top of the water. Then we were asked to show one hand. And then the other hand. 

What works:

• Slow but wide movements. This creates a lot of power while minimizing effort. 
• Push down with your hands and do a flutter kick with your legs at the same time. 
• Breath out slowly 
• Kick a bit harder when you bring your arms outside of the water. 

Next steps:

• My instructor told me I should continue practicing on my own and maybe come for a private lesson once a week or once every two weeks to make sure I'm on the right track. 
• Work on my breathing. Stop exhaling so fast and relax.