How Much Should I Rotate When Swimming? | Freestyle Swim Rotation

Rotation is key when swimming front crawl. We talk about it all the time but exactly how much rotation do you need, what happens when you add breathing into the mix & does it change when you swim at different speeds? Heather is here to get sciency as we find out if there is a perfect formula!

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[gtn]

How much do you think you rotate when swimming?  🤔

[hazelhauw]

I'm struggling with correcting and understanding about the freestyle body rotation lately, and I'm so thankful for this video, which made me learnt about being more aware of my rotation. Thank you!

[incusperformance]

Oh Snap! Great to see you're enjoying the INCUS | NOVA guys.

From our research, it's normal to see Velocity Gain per stroke higher with a familiar stroke style, as you're more used to it.
Typically the net speed gain after breath strokes is lower because of the additional time taken in the recovery phase to breathe, where you'd slow slightly more in comparison to a normal stroke.

It takes time to build up an efficient stroke when breathing in an unfamiliar pattern, so keep working on it and you'll get there!


Really nice experiment - keep us posted on your progress Heather!

[asad_badhon]

Your content is really helpful, really useful information
Keep the good work up

[glynnbuxton]

"if you've got some fins it's a good idea to pop them on right now" she said... so am sat up in bed with my fins on wondering if they might catch my quilt a bit too much if I rollover ...?

[Prasad]

Hi, I tried your "couch to 5k" plan and it really works for me. Can you give us a similar plan for long distance swimming too.

[eagleironic]

Very interesting video! I think I would have appreciated some visual examples to go along with the exercises you recommended with the fins. I’ll be sure to have a think about my rotation when I jump in the pool next :).

[richcus]

I'm a senior swimmer and consider rotation important now in my swimming. I haven't been able to bilateral breathe either. But I value this video and will watch it several times to find my best angle of rotation. For my stroke, I can imagine paddling a canoe. Paddling too deep, as once thought, doesn't gain the expected speed. Paddling closer to the surface seems to work better. But a paddle doesn't have an elbow to keep high...got some work to do...thanks for the video

[OWSwimmer]

There are technical calculations and add in the “rhythm “ affect.
For me I think of my bodies wetted surface. A sharper rotation reduced my flat water wetted surface. Less drag. Like mentioned, compare a flat bottom boat vs a V haul boat.
Less friction.
Again, my rhythm and breathing is key.
We’re all different in many aspects
I open water swim

[lewisdwheeler]

Great video Heather! Interesting to watch slo-mo video of you in the water - looks like your upper torso might rotate more (the 70-75 deg on right) than your hips rotate - so what's the thinking on 'full body rotation' vs shoulder/hips?? Your shoulders might be rotating 70 degs, but hips only 40-45! And GTN fueled by coffee! ;)

[paulsmith]

Awesome video. Watched it twice and didn’t hear but did you mention where the vest came from, who sold it, where can one find it to be tested?

[julielepage]

As a beginner swimmer I am trying to learn front crawl
I am definitely better and stronger on my right
My rotation on my left is not so good and weaker on this side

[addison-em]

In my opinion no matter how much should you rotate as long as you keep head down and the leading arm in front

[thibod]

Great video! I never realized before but I do over rotate on the side I bread and as a side effect my kicking is not as efficient as it can be as it is partly used to make me rotate on the otherside instead of propelling me forward. I realized all that by looking at a video that a friend took of me swimming. I would never have found this without a video. The proprioception is surely not helping us much in the water. I will have to figure out some swimming drills which will help me to reduce my rotation as I do not feel that I overrotate. If you have any suggestions on how to reduce your rotation or actually feel that you rotate less please let me know.

[nicholashammerleg]

Could you elaborate on what velocity gain is? Couldn't that mean that you're just slowing down more on that arm, and then speeding back up?

[kc]

How do I rotate?! What's the simple drill for beginners?

[normanaguirree]

Im confused, some video says you have to wait your other arm before you move your other arm, but in your video you move your arm before the other arm hit the water, its like dropping the support arm when you take a breath... Im sorry i cant speak fluently in english..

[jerryhall]

Haven't learnt to breathe on my right yet. For me it's easier to rotate at almost a 90 degree angle, since I am slow and don't get the bow wave.

[Ether]

Is there such a thing as like a spin stroke. Rotating between this kind of a stroke and a back stroke? Like a windmilling?

[PhiyackYuh]

The question we would like to know how would someone know if you are rotating at a certain degrees like 45 degrees when in reality you have to go by “feel” aka body awareness in the water. It will also depends on the body type of an individual. Heaps of youtube coaches will say rotate 30 degrees but do these coaches can even calculate like maths when they say these stuff to their students?