How to Stop Swimming Like Gollum in 5 Easy Steps
October 14, 2011 - 12:23pm — pete
A really simple way to swim faster without increasing your effort is to swim be long and tall in the water. But what does that mean and how can you achieve this?  First, you'll want to know what to avoid!  Swimming with a gollum-like posture slows you down, plain and simple, and leaves you craving precious shiny objects at the bottom of the pool.

怎么样通过简单的五个步骤防止自己像古鲁姆一样游泳
保持姿势长而高能够让你游的更快，并且不需要付出格外的努力。
这是什么意思，我们怎么样才能做到这点呢？首先，你要知道需要避免什么错误。

When coaches refer to swimming tall or with a long body line, it generally refers to two things:
Posture: good posture through the head, hips and spine
joints: finishing each stroke with arms straight and making sure the legs stay compact and under the hips
A lot to think about, but if you start from the center of your body and work your way out, you'll see results right away.
当教练提到游泳时保持长而高的体型，通常他是在说下面两点
1 姿态：头部，髋部，脊柱三点保持好的流线型
2 关节：每次划臂时确实手臂笔直，腿部紧凑并且稍低于髋部。
游泳时需要考虑很多要素，但如果你最先考虑身体的中心，会有立杆见影的效果。

Step 1: Check your head.
If you've taken a Sea Hiker course or private lessons, you'll have likely experienced first hand the time we spend on checking head position relative to the spine. Lifting the head too high sinks the hips and pushing it too low makes you submarine underwater. Do either of these during your breath and you sink even more, plus you get the extra bonus of a sore neck.
Solution: Experiment with tensing and relaxing your neck. If you neck is relaxed, your whole upper body, neck, shoulders and arms will have less tension. Also, try tucking in your chin slightly so that you have a longer upper spine (back of the neck), being careful not to force anything. Keep in mind that for some swimmers, looking straight down will not be the best "neutral" head position. Experiment.
第一步：检查自己的头部位置
如果你上过SeaHiker的课程或者私人教练的课程，你应该有参考脊柱调整头部位置的经验。抬头过高会导致髋部下沉，头垂的过低会使你向斜下方游。呼吸的时候情况会更糟，并且脖子会感到酸痛。
解决方法：感受绷紧的脖子和放松的脖子两者之间的差别。如果你放松脖子，你的整个上半身，脖子，肩部和手臂都会很轻松。同样，试着轻夹下巴，这样你的脊柱会更平，小心，不要过分用力。记着，对不同的人而言，眼睛直视池底并不一定都是中性的头部位置，尝试不同的角度，找到适合自己的角度。

Step 2: Flatten your lower back.
If you've done any yoga, pilates, dance, physiotherapy or ergonomics at work, you've probably encountered how to do a subtle pelvic tilt towards the front (pulling your tailbone down and up underneath you) to flatten the lower back a little more. Your lower spine should have some curvature in the lumbar region, but generally, we arch our lower backs too much.
Why is this a problem? If you arch your back, your hips will be lower in the water and this will increase drag, even if you head position and posture is good overall.
Solution: Try gentle amounts of pelvic tilt and lower back extension to see what effect this has on your legs. You should feel your legs dragging less behind you.
第二步：放平自己的背部
如果你进行过任何瑜伽，跳舞，物理治疗或者人体工程学练习，你一定做过向前轻微翘起骨盆从而让低腰部位脊柱更平坦的练习（人平躺，尾椎骨向上翘）。脊柱的尾部在低腰位置有一定的曲率，总的来说，一般人过分拱起脊柱。这个问题有什么影响？如果你拱起后背，你的髋部就会更低这会增加在水中的阻力，即使你的头部位置和姿势大体上保持不错的姿势。Q
解决方法：试着频繁的向身体的前方柔和的翘起骨盆，放松后腰，感受一下这样做对腿部的影响。你应该感觉腿部的阻力明显减小。

Step 3: Extend through the hip joint.
