Have you ever lifted your head a little totake a look at your freestyle hand entry, extension forwards and catch? It’s sosimple it’s amazing we don’t do it more often，You might never have tried this before butit can be very revealing about your stroke.
你在游泳的时候会稍微抬头看你的手入水，伸展，抓水的过程吗？这是如此简单，但奇怪的是我们并不经常这么做。你可能以前没有试过，但对改善你的划水很有帮助。
First, check that you are not crossing the centre line in front of your head, astroke fault known as a ‘crossover’. Aim for a nice straight hand entry andextension forwards without crossing the centre line。It’s bestto try this exercise whilst swimming with fins on to keep your body positionhigh in the water, bring your head up so your goggles are just underneath thesurface and you’ll get a great view of the action right in front of you.
首先，看你是不是越过中线了，尝试一个漂亮的直线入水并延展，不要越过中线。这项内容最好是在脚上带上脚蹼，保持较高的身体位置，抬高你的头部让泳镜刚好在水面下，这样能把前面看得更清楚。
You can also check that you’re entering the water fingertips first, not thumbfirst，A thumbfirst entry is very bad for your shoulders and harms your catch.
你还可以看你的入水是不是指尖先入水，而不是拇指先入水，拇指先入水的方式对你的肩膀和抓水非常不利。
Also check you are not dropping your wrist and elbow as you extend forwards, ifyou’ve worked on lengthening out your stroke this often happens and introducesa dead-spot to your stroke:
检查你手延伸的时候是不是肘部和手腕下沉，如果你一直在尝试过度延长你的划水距离，这种情况就会经常发生，成为你划水的一个很大瑕疵。
Finally look for what happens when youstart catching the water. Are you pressing downwards? Or using a much bettertechnique by pressing the water backwards with a bent elbow?
最后再看你开始抓水的时候，是往下压，还是用好的多的技术—用弯曲的肘部往后拉水。
This is just an exercise and will probably feel quite strange to look this farforwards but believe it or not there’s quite a few swimmers who need this headposition when they swim. The legendary Ian Thorpe looked straight forwards withhis goggles just beneath the surface.Ian had such a powerful kick he wouldliterally start kicking air without lifting his head to look straight forwards.
这也许是让你感到奇怪的练习，但是相信我，有相当多的职业选手在游泳时头部保持这个姿势。索普在游泳的时候就是保持他得泳镜刚刚在水面之下。那是因为他的打腿是如此有力，如果不保持这个姿势的话，他的腿就会踢到空气了。
You might not have an incredibly powerfulkick like Thorpie but if you are naturally buoyant in your lower body you toomay feel very unbalanced with a low head position. Try a mid-head position,looking at the bottom of the pool about 1½ meters in front of you.
你也许没有索普这种不可思议的打腿，但是如果你天生下肢浮力较大的话，较低的头部位置同样会让你不适。试一试中等的姿势，看你前方半米左右的距离。
Or if you have very sinky legs, which theArnie Swim Type tends to suffer from, then it may be necessary to look straightdown towards the bottom of the pool to bring your legs up.
如果你腿部会下沉的话，那么你就需要保持头部向下的方式，来抬高你的腿部。
When looking at swimmers in the pool,always remember that head position is very much ‘horses for courses’,experiment with yours to see what feels best for your stroke. If you canmaintain your body position then a higher head position is advantageous foryour swimming posture, coordination of your stroke and for open waternavigation.
看别人在水里游泳的时候，一定要记住头部的位置要因人而异，要适合你自己的游泳方式。如果你在保持身体高位的时候还能维持较高的头部位置，那对你来说就是一个优势，能让你的姿势，划水的配合，及公开水域的视野更好。
