gcarter
Contributor
When I did my OW, my swimming technique left a lot to be desired. I used no recognizable stroke, even though I had no issue meeting the requirements. Quite frankly, I was not interested in spending time in the water before discovering scuba, so good technique was hardly high on my "to do" list.
Things are different now. I don't care about looking pretty, but I do care about efficiency. So last winter I took two sets of lessons. I entered last dive season still not able to do a proper crawl. This winter I registered for lessons again. I was bound and determined I was going to learn a proper crawl if it killed me.
Round about the 3rd or 4th session, the instructor clued in to what I was doing wrong. I was windmilling my arms, like you would do on a back crawl, rather than letting my arms "catch up". No wonder I was having difficulty timing my breathing. I can't believe that my instructors on the 1st two sets of lessons didn't see that. The last few weeks I went back to using a flutter board to relearn the mechanical action,and my breathing timing has largely followed. Almost done my 3rd set of lessons, it is finally starting to click. I can actually go a whole pool length with properly timed breathing! I know this doesn't sound like much to many, but it is a big deal to me. As I develop proper technique, I fully expect my energy expenditure to go way down.
If I keep this up, I may actually end up looking like I know what I'm doing!
This has done wonders for my comfort / confidence level. It is simply a matter of practice and repetition from here.
Things are different now. I don't care about looking pretty, but I do care about efficiency. So last winter I took two sets of lessons. I entered last dive season still not able to do a proper crawl. This winter I registered for lessons again. I was bound and determined I was going to learn a proper crawl if it killed me.
Round about the 3rd or 4th session, the instructor clued in to what I was doing wrong. I was windmilling my arms, like you would do on a back crawl, rather than letting my arms "catch up". No wonder I was having difficulty timing my breathing. I can't believe that my instructors on the 1st two sets of lessons didn't see that. The last few weeks I went back to using a flutter board to relearn the mechanical action,and my breathing timing has largely followed. Almost done my 3rd set of lessons, it is finally starting to click. I can actually go a whole pool length with properly timed breathing! I know this doesn't sound like much to many, but it is a big deal to me. As I develop proper technique, I fully expect my energy expenditure to go way down.
If I keep this up, I may actually end up looking like I know what I'm doing!
This has done wonders for my comfort / confidence level. It is simply a matter of practice and repetition from here.