Kicking can be a complicated and unintuitive skill. Often, especially if you're a beginner with kicking, you will bend at the hip in order to find power and productivity from your kicking motion. Unfortunately, this means your legs will drop much lower behind you and slow you down.
Solution: Extend through your hip by contracting your glutes and lower back muscles gently. Throw on some fins to feel this, especially if you keep your kick to a minimal level or try not kicking at all.
Feel this on dry land: lie on your stomach and tense your glutes, lower back and legs slightly to lift your knees an inch off the ground. Now try for the same feeling in the water while swimming.
第三步：通过髋关节使自己伸展
打腿是项比较复杂并且很难靠直觉感受的技术。通常，尤其是在你刚开始学习打腿的时候，你会为了使打腿更有推进力而弯曲你的髋部。不幸的是，这意味着你的腿会下沉，使你的速度下降。
解决方法：适当收缩臀大肌和低腰部位的肌肉。戴上脚蹼感受一下，尤其是你使打腿幅度尽可能的小甚至不打腿的时候。
在陆地上练习：面朝下俯卧，绷紧臀大肌，后背和腿部来轻轻抬起膝盖。记住这种感觉，在水里试着找到同样的感觉。

Step 4: Extend fully through the elbow at both ends of the stroke.
Our instinctive swimming mechanics, which generally are inefficent and just add tension to our swimming, tend to favour a choppy bent arm stroke mechanic. This compromises your streamline postion on each stroke, adds strain to the shoulders and generally limits your abilty to catch and hold water on each stroke.
Solution: Aim to fully extend your lead arm gently as your stroke begins and then complete the underwater stroke with your elbow still underwater and your hand brushing the inside of your thigh. At the end of each stroke, your hands should be as far apart as possible without straining. Keep the shoulders relaxed when trying this.
This will slow down your stroke rhythm and ensure that you get the best propulsion and streamline combination.
第四步：通过调整肘部达到每次入水充分伸展的目地。
我们本能的游泳方式，是水花四溅的划臂，总体来说效率低下而且更容易疲劳。这会破坏你的流线型姿势，增加额外的压力，降低抓水推水效率。
解决方法：在划水开始前柔和的伸展前导臂，划臂的时候保持肘部依然在水下，你的手应该放在大腿内侧的位置。在每次划臂结束的时候，两个手臂离的尽可能的远，但不要使肩部过分绷紧。这会降低划臂的节奏，使你获得最大的推进力和最好的流线型。

Step 5: Keep the ankles floppy.
If you are a runner or cyclist, you face a significant challenge in building more awareness about how your legs and feet need to move for the freestyle kick, whether you're doing a full flutter kick or a six beat kick. The swimming kick is not intuitive at all!
The kick starts from pressing down with the hip and thigh bone and then whips through a relaxed knee and ankle with a momentary contraction of the quads.
Whew. Sounds tricky.
To simplify things, your biggest opportunity lies in keeping your ankles as loose and your feets as floppy as possible. When you swim with fins, everything feels easier. This is because the fins are rubber and bend for you. You are trying to get the same feeling with your bare feet.
Solution: Swim with fins and without and try to zero in on the floopy ankle feeling with both. Try kicking in all positions (side, back, front and vertically, if your pool is deep enough). A floppy ankle is more likely to finish each kick with the foot in a generally more pointed streamline position, than if your ankle is tense.
Trying different kicking rhythms, fast to slow and different amplitudes, will also really help you figure out what works best.
It is challenging to relax the ankle and knee to some extent while kicking with some intent from the upper leg and hip.  But the pay off is huge, as you'll be able to get propulsion, stability and leverage for your freestyle stroke without a huge amplitude, high drag, energy consuming kick.
