Keep Your Legs from Sinking in Freestyle
By Coach Doug Garcia
Balance is key to keeping your legs from sinking. You’ve heard me say “press your armpits to the bottom of the pool” because this helps keep your body balanced. In addition, your heels should break the surface every couple of kicks, which is a great indication that your body is balanced. Many swimmers wrestle with the following additional challenges in their effort to keep their legs afloat. I’ve added some tips for each of these challenges.
- Lifting the head to breathe. I’ve mentioned this to many of you, “don’t lift your head to breathe.” The adult head weighs about 17 pounds and if you lift your head, that weight forces the back end of your body down in the water. Remain balanced, and breathe to your side—you should rotate your hips anyway. Looking forward also has a similar effect of lifting the head to breathe.
- Pressing down with your hand pushes the front of your body up in the water, which has the same effect of lifting the head. To counter this, glide to a full extension, then point the fingers down towards the bottom of the pool. Remember to keep the elbow higher than the wrist at all times.
- Holding a breath can make the legs sink. The buoyancy created by extra air in the lungs lifts the front end of your body higher in the water, and the back end sink. Holding your breath leads to oxygen debt, and in many cases, gasping to catch a breath. All these lead to a front end rising and a back sinking. To counter this, blow out air the entire time your face is in the water, press your armpit to the bottom of the pool, and breathe to your side.
- Kicking from the knees— bicycle kicking—also contributes to sinking legs. The largest muscles in the body are the upper leg—hamstring, glutes, quads. The smallest muscles in the legs are below the knee. Bicycle kicking does not use the larger upper leg muscles. Using the upper leg in your kick offers numerous benefits: more propulsion, aide with balance, and a better aerobic outcome. I’m not saying you need a big splashy kick at all times, but as was mentioned above, the heels should break the surface every couple of kicks. Many people—particularly life long runners—have poor ankle flexibility, which contributes to kicking from the knees. The best kick is from the hips with toes pointed and very little to no bend in the knee.