WEEKS 5 & 6 – BREATH TIMING FOR RHYTHM AND POWER
There are many places in the
arm cycle where you can take a breath, but only a small range where it works to
keep your stroke consistent and powerful. The idea is to put the breath in a
place where it makes it easy to get a consistent shoulder motion. You never end
up stalled on your side, needing to move your arms in asynchronous ways in
order to continue swimming. Basically, you don’t want to be waiting until
you’ve already rotated onto your side before you start your breathing motion.
This is too late. Early in the arm cycle is best.
Michael Phelps – example of early turn of the head to start breathing motion; note that his body position does not change as a result of doing this, he's simply getting a small “head” start. His opposite arm has not yet entered the water.
Michael Phelps – example of early turn of the head to start breathing motion; note that his body position does not change as a result of doing this, he's simply getting a small “head” start. His opposite arm has not yet entered the water.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax77_hHq9Dc&feature=related (the above image is from the first 20sec)
Here he is moments later after his breath. He has turned his head back down and can see his arm out front making the next catch. This is crucial positioning to ensure an even and powerful stroke.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ8iw8q2F9U
This is the Natalie Coughlin
video from above at ~45sec. As a result her mouth comes up early and she
breathes as early as possible. Her opposite arm has just entered the water. She
actually began her head turn before it touched.
Here’s a video of Bob Bowman, Michael Phelps’ coach, talking about
breathing. He discusses many of the things we go over in class. It’s good to
know the pros are at work on the same techniques. We can duplicate many of the
things they do, we just won’t move as fast. J
Key points:
·
The head moves in line with the body – no
lifting of the head or raising of the chin.
·
He discusses the bow wave created by keeping
your head in a steady position, just breaking the surface, and that a good
check is to get a goggle in the water. Many of you are currently able to
demonstrate this. Keep it in mind during your warm-ups.
·
Even in the first underwater frames where
Michael is breathing, you can see that 1) he moves his head early toward his
breathing side and his mouth comes up first, and 2) that he gets his head back
in the water early, able to see his extended arm making his next catch. This is exactly what we’ve worked on in
class.
Practice Set:
Warm-up (400yd) – easy swimming, focused on lower abs in, eyes on the
bottom, even rotation, especially to the non-breathing side. Alternately you
may do posture work on deck and then focus on each posture point for equal
distances.
Early Breath:
·
How to do it: Just before your opposite hand
touches the water, while it is passing your head during the recovery, start to
turn your head for your breath. Your body won’t have rotated all the way around
of course, but this will get you started early and provide some power at the
front end of your breathing side pull. You may feel as if you’ve been lifted
out of the water a bit, but this is okay.
·
Make sure your breathing side arm is out front while
your other arm is recovering. This way you will have it to use to assist in
rotating your body to breathe.
Note: it’s easy to start to move your arms quickly when you begin to
move your head a bit early, but there’s really no hurry. As your recovering arm
comes over the top, turn your cheek into your extended arm’s armpit. Then keep
it turned as you pull, seeing how early in the pull you can get your mouth up
for air. Your arms should move very slowly for this one and as a result you’ll
have to be well balanced to avoid bouncing.
Main Set (600-900yd):
100yd – slow early breath timing as described above
Rest 10-30sec
100yd – rotate fully into the non-breathing side after each breath
(your breathing-side shoulder will rotate under your chin as your arm extends
out front)
Rest 10-30sec
100yd – see the non-breathing side arm out front after each breath (if
you can’t see it, try a Catch-Up stroke, touching both hands out front every
time – this is a good intermediate step)
Repeat 2-3 times
Cool Down (200):
200 easy swimming
