Freestyle arm pull

     Last time we talked about the kicking of freestyle swimming so this time we will end up this swimming style with the arm pulling.

     A good pull can provide huge force to move forward in freestyle swimming and it's more effective than a good kick. Therefore, take this topic more serious may help you swim easier~ Here below are the main tips that need to be concerned:

1. The elbow should move up above the water level in every pull movement since it can reduce the water resistance.
   
2. Start the movement from the straight front of your head and look around 45 degree forward. It has 2 functions, first you can stabilize your way and the second is that you can check whether the arm position is correct or not.
   
3. Relax the arm muscle when your elbow is above the water level. Over contract of the muscle will lead to fatigue and hard to swim forward.
   
4. When your hand gets into the water again, keep pulling the water with straight forearm until it below the chest and go further until next to the thigh and move back to the starting point.

     Here is a video for your better understanding, you can concentrate more with the slow motion start from the 19th second and the 55th second.

     After you can familiar with this movement, try to combine all the breath, kick and arm pull together and see whether the freestyle swimming is successful or not. It will be more strength consuming with the whole set practice so remember to have enough warm up and cool down before you start and end up the practice=)

A movie for you!

     <<Jerry Maguire>> is an old movie that acted by Tom Cruise in 1996 and it is a story about the sport agent who had gained some reputation with lots of famous clients in a large agency company but he lost everything, including his job, respect and even his fiancee one day because of the mission statement. He was lost in his career as he can't feel anything from the job except the money so he hoped the company can be more humanity by caring their clients more instead of the profits and he tried to convince his company by sending everyone his mission statement. 

     I want to share this movie is because I feel and understand a lot from it. Undoubtedly, we concentrate on the tangible returns or profits too much when we're in the process or even begin we start something that's why we'll get lost on the way and totally forget the meaning of doing something. Failures and difficulties are always happen in the way we try some new things, not even in sports but anything in our lives, not many people can success at once but after many trials. Building up the faith or goal for your own and try to trust yourself, your decision at the first time by thinking positively in the dark time!

     We start everything with a certain meaning behind at the beginning and please hold it tight as this is the core that support us the most and give us the biggest reason to continue until the success. Don't let anything from outside distract you from that meaning or defeat your faith as nothing should able to stop you from doing the right thing! 

Freestyle flutter kicking

     This time I will talk about the leg movement when practicing freestyle swimming. I know that some people may suggest to learn breaststroke first as the new swimmers but I feel more comfortable and easy starting with freestyle personally as it seems not that strength consuming than the breaststroke.

     After the floating skill that I've mentioned last week, we can try to add the kicking movement to accelerate  this time. New swimmers usually practice it by grabbing the side of the pool as they are not confident to practice in the middle pool but I won't suggest that! Here below are the main reasons:

1. Your upper body will keep holding above the horizontal level when you grab the side so the lower body will sink into the water.
2. If you grab the side, your head will hit the wall when you kick, then you will have a sense not to move forward so you lose the meaning of practice kicking.
3. You can't realize how far you can go with each kick and how much power you need each time as you limited yourself by grabbing the side and not to hit the wall.

     So, pick a kickboard and practice in the water depth that you can handle with, then hold the top edge of the kickboard to concentrate on practicing the alternate kick first. Here below is a video as the demonstration on holding the board and how to do the kick.

     

     As a remind, please make sure that you heels should move up on the water with every kick but not the whole feet so you can produce the large force to swim forward without using too much energy.

     After you can handle the lower body movement, try to hold the middle or bottom edge of the kickboard so your head can go into the water and practice the breathing and kicking at the same time. Every breath can usually hold for 2-3 seconds inside the water when you're doing the kick or you can adjust the time freely for your own preference but I'll suggest not hold it for too long as you may feel hard to take enough oxygen in the next breathe.

     If you forget how to perform the breathing technique in the water, go to here  http://waterworldbynessa.blogspot.hk/2014/09/overcome-your-fear-in-water.html to check out the skill again, enjoy your practice=)

Hong Kong Jockey Club - HK Beach Festival 2014

    

     Hi! Today is the 2nd day of the Hong Kong Beach Festival and I'm glad to become one of the staffs in this event as I have so much fun in it!

     What a super sunny day at Repulse Bay today to have different interesting activities with the primary school students who are from the underprivileged group, such as the minorities and low-income families. This is definitely a good opportunity for them to enjoy the holiday!

     There are totally 3 sessions for the kids, including the beach rugby, full body stretching time and surely the most attractive event to the students, sand sculpting. Look! All the kids enjoy playing with the sand and they're all creative to sculpt their artworks. The front group in the photo is trying to make a huge turtle.

     After a whole day activities, I believe that the best thing that attract all kids and staffs the most is --- the ice cream time! Thanks Lab Made for providing us the liquid nitrogen ice cream! It tasted extremely great than usual as we all need some cool down under the hot weather.Delicious! 

      Once again, it is enjoyable to become the staff in this event and nice to meet all of the kids and new friends from Nike NTC! Thanks for giving me such a wonderful day and I experienced a lot=)

Bye bye~

Can You Float?

    Are you now familiar with the breathing pattern after a week? I believe that it's not that difficult to you as practice makes progress! This time I'll talk about the floating issue and you will find that it's really easy and enjoyable.

    Floating can be separated into 2 ways, which are facing down and facing up. If you wanna try the one facing down, which means that your face is in the water like the below picture, you just need to take and hold a breath, then keep the horizontal position and relax all the muscle. You will find that you're already floating without paying any effort.

   
    The second one is really easy as all you need to do is to lie on the water surface like the way you lie on your bed and slightly contract your abdominal and gluteus so your body is in a straight position. This time you can breathe freely but I will still suggest to breathe by mouth so you can control the amount and speed easily. 

    So, is there any tips to float better? Um....sure!!

1. Choose the chest-depth area to practice instead of the shallow area as the buoyancy is better.
2. Make sure your body maintain straight position but relax the muscle.
3. You will sink if you bend your core body.
4. A little bit chin up when you practice the face up float so the water level should be able to cover your ears.
5. Knees bend to chest and land by both legs together when you wanna stop the float .

    If you're afraid you can use some tools to help you at the beginning stage, such as below: