Concept2 Forum

Ok, so I'm not huge, but my 200lbs is big enough that I have a slightly larger belly that I would prefer and it definitely seems to hinder my breathing when crammed into my knees. I tend to migrate towards a wider knee position at the catch sometimes because it allows me to keep my breathing with deeper breaths like I would prefer. Otherwise, if I keep my knees together as I probably should, it really forces me into shorter breaths that I feel like are bound to be affecting me negatively, on fast efforts it feels close to hyperventilating even. I know keeping the knees out is probably wrong, but I generally only do this for hard efforts or going for PR's. Many times I'll alternate between knees straight and knees out when I feel I'm getting short on breath.

So I guess my question is, how bad is it to do this? Does anyone else use this method? I know once I drop another 20 lbs, I won't really need to, but in the meantime it doesn't really seem to detract from my pace that I can tell.

IMO, so long as you're getting your arms away and body over before raising your knees, having to widen your knees a bit probably isn't going to mess you up too much. Just be mindful of the rest of your form and technique. At the catch your leg pressure will be a bit skewed when you push off because it's coming at an angle to the foot plate and on your ankles. To compensate you might be opening up your back a bit early or bending your arms at the catch until you can straighten the legs as the knees come down. Outside of losing the gut, which will take time, probably not a whole lot else you can do. Good luck on the weight loss goal.

Adding, one thing to focus on is to breath in during recovery so that you're exhaling during the drive. A slower rating, longer recovery, will allow you to catch a bigger breath.

I have recently noticed that coming to far down the slide for the catch crunches up your body and affects your breathing efficiency.

The tops of you legs do not want to touch your body. Unfortunatley if your shorter your trying to maximise the stroke length but your better to rate up and take shorter strokes.

Reducing the stroke length improved the breathing flow and reduced the heartrate. Keeping the rating low however makes breathing alot easier. If your mixing crunching up and high ratings it could explain the breating difficulty and verging on the feeling of "hyperventilation".

Having lost 50lbs in the last 8 months the belly isn't as much of a factor for me anymore. For me it's the flexibility in my hips that makes me want to widen my legs though. I have found that keeping the knees in allows me to control the return (recovery) to the catch and provides a greater power when pushing off again. However this control seems to require more energy, or mental fortitude and less momentum. As a consequence I have difficulty (reluctance) to do this consistently.

The other peril I've encountered with using wider knees is that of chaffing on the arms. I've gotten some annoying little rashes on the insides of my arms by my elbows where they rub up against my outside legs. I've tried to change the path of my arms but it doesn't seem to work as well when I do so. I guess I could always shave but I think I'd get it even worse when the hairs started growing in again . That or vaseline but I've found that if I can get sweaty fast enough it provides the same effect.