第五步：保持脚腕灵活
如果你是一个跑步或者自行车爱好者，你面对的主要挑战是学会自由泳打腿，不管是放松的浅打水还是快速的六次腿。游泳打腿完全不能靠直觉。
打腿由髋部及大腿向下发力开始，然后通过股四头肌的短暂发力传导至放松的膝关节及踝关节,使整个腿部鞭状打水，类似天朝军人踢正步，只不过幅度小的多，但发力的过程是一样的。
呜，听起来很复杂。
简单地说，关键点是最大程度的保持踝关节和脚的灵活放松。当你戴上脚蹼之后，会感觉很轻松容易，这是因为脚蹼是橡胶材质，可以自然弯曲，我们的目标就是不戴脚蹼的时候找到相同的感觉。
解决方法：尝试体会戴上脚蹼和不戴脚蹼感觉上的区别，专注于体会脚裸放松时脚面受力的感觉。试着向各个方法打腿（侧/前/后/垂直，如果游泳够深的话）。如果你的脚踝灵活柔韧，每一次向下打腿趋近结束的时候你双脚的流线型曲线一定比脚踝紧张绷紧的人好的多。因为你向下打水的时候脚面会受得向上的阻力，这时候如果脚踝放松，脚面自然弯曲，就像踮着脚站起来一样，反之如果脚踝太僵硬的话打水的时候脚型跟锄头一样，无法有郊向后下方推水，不但推进力小浮力也不大（译者注：这点本人感同身受，因为本人喜欢跑步，刚开始打腿的时候几乎不咋前进，后来找到感觉一直坚持练习，有时候练习量大的时候感觉脚面推水感压力感特别强，有时候甚至因为脚踝被水扳的太多而不得不休息，不过这种感觉真好，鱼姿打脚哗哗的， 很多自由泳能游挺快的爱好者打腿前进都赶不上我了，哈哈，骄傲一个先）
尝试不同的打腿节奏，从快到慢，打腿幅度从大到小，强迫自己逐步放慢自己的节奏和幅度，这更有益于体会在什么时候推进感更强更有效率，太快的节奏往往无法帮助你找到感觉（译者注：这点同样感同身受，放慢节奏，动作做到位，细细体会受力的感觉）
由髋部和大腿驱动并保持放松膝盖和脚踝很困难。但它的好处显而易见，你可以通过幅度不大的打腿在保持平衡的情况下还能获得有效稳定的推进力，而且不会消耗太多体能也不会产生大的阻力（译者注：已找到这种感觉，但游时间长之后不由自主就走形了，正在加强练习中）

Step 5: Keep the ankles floppy.
If you are a runner or cyclist, you face a significant challenge in building more awareness about how your legs and feet need to move for the freestyle kick, whether you're doing a full flutter kick or a six beat kick. The swimming kick is not intuitive at all!
The kick starts from pressing down with the hip and thigh bone and then whips through a relaxed knee and ankle with a momentary contraction of the quads.
Whew. Sounds tricky.
To simplify things, your biggest opportunity lies in keeping your ankles as loose and your feets as floppy as possible. When you swim with fins, everything feels easier. This is because the fins are rubber and bend for you. You are trying to get the same feeling with your bare feet.
Solution: Swim with fins and without and try to zero in on the floopy ankle feeling with both. Try kicking in all positions (side, back, front and vertically, if your pool is deep enough). A floppy ankle is more likely to finish each kick with the foot in a generally more pointed streamline position, than if your ankle is tense.
Trying different kicking rhythms, fast to slow and different amplitudes, will also really help you figure out what works best.
It is challenging to relax the ankle and knee to some extent while kicking with some intent from the upper leg and hip.  But the pay off is huge, as you'll be able to get propulsion, stability and leverage for your freestyle stroke without a huge amplitude, high drag, energy consuming kick.
