Swimming: Techniques, Drills, and Strength Training to Prevent Sinking Legs

How to Stop Sinking Legs?

To prevent sinking legs in swimming, focus on achieving a horizontal, streamlined body position by engaging your core, optimizing head and breathing mechanics, refining kick technique, and utilizing targeted drills and strength training.

Understanding the Biomechanics of Sinking Legs

Sinking legs in swimming is a common issue that significantly increases drag and reduces efficiency. This phenomenon is primarily due to the interplay of two key factors: your center of buoyancy and your center of gravity. For most individuals, the lungs provide significant buoyancy in the chest region, placing the center of buoyancy higher than the center of gravity, which is often lower in the body, particularly around the hips and legs (which are denser than the upper torso). This natural imbalance tends to cause the lower body to drop. Additionally, a poor body position can lead to increased frontal drag, forcing the legs to work harder and often sink further.

The Core Principle: Horizontal Alignment

The fundamental goal in swimming is to achieve a streamlined, horizontal body position, minimizing the surface area presented to the water and allowing you to glide efficiently. When your legs sink, your body creates a "bow" shape, pushing more water and demanding more energy to move forward. A flat, high body position allows the water to flow smoothly over and around you, reducing resistance.

Key Strategies to Elevate Your Legs

Achieving a higher leg position is a multi-faceted endeavor that involves integrating several biomechanical and physiological adjustments:

• Core Engagement and Posture: Your core muscles (abdominals, obliques, lower back) are the keystone of body stability and alignment in the water.
  • Engage your deep core: Actively "brace" your core as if preparing for a gentle punch to the stomach. This creates a rigid platform from which your limbs can move and helps to lift the hips and legs.
  • "Swim tall": Imagine a string pulling you from the top of your head and another from your feet, lengthening your body.
• Head Position: Where you look, your body will follow.
  • Look down and slightly forward: Keep your head in a neutral alignment with your spine, looking at the bottom of the pool or slightly ahead. Lifting your head, even slightly, causes your hips and legs to drop as a counterbalance.
  • Maintain a consistent head position: Avoid excessive head movement during breathing.
• Breathing Technique: Inefficient breathing can drastically disrupt body position.
  • Exhale fully underwater: This ensures your lungs are ready to take a full breath when you rotate to inhale, preventing you from holding your breath and tensing up.
  • Smooth, rotational breathing: Rotate your head only enough to clear the water, keeping one goggle in the water. Avoid lifting your head straight up.
• Kick Mechanics: While often blamed, an inefficient kick can exacerbate sinking legs, but it's rarely the primary cause.
  • Small, continuous flutter kick: Focus on a relaxed, continuous kick originating from the hips, not the knees. The kick should be propulsive, not just for balance.
  • Ankle flexibility: Point your toes and relax your ankles, allowing them to act like fins, pushing water effectively. Stiff ankles create drag.
• Arm Stroke and Catch: What your arms do at the front of the stroke impacts the back of your body.
  • Extend forward: Reach far forward with each stroke, creating a long, streamlined line.
  • Early vertical forearm (EVF): Focus on getting your forearm and hand into a position where they can "catch" and pull water effectively. A strong, propulsive catch helps drive your body forward and can indirectly lift the hips.
  • Weight distribution: A strong, balanced pull helps distribute your weight more evenly across the length of your body.

Drills to Improve Body Position

Incorporating specific drills into your training can help you feel and maintain proper body alignment:

• Superman Glide (Streamline Push-Off): Push off the wall in a tight streamline (arms extended, hands stacked, head neutral, core engaged). Hold this position for as long as possible, focusing on maintaining a high, flat body.
• Kicking with a Board (Face Down): Kick with a kickboard, but focus on keeping your head down and looking at the bottom of the pool. Use the board only for support, not to lift your head. This forces you to rely on core engagement and hip-driven kicking for leg elevation.
• Sculling Drills: These drills focus on hand and forearm feel for the water, which indirectly helps with balance and propulsion, allowing for better body position.
• One-Arm Swimming: Swim with one arm extended forward in streamline while the other performs a normal stroke. This challenges core stability and forces you to maintain balance without bilateral arm support.
• Vertical Kicking: Kick in a vertical position, focusing on keeping your head out of the water using only your kick. This builds leg and core strength directly applicable to maintaining a high leg position.

Strength Training for Swimmers

Off-deck strength training plays a crucial role in building the stability and power needed to maintain a high body position. Focus on:

• Core Strength: Planks (front, side), bird-dog, dead bug, Russian twists, leg raises.
• Glute Activation: Glute bridges, single-leg deadlifts, squats. Strong glutes contribute to a powerful, hip-driven kick and better body alignment.
• Posterior Chain: Exercises like supermans, reverse hyperextensions, and good mornings strengthen the muscles that help lift the lower body.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Over-Kicking: Kicking too hard or from the knees can create drag and tire your legs, causing them to sink. Focus on efficiency over power.
• Lifting the Head: As discussed, this is a primary culprit for sinking legs.
• Holding Your Breath: Leads to tension, buoyancy issues, and poor rhythm.
• Lack of Core Engagement: Without a stable core, your body will naturally sag.

Consistency and Practice

Mastering a high body position takes time, conscious effort, and consistent practice. Incorporate the drills and technique focuses into every swim session. Focus on feeling the water and how your body responds to small adjustments.

When to Seek Expert Guidance

If you continue to struggle, consider working with a certified swim coach. A coach can provide personalized feedback, identify subtle technical flaws, and offer specific drills tailored to your unique biomechanics, accelerating your progress in achieving a more efficient and elevated swimming posture.