5 Reasons Your Arm Drops When You Breathe

Having trouble keeping your lead arm in front while you breathe? Let's take a look at the 5 reasons this happens, and how you can fix it.

1:45 Breathing
4:36 Shoulder Rotation
6:15 Hand Entry
7:50 Exit of opposite hand
9:26 Starting catch position

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[MrSpencerallen]

My biggest complaint in learning to swim at age 33 has always been that most instructors teach from the perspective of someone who learned at a very young age. I've had a lot fo instructors who just seem to try to reach it as they were taught, then get frustrated. You do such an amazing job of consistently identifying the challenges I face and deconstructing them. The "why is nobody talking about this" catch video blew my mind. I consume a LOT of swim content on Youtube, and this is hands-down my favorite channel. These recent videos only cement that for me. Thank you so much!

[jojijosette]

My coach told me I drop my lead arm when I breathe, but did not tell me how to fix it. Thank you Brenton, I have now fixed my dropped arm. My breathing is effortless... people tell me that they can't even tell I'm breathing, because my head does not lift, it's half-submerged.

[Lacehairwigs]

37 year old new swimmer here. You teach the best content for adult swimmers

[bsowieja]

Yes. My favorite tip from this video: Keep that lead arm out front for what feels like way longer than necessary and it will probably be just the right amount of time.

[TriTran-clkq]

The best swimming coach on YouTube. My 2 instructors during the last 6 months did not mention any of these tips. I watch your Chanel every night, great help. Thank you.

[danielgarcia]

A summary of some of the things discussed in the video:

1) One goggle in the water when you breathe/ " split vision". Mouth should move a bit to get the air. Head shouldn't be up. Can try drills with one extended arm holding a kickboard in front and practising the breathing only ( 4:05 ).
2) 40 degrees rotation, some people go close to 90 degrees which isn't good. Think of it as forward rotation...
3) How the arm should enter in the water -- fingers 1st and forming kind of a triangle with the elbow, then extending the arm inside the water from there. Drills with kickboard for entry part only, shouldn't touch the board.
4) How the "opposite hand" exits the water. Hand should exit passed the hip with the palm facing up (not facing the body or things like this...).
5) Extended arm should be kind of close to the cheek, for some beginners it's way below it, which is wrong. Drill holding something in the cheek with the shoulder, which would be too close to the cheek, but just to get the feel...
Extended arm wrist aligned with the arm, pointing slightly down, fingers below wrist, and wrist below the elbow

[RyanCL]

I’m so engrossed when you speak. It’s like an angel has been sent down to explain to me the ways of the world, which is freestyle.

[Acts-]

State level swimmer here, (and now instructing). Amazing content, well explained. I wanted to brush up on everything before working with my fish! So glad i saw this

[Bumsitw]

I don’t know how you do it but I just never feel stupid about myself when you explain things as it does with a lot of other coaches .
I would love to have you as a trainer. Please keep going with the videos that is so awesome.

[jmydy]

I don't have a clue who dislikes such informative video.

[kevinwarrick]

Man, awesome job at explaining. I have all those problems.

[thibod]

Rotating forward what a nice way to put it! Thanks!

[adammclark]

As always.... things I could tell were off, didn't know how to sort it out, got the right perspective here, and now I have something positive to work on! Thanks AGAIN!!!

[backstroker]

Love this advise! Thank you!!! As an older swimmer, I don’t have the best range of shoulder & neck motion. I had the lead arm “drop” with every breath. Brenton’s degree rotation & head position suggestions & drills were right on. I stopped breathing to the left, changed to the right using his drills. I have better range of motion with this new side so my inhale is better, my head position is better hence I have improved balance and can keep my left arm in the front quadrant while inhaling to the right. I wouldn’t have thought of these “fixes” without Brenton’s training videos. The drills are so helpful.

[nickcarroll]

When I was a full on swimming kook, as opposed to my current half-kook status, I was accidentally being coached by Tim Lane, who helped Cameron McEvoy win that amazing 50m fs gold in Paris. Tim must have rolled his eyes a lot at my kooky arm-drop-while-breathing act, but never when I was watching. After a while he gently said, "You know what, just try leaving the arm out there till your head's back down again." It sounds crude, but it put me immediately in touch with actual fs rhythm. Thanks Tim! And thanks Brenton for the far more subtle and thorough breakdown here!

[Haglar]

This is something I have increasingly noticed teaching swimming lessons. Thanks for the drill ideas and explanations

[shaun]

I just wanted to leave a comment and thank you for your amazing videos. In August I took a swim class for complete newbies (I had zero clue on how to swim). By the end of that class, I was able to float on my back and do the elementary backstroke. Since then, I've been practicing 2-3 times a week using Youtube as my source of information. There's a lot of quality content on here, but I feel that your videos have been the best for me than any of the other channels. Precise, effective, and to the point. Thanks so much for your wonderful content!

[MrJohno]

Exactly what I'm struggling with. I now think it's my breath, too high on the intake. Can't wait to hit the pool in the morning. Thank you...again!!!

[Xloi]

Very simple drill suggestions, I am eager to have my clients ty them out. It's a very common issue in people's swim, but I never investigated enough why it happens and how to fix it.
Thanks very much

[AnthonyAKung]

A few months ago, my coach told me the exact same thing with my lead arm dropping too soon. The suggestions here is a very good way to look at my stroke in 5 different ways. Thank you!!