第五步：保持脚腕灵活
如果你是一个跑步或者自行车爱好者，你面对的主要挑战是学会自由泳打腿，不管是放松的浅打水还是快速的六次腿。游泳打腿完全不能靠直觉。
打腿由髋部及大腿向下发力开始，然后通过股四头肌的短暂发力传导至放松的膝关节及踝关节,使整个腿部鞭状打水，类似天朝军人踢正步，只不过幅度小的多，但发力的过程是一样的。
呜，听起来很复杂。
简单地说，关键点是最大程度的保持踝关节和脚的灵活放松。当你戴上脚蹼之后，会感觉很轻松容易，这是因为脚蹼是橡胶材质，可以自然弯曲，我们的目标就是不戴脚蹼的时候找到相同的感觉。
解决方法：尝试体会戴上脚蹼和不戴脚蹼感觉上的区别，专注于体会脚裸放松时脚面受力的感觉。试着向各个方法打腿（侧/前/后/垂直，如果游泳够深的话）。如果你的脚踝灵活柔韧，每一次向下打腿趋近结束的时候你双脚的流线型曲线一定比脚踝紧张绷紧的人好的多。因为你向下打水的时候脚面会受得向上的阻力，这时候如果脚踝放松，脚面自然弯曲，就像踮着脚站起来一样，反之如果脚踝太僵硬的话打水的时候脚型跟锄头一样，无法有郊向后下方推水，不但推进力小浮力也不大（译者注：这点本人感同身受，因为本人喜欢跑步，刚开始打腿的时候几乎不咋前进，后来找到感觉一直坚持练习，有时候练习量大的时候感觉脚面推水感压力感特别强，有时候甚至因为脚踝被水扳的太多而不得不休息，不过这种感觉真好，鱼姿打脚哗哗的， 很多自由泳能游挺快的爱好者打腿前进都赶不上我了，哈哈，骄傲一个先）
尝试不同的打腿节奏，从快到慢，打腿幅度从大到小，强迫自己逐步放慢自己的节奏和幅度，这更有益于体会在什么时候推进感更强更有效率，太快的节奏往往无法帮助你找到感觉（译者注：这点同样感同身受，放慢节奏，动作做到位，细细体会受力的感觉）
由髋部和大腿驱动并保持放松膝盖和脚踝很困难。但它的好处显而易见，你可以通过幅度不大的打腿在保持平衡的情况下还能获得有效稳定的推进力，而且不会消耗太多体能也不会产生大的阻力（译者注：已找到这种感觉，但游时间长之后不由自主就走形了，正在加强练习中）

Step 5: Keep the ankles floppy.
If you are a runner or cyclist, you face a significant challenge in building more awareness about how your legs and feet need to move for the freestyle kick, whether you're doing a full flutter kick or a six beat kick. The swimming kick is not intuitive at all!
The kick starts from pressing down with the hip and thigh bone and then whips through a relaxed knee and ankle with a momentary contraction of the quads.
Whew. Sounds tricky.
To simplify things, your biggest opportunity lies in keeping your ankles as loose and your feets as floppy as possible. When you swim with fins, everything feels easier. This is because the fins are rubber and bend for you. You are trying to get the same feeling with your bare feet.
Solution: Swim with fins and without and try to zero in on the floopy ankle feeling with both. Try kicking in all positions (side, back, front and vertically, if your pool is deep enough). A floppy ankle is more likely to finish each kick with the foot in a generally more pointed streamline position, than if your ankle is tense.
Trying different kicking rhythms, fast to slow and different amplitudes, will also really help you figure out what works best.
It is challenging to relax the ankle and knee to some extent while kicking with some intent from the upper leg and hip.  But the pay off is huge, as you'll be able to get propulsion, stability and leverage for your freestyle stroke without a huge amplitude, high drag, energy consuming kick.
