How To STOP Your Legs From Sinking

Key takeaways (why legs sink + how to fix it)

• Don’t over-kick: Kicking too aggressively disrupts balance and increases fatigue. For longer swims, kick mainly for balance/body line, not propulsion.
• Get the right body position first: Water is ~800x denser than air, so small alignment errors get magnified. Aim for an “upright, high” streamlined body—more like a speedboat (rides high) than a cruise ship (sits lower).
• Optimize balance via tension + alignment:
  • Float first to “rewire” feel and relax the body (less constant tension under the CNS).
  • Maintain core engagement while floating—relax enough to avoid excess stiffness, but stay engaged to hold alignment.
  • Head/eye position matters: Keep eyes looking down to help lift the hips and reduce drag.

Self-practice / wellness-style technique (in-water + dry land)

In-water fundamentals

• Practice floating to build “feel”
  • Float on your stomach (and also mention/compare with back float).
  • Goal: create time/space/patience to reduce constant tension and learn true balance.
• Slow, controlled wall push-offs
  • Start with slow momentum (not a hard sprint push-off), then progress into normal swimming mechanics.
• Use “relaxed but engaged” posture
  • Feel tension that holds your line—avoid over-tension that lets the legs drop.

Dry-land exercises (daily-ish)

• Dead hang
  • Helps lengthen the body and expand/restore full vertebral length.
• Alternating Superman
  • Trains core engagement, stability, and body positioning by lifting opposite arm/leg alternately.
• Planks
  • Builds tension and improves posture/body line (especially midsection stability).

Arm mechanics to prevent sinking (“swimming downhill”)

• Head position + catch mechanics work together
  • Looking down supports lifting the hips (“swimming downhill” feel).
• Avoid “pressing down” with the hand
  • Pressing downward lifts the upper body and sinks the lower body.
• Promote an early vertical forearm / high-elbow catch
  • Enter fingertips directly in front of the shoulder.
  • As you extend, apply downward pressure with fingertips to create the high-elbow catch and drive forward rather than “sit” the upper body.
• Core principle: Pulling forward with the correct fingertip pressure helps maintain body position.

Progressions & drills (hand/kick)

Hand-focused drills

• Fist drill
  • Do early vertical forearm practice with a fist (or tennis balls) to “feel engagement” and prevent pressing down.
• Finger progression (build front pressure gradually)
  • Two 25s with a fist
  • Two 25s with one finger
  • Two 25s with two fingers
  • Then three fingers, progressing back up toward full pull
  • Hands/aim: strong feel without needing to press down; drive with fingertips, elbow up, pull forward.
• Fingertip paddles
  • Put resistance mainly at the fingertips so you feel the right pressure and don’t push down.
  • If you don’t have fingertip paddles: use larger paddles and strap them off / grip at the top.

Kick-focused strategy

• Kick for balance, not propulsion (especially for 100–200+ distance swims and longer training)
• Choose a kick “beat” methodology:
  • 2-beat kick: 1 kick per arm stroke
    • Most efficient for maintaining balance with less energy drain.
  • 4-beat kick: Middle ground (more work than 2-beat, less than 6-beat).
  • 6-beat kick: 3 kicks per arm stroke
    • Uses a lot of energy; better suited for very fast swimming.
• Hip-driven body rotation
  • The kick is not the main driver of propulsion/rotation—hip rotation + shoulders/body roll does that.
• Practice kick with breath/rotation
  • Integrate kick timing with breathing to make mechanics “click.”
• Use fins carefully
  • Fins can help speed, but don’t let them cause you to rely on legs too much during technique/agility work.

Productivity / planning tip

• Follow a structured plan (not random pool time)
  • Use the MySwimPro app to know which drills to do and in what order so you don’t waste sessions.

Presenters / sources

• Presenter: The speaker (unidentified by name in the subtitles)
• App source/product mentioned: MySwimPro (MySwimPro app)