Which way is up? Rotation in Swimming for Survival

Rotation in Swimming is a Good Thing

Many of us learned to swim in the old school style. Stay flat to the water and turn the head to breathe or worse yet, lift the head to breathe.
With the advent of newer methods such as Total Immersion, which promote rotating the body as one swims, and in effect rotating the mouth up to breathe, we have a better way to teach, whether teaching kids just learning, tri-athletes trying to go the distance, or working with adults who are “unlearning” old habits and learning new skills.

Rotation for Survival is Also a Good Thing

When working on proper form for swimming the front crawl, it is easy to forget there is another huge benefit to learning to easily rotate in the water, survival.
I was working with an adult student last week, a self-taught swimmer who could do a length of the pool but hadn’t learned any method to breathe while swimming. As we worked on a front to back – rebalance, back to front re-balance drill he made the statement that he had never been on his back in the water before. This is something most adult students tell me. They never thought to float or swim face up.

Dangerous Waters

Each year in South Florida adults drown in rip currents, within sight of shore, because they can’t stay afloat for the 5 or 10 minutes it takes for help to arrive. I would bet most never think of simply floating on their back until assistance gets there ,or until they can catch their breath and stop the panic that must come in that situation.

A Swimming Skill You Can’t Do Without Thinking, is Not a Skill

Children learning to do a glide, or while swimming a front crawl often inadvertently rotate too far and end up on their back. Though unintentional, this is a great thing. When the student is so comfortable balancing in any orientation, then it becomes easy to turn to the back in a safety situation. And it then becomes something you don’t think about, you just do.

Why Not Teach Rotation to Adults as a Survival Skill?

Why wouldn’t we want to teach the adult student to quickly rotate to the back and rebalance, not just for drills in anticipation of learning breathing skills, but as a “don’t think, just do it” survival skill? We do of course want to do this, and at the AquaGear Swim School it is incorporated into the adult lessons.

A Swimming Rotation Drill – Roly Poly Drill for Children or Adults

Starting at one end of the pool the student begins kicking face down, hands on thighs and breathing out. After a few seconds the student, while staying straight and balanced, rotates to the back and continues kicking for a few seconds. This is repeated for the length of the pool. Head stays low in the water throughout the rotations, and feet near the surface. It is important to feel completely balanced before turning over. I will talk about what balancing means in more detail in another post.