第五步：保持脚腕灵活
如果你是一个跑步或者自行车爱好者，你面对的主要挑战是学会自由泳打腿，不管是放松的浅打水还是快速的六次腿。游泳打腿完全不能靠直觉。
打腿由髋部及大腿向下发力开始，然后通过股四头肌的短暂发力传导至放松的膝关节及踝关节,使整个腿部鞭状打水，类似天朝军人踢正步，只不过幅度小的多，但发力的过程是一样的。
呜，听起来很复杂。
简单地说，关键点是最大程度的保持踝关节和脚的灵活放松。当你戴上脚蹼之后，会感觉很轻松容易，这是因为脚蹼是橡胶材质，可以自然弯曲，我们的目标就是不戴脚蹼的时候找到相同的感觉。
解决方法：尝试体会戴上脚蹼和不戴脚蹼感觉上的区别，专注于体会脚裸放松时脚面受力的感觉。试着向各个方法打腿（侧/前/后/垂直，如果游泳够深的话）。如果你的脚踝灵活柔韧，每一次向下打腿趋近结束的时候你双脚的流线型曲线一定比脚踝紧张绷紧的人好的多。因为你向下打水的时候脚面会受得向上的阻力，这时候如果脚踝放松，脚面自然弯曲，就像踮着脚站起来一样，反之如果脚踝太僵硬的话打水的时候脚型跟锄头一样，无法有郊向后下方推水，不但推进力小浮力也不大（译者注：这点本人感同身受，因为本人喜欢跑步，刚开始打腿的时候几乎不咋前进，后来找到感觉一直坚持练习，有时候练习量大的时候感觉脚面推水感压力感特别强，有时候甚至因为脚踝被水扳的太多而不得不休息，不过这种感觉真好，鱼姿打脚哗哗的， 很多自由泳能游挺快的爱好者打腿前进都赶不上我了，哈哈，骄傲一个先）
尝试不同的打腿节奏，从快到慢，打腿幅度从大到小，强迫自己逐步放慢自己的节奏和幅度，这更有益于体会在什么时候推进感更强更有效率，太快的节奏往往无法帮助你找到感觉（译者注：这点同样感同身受，放慢节奏，动作做到位，细细体会受力的感觉）
由髋部和大腿驱动并保持放松膝盖和脚踝很困难。但它的好处显而易见，你可以通过幅度不大的打腿在保持平衡的情况下还能获得有效稳定的推进力，而且不会消耗太多体能也不会产生大的阻力（译者注：已找到这种感觉，但游时间长之后不由自主就走形了，正在加强练习中）

Step 5: Keep the ankles floppy.
If you are a runner or cyclist, you face a significant challenge in building more awareness about how your legs and feet need to move for the freestyle kick, whether you're doing a full flutter kick or a six beat kick. The swimming kick is not intuitive at all!
The kick starts from pressing down with the hip and thigh bone and then whips through a relaxed knee and ankle with a momentary contraction of the quads.
Whew. Sounds tricky.
To simplify things, your biggest opportunity lies in keeping your ankles as loose and your feets as floppy as possible. When you swim with fins, everything feels easier. This is because the fins are rubber and bend for you. You are trying to get the same feeling with your bare feet.
Solution: Swim with fins and without and try to zero in on the floopy ankle feeling with both. Try kicking in all positions (side, back, front and vertically, if your pool is deep enough). A floppy ankle is more likely to finish each kick with the foot in a generally more pointed streamline position, than if your ankle is tense.
Trying different kicking rhythms, fast to slow and different amplitudes, will also really help you figure out what works best.
It is challenging to relax the ankle and knee to some extent while kicking with some intent from the upper leg and hip.  But the pay off is huge, as you'll be able to get propulsion, stability and leverage for your freestyle stroke without a huge amplitude, high drag, energy consuming kick.
