Well, I learned correct posture in my days as a gymnast. If your body is not perfectly straight when doing spin/twisting movements, there is no way to predict where you will end up. We would stand with our backs, heels, and shoulders against the wall. Next, take our hand with just the fingers at the base of our spine and try to pin our fingers to the wall. This is mostly lower abdomen engagement, from the belly button down. This pulls the spine into the perfect straight line. As a Speedo coach said, "suck in your gut like you are trying to put your belly button on your spine". Again, this is the lower ab engagement.
This video is focused on freestyle, but the head/hip dynamic is fundamental to swimming and important for all the strokes! Great work Andrew, keep it up.
Well, I learned correct posture in my days as a gymnast. If your body is not perfectly straight when doing spin/twisting movements, there is no way to predict where you will end up. We would stand with our backs, heels, and shoulders against the wall. Next, take our hand with just the fingers at the base of our spine and try to pin our fingers to the wall. This is mostly lower abdomen engagement, from the belly button down. This pulls the spine into the perfect straight line. As a Speedo coach said, "suck in your gut like you are trying to put your belly button on your spine". Again, this is the lower ab engagement.
Learning how to control the position of the spine is a big part of it! As you said, gymnastics can be great for body awareness and control.
This video is focused on freestyle, but the head/hip dynamic is fundamental to swimming and important for all the strokes! Great work Andrew, keep it up.
Agree completely. Same concepts and strategies apply equally.