SS blog about "Classic Unilateral Breather Stroke"

I certainly recognized most of the comments made re that "inhalation on every 2nd FS arm stroke" SS blog article - ouch!!!  Although trying to remember to inhale with one goggle above the water line and the other below it - the arm recovery on the non-breathing side has become much less "prominent?", than that on the breathing side. Especially when doing a couple of lengths of "inhalation on every 4th arm stroke" and when doing an old "Go-Swim" drill of "pressing the buoy with in-active legs". Have definitely noticed a gradually increasing difference between left/right arm recoveries - getting lazy?!

I still have a balance problems when trying to inhale on my awkward left side - there is definitely a loss of balance, unless  I use old tricks, like : -

inhaling early on my awkward side  while the lead arm is still outstretched, before dropping it to a catch.

OR! - turning my neck more in a backward than sideways direction (why that should help I dunno - perhaps there is less water disturbance in that direction?)

OR! - "pressing the buoy" (via a quick nod downwards of the head) just before inhalation on that more awkward side - and looking to the pool side wall for the inhalation


The old SS recommend of "brushing the big toes together" when flutter kicking, does help reduce the balance problem - Thinks to self "I gotta minimize the kick depth/extent when rolling to my my awkward side for an inhalation!" - hopefully that will help eliminate scissor kicking!

But maybe the awkwardness I experience is due to having a grotty neck problem!!!

Do you others have a similar problem?

This blog got me thinking as usual and like any drill it highlights more problems the better swimmer you are. As SolarEnergy used to say "a drill done 99% is 100% wrong". It must be 100% perfect.

Swimming along today breathing to the left every fourth stroke it was apparent that I get the correct body roll from the left foot flick and correct left hand action down the left side when I don,t breathe, but when I take a breath, things go awry.

This will have to be rectified with practise.

Paul Newsome is back on pool deck and thrashing his squad as usual with Red Mist sessions. He hasn,t given a health update lately, but it,s good that he is back at Claremont.

Best wishes to Paul for full recuperation from that back injury!  After a week or two being confined to a horizontal position (bed rest!   ), after my lumbar area trouble in my mid-30s - there were occasional flare-ups - maybe once a year or so -but then the frequency of flare-ups diminished.  But the weakness is still there and one has to be cautious - no crazy actions! I did for a while spend a lot going for regular Chiropractor treatments - which seemed to help at the time, and I still keep up the daily 10 minute "back exercises" I learnt as a result of those visits.

I've dug my front snorkel out again, and hope to use it tomorrow to have another try at  cracking my inability to swim FS for more than 2x20m without a rest. The problem is not just with this oldies breathing (accepting I do have lower than normal lung capacity - as was proved by my attempt yonks ago, to get my mouth clear of the water for inhalation when doing a "Do-nothing-vertical float" with lungs full, arms at sides and legs just hanging down - done in water more than 7ft deep... {*} ...(When I looked up through the water, towards the surface, my head was a couple of inches below that surface - at least I don't have negative buoyancy - as do some "unfortunates"!) When, at "Sprinter"'s encouragement, I last seriously tried some 3 or more years ago using a front-snorkel - I almost completed 3x20m, but the arms were getting so tired that I had to abort the attempt! Not enough oxygen re-vitalizing the muscle fibres I guess!  Think there is some weakness that is present in limb muscles due to arthritic joints anyway. Re this, when I was sent to a "hand-clinic" dealing with patients having arthritic hands, they measure with a pressure gauge the strength of ones "squeeze" ability.  I do have arthritic shoulder joints (and everywhere else! )  - so that may have some bearing on the arms getting tired so soon. (It aint funny growing old - one just has to acquire  some degree of "contented acceptance" of what one can no longer do!!!)

For tomorrow's attempt,  I plan to keep most of the time in a "Superman Glide" attitude (completely relaxed, static, almost going to sleep as I breath in/out through the tube   ), just using a quick arm stroke cycle when my rate of movement drops to almost zero!  Instead of flutter kicking (since mine is ineffective), think I'll try doing a small amplitude dolphin waggle to keep the legs up near the surface - if my "back" doesn't complain after a couple of lengths!

{ * There was some further evidence of "lower than normal lung capacity", when "muggins" in a singing group, found out he was "out-of-breath" long before the rest of the group holding a note had finished! So that's "thumbs down" to any Choral Singing fo me! }

Well my effort in going back to the use of a front snorkel wasn't very productive!  I've come to realize that it's not my breathing that's the problem - it's the way my "ticker" reacts to any continued movement of arms or legs!  

i even get problems in reaching up to replace one of the 6 "GU10" spotlights in the kitchen - the darn things only seem to last about 5 months - after a few minutes spent trying to withdraw the dud bulb and put a new one in it's place, the arms are getting in a bad way.  There is also a fiendish wire clip that retains the spotlight unit - that is very difficult to position    - so it's a long time up the steps with arms held up ceiling-wards!) Maybe it's my medication of 2 different sorts of blood pressure reduction pills,  and muscle weakness caused by long-term use of statins that is to blame!?  A hospital test unit chap told me that all of the heart meds cause "bunged up" problems - so it's a case of 2 "Fybogel" sachets a day to get things moving. Oh the joys of getting older!!!

 Since the investigation into the last "cardiac scare" I had, and going through an "Echo Cardiogram" test during which the ultrasound operator made the sound coming from my aortic valve audible - I now recognize what I used to describe as my heart "trying to pound through my ribs" as the rapid/vigorous action of that aortic valve - warning me to ease off for a rest, so as not to put my 5 bypasses under too much stress (don't want to "pop my clogs" yet!).

So I gave up trying "to push myself" - must limit myself to short efforts followed by rests! Since I was wearing the front snorkel - I switched across to "look more closely" at my pathetic flutter kicking, trying various "modifications".


I'VE CUT OUT THE STUFF i ORIGINALLY WROTE BELOW - AND PASTED IT IT INTO NEW TOPIC "FS flutter kicking"