第五步：保持脚腕灵活
如果你是一个跑步或者自行车爱好者，你面对的主要挑战是学会自由泳打腿，不管是放松的浅打水还是快速的六次腿。游泳打腿完全不能靠直觉。
打腿由髋部及大腿向下发力开始，然后通过股四头肌的短暂发力传导至放松的膝关节及踝关节,使整个腿部鞭状打水，类似天朝军人踢正步，只不过幅度小的多，但发力的过程是一样的。
呜，听起来很复杂。
简单地说，关键点是最大程度的保持踝关节和脚的灵活放松。当你戴上脚蹼之后，会感觉很轻松容易，这是因为脚蹼是橡胶材质，可以自然弯曲，我们的目标就是不戴脚蹼的时候找到相同的感觉。
解决方法：尝试体会戴上脚蹼和不戴脚蹼感觉上的区别，专注于体会脚裸放松时脚面受力的感觉。试着向各个方法打腿（侧/前/后/垂直，如果游泳够深的话）。如果你的脚踝灵活柔韧，每一次向下打腿趋近结束的时候你双脚的流线型曲线一定比脚踝紧张绷紧的人好的多。因为你向下打水的时候脚面会受得向上的阻力，这时候如果脚踝放松，脚面自然弯曲，就像踮着脚站起来一样，反之如果脚踝太僵硬的话打水的时候脚型跟锄头一样，无法有郊向后下方推水，不但推进力小浮力也不大（译者注：这点本人感同身受，因为本人喜欢跑步，刚开始打腿的时候几乎不咋前进，后来找到感觉一直坚持练习，有时候练习量大的时候感觉脚面推水感压力感特别强，有时候甚至因为脚踝被水扳的太多而不得不休息，不过这种感觉真好，鱼姿打脚哗哗的， 很多自由泳能游挺快的爱好者打腿前进都赶不上我了，哈哈，骄傲一个先）
尝试不同的打腿节奏，从快到慢，打腿幅度从大到小，强迫自己逐步放慢自己的节奏和幅度，这更有益于体会在什么时候推进感更强更有效率，太快的节奏往往无法帮助你找到感觉（译者注：这点同样感同身受，放慢节奏，动作做到位，细细体会受力的感觉）
由髋部和大腿驱动并保持放松膝盖和脚踝很困难。但它的好处显而易见，你可以通过幅度不大的打腿在保持平衡的情况下还能获得有效稳定的推进力，而且不会消耗太多体能也不会产生大的阻力（译者注：已找到这种感觉，但游时间长之后不由自主就走形了，正在加强练习中）

Step 5: Keep the ankles floppy.
If you are a runner or cyclist, you face a significant challenge in building more awareness about how your legs and feet need to move for the freestyle kick, whether you're doing a full flutter kick or a six beat kick. The swimming kick is not intuitive at all!
The kick starts from pressing down with the hip and thigh bone and then whips through a relaxed knee and ankle with a momentary contraction of the quads.
Whew. Sounds tricky.
To simplify things, your biggest opportunity lies in keeping your ankles as loose and your feets as floppy as possible. When you swim with fins, everything feels easier. This is because the fins are rubber and bend for you. You are trying to get the same feeling with your bare feet.
Solution: Swim with fins and without and try to zero in on the floopy ankle feeling with both. Try kicking in all positions (side, back, front and vertically, if your pool is deep enough). A floppy ankle is more likely to finish each kick with the foot in a generally more pointed streamline position, than if your ankle is tense.
Trying different kicking rhythms, fast to slow and different amplitudes, will also really help you figure out what works best.
It is challenging to relax the ankle and knee to some extent while kicking with some intent from the upper leg and hip.  But the pay off is huge, as you'll be able to get propulsion, stability and leverage for your freestyle stroke without a huge amplitude, high drag, energy consuming kick.
