For today’s swimming lesson, we started off with practicing the survival swim. After pushing off the wall on the back (with arms to the side), gently propel forward with a consistent flutter kick then roll over to the stomach. The trick is to do this gently: turn the head to the left and with a controlled motion, rotate the entire body until you are on your belly. Ensure that your body is in a straight line, head and eyes trained to the bottom of the pool. The kick should not stop.
The next step is a little more difficult. I kept losing my balance and make a lot of splashes as I turn back up. Again, similar to the first turn, this should be done gently. Turn the head to the right and slowly let the body follow. Engage the shoulders and core while continuing to kick.
Once that’s done, we started with the no-breath freestyle. Push off the wall in streamline and keep a constant kick. Pull back the right arm, the fingers pointing to the bottom of the pool. Rotate the entire arm until it is back in front. Pull with the left arm, rotate until the arm is back in front. While the left is pulling, reach the right arm forward — keep it from sinking. During the arm strokes, the head should be in a stable position.
This whole thing about not letting the lead arm sink is quite difficult. Instead of reaching forward, I tend to push down with the arm. So the next drill included a pull buoy to keep the lead arm afloat while the other arm pulls.
Hmmm, it helped a tiny bit. But I should really work on keeping my arm up and going forward. That’s for the next few days.
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