**Advanced Freestyle Techniques and Stroke Corrections**

**Advanced Freestyle Swim Lesson #1: One-Eye Breathing**

Swimmers have a distinct advantage if they can do their freestyle breathing while keeping one goggle in the water.  Here’s what this skill looks like from above the water.  Ideally just half the face and only one goggle should be visible.

And here’s what it looks like from below.   It allows the swimmer to breathe and get air…but with minimal movement and no disruption to her horizontal body position.   

This is an aquatic body position:  the hips are tucked under, belly button in, lower back flat, shoulders rolled in slightly, and the lungs pressing into the water.   

The swimmer probably feels like they are swimming downhill.

Their head is most likely in a neutral position before the breath.   As they go to air, the lead arm is most likely still in front of the head, giving them a longer bodyline. 

All of these skills will put the swimmer in a better position to take a balanced breath.   When turning the head to air, it is imperative that the swimmer keeps the top of her head in the water… that the head is not lifted prior to the turn of the head.

When teaching this…here’s drill number one. The swimmer holds on to the wall with one arm in a side-glide position and practices a series of breaths to the side, keeping one goggle in the water as she takes a breath.   She keeps the opposite shoulder out of the water.

The next drill is a standing freestyle breathing drill. While standing on the bottom and with her face in the water, she practices going to air as the lead arm enters and with only one goggle out the water.

The other goggle stays in. I instruct her to look across the pool with the underwater eye.

Another fun drill for swimmers is called One-Goggle Look and See.   Swimmers pair off and swim directly across from each other, swimming at the same speed. 

One swimmer breathes to the left, the other to the right. They try to time their breaths so that they’re looking at each other with their underwater eye as they go to air.

On the next length they switch breathing sides.   This really works, and it’s fun.

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Advanced Freestyle #1:  One-Eye Breathing

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Advanced Freestyle #1: One-Eye Breathing

Advanced Freestyle #1:  One-Eye Breathing