第五步：保持脚腕灵活
如果你是一个跑步或者自行车爱好者，你面对的主要挑战是学会自由泳打腿，不管是放松的浅打水还是快速的六次腿。游泳打腿完全不能靠直觉。
打腿由髋部及大腿向下发力开始，然后通过股四头肌的短暂发力传导至放松的膝关节及踝关节,使整个腿部鞭状打水，类似天朝军人踢正步，只不过幅度小的多，但发力的过程是一样的。
呜，听起来很复杂。
简单地说，关键点是最大程度的保持踝关节和脚的灵活放松。当你戴上脚蹼之后，会感觉很轻松容易，这是因为脚蹼是橡胶材质，可以自然弯曲，我们的目标就是不戴脚蹼的时候找到相同的感觉。
解决方法：尝试体会戴上脚蹼和不戴脚蹼感觉上的区别，专注于体会脚裸放松时脚面受力的感觉。试着向各个方法打腿（侧/前/后/垂直，如果游泳够深的话）。如果你的脚踝灵活柔韧，每一次向下打腿趋近结束的时候你双脚的流线型曲线一定比脚踝紧张绷紧的人好的多。因为你向下打水的时候脚面会受得向上的阻力，这时候如果脚踝放松，脚面自然弯曲，就像踮着脚站起来一样，反之如果脚踝太僵硬的话打水的时候脚型跟锄头一样，无法有郊向后下方推水，不但推进力小浮力也不大（译者注：这点本人感同身受，因为本人喜欢跑步，刚开始打腿的时候几乎不咋前进，后来找到感觉一直坚持练习，有时候练习量大的时候感觉脚面推水感压力感特别强，有时候甚至因为脚踝被水扳的太多而不得不休息，不过这种感觉真好，鱼姿打脚哗哗的， 很多自由泳能游挺快的爱好者打腿前进都赶不上我了，哈哈，骄傲一个先）
尝试不同的打腿节奏，从快到慢，打腿幅度从大到小，强迫自己逐步放慢自己的节奏和幅度，这更有益于体会在什么时候推进感更强更有效率，太快的节奏往往无法帮助你找到感觉（译者注：这点同样感同身受，放慢节奏，动作做到位，细细体会受力的感觉）
由髋部和大腿驱动并保持放松膝盖和脚踝很困难。但它的好处显而易见，你可以通过幅度不大的打腿在保持平衡的情况下还能获得有效稳定的推进力，而且不会消耗太多体能也不会产生大的阻力（译者注：已找到这种感觉，但游时间长之后不由自主就走形了，正在加强练习中）
Final Words
Overall, if you are swimming with a choppy stroke and not spending time on drills and slow swimming, you're going to find it different to develop body awareness of your posture and joint extension.
Swimming long and tall in the water can make a HUGE difference in your speed. Imagine swimming with fins all the time - that could be you without fins. Seriously.
Slow things down, experiment with range of motion and posture and you'll start to see results, sometimes right away.
Next time, we'll look at some photo examples and exercises you can do to improve your posture in the water.
结语
总的来说，如果你游泳的时候水花四溅却不肯花时间练习或放慢游泳的节奏，你很难培养身体在水中的感觉。游泳的时候保持高而长能显著提高你的速度，想象一下游得跟戴脚蹼一样快是什么感觉。放慢节奏，尝试不同的动作幅度和姿势，你会发现区别的，有时候甚至是立竿见影的效果。下次我们会看一些示例照片和练习动作来改进你在水中的姿态。

Step 5: Keep the ankles floppy.
If you are a runner or cyclist, you face a significant challenge in building more awareness about how your legs and feet need to move for the freestyle kick, whether you're doing a full flutter kick or a six beat kick. The swimming kick is not intuitive at all!
The kick starts from pressing down with the hip and thigh bone and then whips through a relaxed knee and ankle with a momentary contraction of the quads.
Whew. Sounds tricky.
To simplify things, your biggest opportunity lies in keeping your ankles as loose and your feets as floppy as possible. When you swim with fins, everything feels easier. This is because the fins are rubber and bend for you. You are trying to get the same feeling with your bare feet.
Solution: Swim with fins and without and try to zero in on the floopy ankle feeling with both. Try kicking in all positions (side, back, front and vertically, if your pool is deep enough). A floppy ankle is more likely to finish each kick with the foot in a generally more pointed streamline position, than if your ankle is tense.
