Learn crawl breathing
At least 10 meters crawl with breathing on the side. One arm is extended forward and the second arm is on the side of the upper body. Breathing on the side is at least three times during the entire exercise. With every lateral breath, a shoulder rotation takes place.
Through this exercise, the correct herb breathing is learned.
Prerequisite exercises:
Please read the Safety notes before you start.
Preparatory exercises
Leg stroke when lying on the side
The child lies on its side in the water. The body should be as parallel as possible to the pelvic wall and not just slightly rotated. One arm is stretched and the other arm is on the side of the body. The mouth and nose should be on their sides above the water during the entire exercise. The head is placed on the straightened arm.
This exercise teaches the correct water position during crawl breathing. Make sure that your child's extended hand stays on the surface of the water. When doing this exercise, it is easy to lower your front arm. However, this is a mistake, the hand must be as stretched as possible on the surface of the water.
Rotation with Pull Buoy
The child is holding a pull buoy or a swimming board. The body is completely stretched and the drive comes from the legs as a result of an interchangeable impact. Then the child turns on his back from the prone position and back again after a few meters. The exercise is carried out 10 - 15 meters with at least four turns.
This exercise trains shoulder rotation, which is a decisive factor for correct lateral breathing. The exercise can also be done with a swimming board. This requires even stronger shoulder rotation to turn the entire board and thus makes the exercise even more efficient.
Common mistakes
Breathing forward
Many children do not understand the need for shoulder rotation. They are also used to breathing forwards from previous exercises, such as the motor boat. This error may be due to poor communication. The children do not understand that side breathing is the decisive factor of the exercise. For this reason, you can't mention the need for side breathing enough. Or, of course, it could also be because they simply can't do it. For this, the exercises mentioned above will help.
Breathing on the side without rotation
Although many children understand that side breathing is central to this exercise, they do not understand that you have to rotate your shoulder to do it. This then results in the child breathing forward and lifting its head, but trying to turn its head on its side by simply looking at the side. This species looks very unnatural and damages the spine for a long time. Communication is also key here. Especially if you have already successfully completed the above preparatory exercises several times, the child should actually be able to rotate the body. For this reason, you also can't mention the need for shoulder rotation often enough.
