Poor hip position
/Hip position is an incredibly important part of swimming front crawl. If you drop your hips too low in the water it can force your head into a higher position and you have increased drag…as well as a reduced efficiency when it comes to your leg kick. This unfavourable position may also have the knock on effect of making it more difficult to rotate the body correctly.
The solution to a low hip position can be incredibly easy or not so. It really depends on the swimmer. Typically the quicker and more experienced the swimmer, the easier (in theory) it might be to correct.
The main thing to remember is that although you should be fairly relaxed when swimming, you still need a degree of tension running through your core, as well as your toes pointed and legs straight. We often say that your legs are fairly redundant in open water swimming and some of our clients barely kick at all (in the open water). That said, you still need your legs straight, toes pointed and feet together. You can’t simply forget about your legs.
FIRST : if you’re in the pool or fresh water (without a wetsuit) grab in kick float and hold the float with your hands, at the very back end of the float ie. only your hands are in contact with the float, not the whole of your forearm. You simply then want to carry out some leg kick, with your face in the water. You can do this with just goggles but it works better if you use a snorkel. Water level should be half way across your ears, with your bum just sticking out of the water and your heels just breaking the surface of the water.
If you’re in salt water / wearing a wetsuit, lie on your front in the water, face down. Have your arms full extended, stretching out in front of you, with your legs straight and toes pointed and together (feet touching). In a very streamlined position. Allow the water to hold your weight….and hold it for 10 seconds. This is the position you should be swimming in. Have a conscious think about how this position feels and where your body is in the water. If you’re swimming and your body position differs from this - stop, float yourself in the water (as described above) and then start swimming again. Stop as often as necessary.
Raising your hips in the water (provided you need to) can be as easy as simply thinking about it and consciously doing it! It’s not that easy however, for most. Here are some drills that might help :
DRILLS :
complete a series of 25m swims, on your back, arms out in front (flat on the water), swimming flat across the surface of the water. Your going to do fly kick on your back. It’s good to do these with swim fins. Start with shorter distances and build up. You should find this works the abs and core.
Kick board (face in the water), with snorkel…as described above.
Vertical kick efforts (as often featured in our newsletter). CLICK HERE for video.
Work the arms. You can use pull buoys as part of training and can also use a pull buoy with your ankles strapped together with a swimming band.
As well as distance, include shorter sprints into your training.