Trying different kicking rhythms, fast to slow and different amplitudes, will also really help you figure out what works best.
It is challenging to relax the ankle and knee to some extent while kicking with some intent from the upper leg and hip.  But the pay off is huge, as you'll be able to get propulsion, stability and leverage for your freestyle stroke without a huge amplitude, high drag, energy consuming kick.
第五步：保持脚腕灵活
如果你是一个跑步或者自行车爱好者，你面对的主要挑战是学会自由泳打腿，不管是放松的浅打水还是快速的六次腿。游泳打腿完全不能靠直觉。
打腿由髋部及大腿向下发力开始，然后通过股四头肌的短暂发力传导至放松的膝关节及踝关节,使整个腿部鞭状打水，类似天朝军人踢正步，只不过幅度小的多，但发力的过程是一样的。
呜，听起来很复杂。
简单地说，关键点是最大程度的保持踝关节和脚的灵活放松。当你戴上脚蹼之后，会感觉很轻松容易，这是因为脚蹼是橡胶材质，可以自然弯曲，我们的目标就是不戴脚蹼的时候找到相同的感觉。
解决方法：尝试体会戴上脚蹼和不戴脚蹼感觉上的区别，专注于体会脚裸放松时脚面受力的感觉。试着向各个方法打腿（侧/前/后/垂直，如果游泳够深的话）。如果你的脚踝灵活柔韧，每一次向下打腿趋近结束的时候你双脚的流线型曲线一定比脚踝紧张绷紧的人好的多。因为你向下打水的时候脚面会受得向上的阻力，这时候如果脚踝放松，脚面自然弯曲，就像踮着脚站起来一样，反之如果脚踝太僵硬的话打水的时候脚型跟锄头一样，无法有郊向后下方推水，不但推进力小浮力也不大（译者注：这点本人感同身受，因为本人喜欢跑步，刚开始打腿的时候几乎不咋前进，后来找到感觉一直坚持练习，有时候练习量大的时候感觉脚面推水感压力感特别强，有时候甚至因为脚踝被水扳的太多而不得不休息，不过这种感觉真好，鱼姿打脚哗哗的， 很多自由泳能游挺快的爱好者打腿前进都赶不上我了，哈哈，骄傲一个先）
尝试不同的打腿节奏，从快到慢，打腿幅度从大到小，强迫自己逐步放慢自己的节奏和幅度，这更有益于体会在什么时候推进感更强更有效率，太快的节奏往往无法帮助你找到感觉（译者注：这点同样感同身受，放慢节奏，动作做到位，细细体会受力的感觉）
由髋部和大腿驱动并保持放松膝盖和脚踝很困难。但它的好处显而易见，你可以通过幅度不大的打腿在保持平衡的情况下还能获得有效稳定的推进力，而且不会消耗太多体能也不会产生大的阻力（译者注：已找到这种感觉，但游时间长之后不由自主就走形了，正在加强练习中）
Final Words
Overall, if you are swimming with a choppy stroke and not spending time on drills and slow swimming, you're going to find it different to develop body awareness of your posture and joint extension.
Swimming long and tall in the water can make a HUGE difference in your speed. Imagine swimming with fins all the time - that could be you without fins. Seriously.
Slow things down, experiment with range of motion and posture and you'll start to see results, sometimes right away.
Next time, we'll look at some photo examples and exercises you can do to improve your posture in the water.
结语
总的来说，如果你游泳的时候水花四溅却不肯花时间练习或放慢游泳的节奏，你很难培养身体在水中的感觉。游泳的时候保持高而长能显著提高你的速度，想象一下游得跟戴脚蹼一样快是什么感觉。放慢节奏，尝试不同的动作幅度和姿势，你会发现区别的，有时候甚至是立竿见影的效果。下次我们会看一些示例照片和练习动作来改进你在水中的姿态。