scissor kicking when breathing

Try to visualize yourself swimming in a tube... and do a lot of kick drills to reinforce the kick... worked for me! 

Had the same problem.  Swim coach had me practicing my kick with a pull buoy.  If your legs go to far out you lose the bouy.  Just did it for a few laps but I got the feel and don't have the issue any more.

I've seen this off and on with different levels of swimmers.  Sometimes it's a problem in the way they are breathing:

- they might pull their head up before they turn for a breath, and that kick helps them get there.. or,
- they aren't exhaling completely underwater.  That, in turn, causes them to turn their head and breathe out, THEN in.  They scissor kick to keep their head up longer.

Evaluate yourself on those things.  If you swim a lap or 2 with a pull buoy (no kick), you should notice right away if your breathing needs work.

scissors kick is frequently done to compensate for poor side to side balance. as others noted, lifting the head or spending a LONG time on the breath requires a stronger balance compensation. Usually you don't have to work primarily on the kick, rather the scissors will diminish when you work out the balance issues.

yesterday I posted a thread specifically on breathing. Try working in the "NOD" drill I discuss there adn see if this smooths things out.

Check this out... 

http://www.swimsmooth.com/kick.html  

I have the same problem. try the nod drill AdventureBear mentioned in that post.  I'm pretty sure it's helping me.  It now feels so much better.  Trying to get some video so I can verify.


I've got a lot of other problems with my swimming but it definitely feels like that drill is helping. 

You are over rotating to get a clearer shot at air. To get back rolling the other direction you are needing a scissor kick. Tighten it up a little and don't roll so much to breathe. subtle motions.

I had problems with scissor kicking when I first started swimming.  As others have said, it was a body balance problem for me that was caused by poor breathing technique.  I was turning my head to breath before using body roll to breath.  Once I figured out how to roll the body then turn the head to breath, my legs followed straight behind me.  One of the drills my coach had me do to learn this was swimming on my side with zoomers.  If I was breathing to the left, I would swim on my right side with my right arm extended out in front.  I would look down at the bottom of the pool then turn my head to breath while keeping my right ear on my right bicep.  Good luck.  Not a swim expert here, just sharing how my scissor kicking problem was remedied.