freestyle technique – sportsgeek

Body Position Kick

This is a series of 3 drills to improve your body position and balance so watch them in order from top to bottom.

Body positioning is where it all begins for swimming. Even if you are a seasoned competitive swimmer, body positioning should be practiced – it will help you swim more smoothly, with less effort and you WILL swim more quickly.Body positioning is where it all begins for swimming. Even if you are a seasoned competitive swimmer, body positioning should be practiced – it will help you swim more smoothly, with less effort and you WILL swim more quickly. Kick gently in this drill, don’t kick hard or for speed, kick just enough to give yourself some forward momentum. Keep a nice straight line and don’t tuck your chin to your chest or you will start to somersault. If you find it awkward to lift your head to breathe – it is OK to stop. Just stop, stand up, take a breath or 2 and then carry on. When you have mastered this drill with hands by sides, switch to performing this drill with arms extended. When performing this drill an observer should be able to see: the swimmer’s eyes to the bottom of the pool, a straight spine, a dry back and high hips.

Side Body Balance

In addition to balancing while on your front, you also need to be able to balance on your side. This drill will further enhance the balance you have acquired doing the body position kick and will imprint rotation in your stroke. If you find your hips and feet starting to sink, shrug your shoulder that is out of the water. This helps to shift weight forward and lift your hips

6-Kick Switch

This is the 3rd drill in this body positioning series, performed by GoSwim. You’ve mastered the first 2 drills, now you need to add in body rotation and arms, maintaining your body position as you rotate from side to side.

Fingertip Drag – Freestyle

This is a very useful and commonly used drill in swimming. It promotes high elbow recovery, continues from wrist drag drill in practicing good balance and also promotes good body rotation. This is a lot to gain from a drill that is relatively simple to execute. This YouTube clip from the folk at GoSwim has really good commentary with some excellent footage from all angles.

Wrist Drag – Freestyle

This drill is a precursor to fingertip drag so work on this one before doing the more commonly used fingertip drag drill. This drill works on high elbows on recovery and good balance. Hold your wrists firm while dragging them; don’t let them go floppy.

Polo Drill – Freestyle

This is one of the best drills for freestyle when done properly. What is not mentioned in the commentary is that this drill is great for learning body rotation, good catch early in the stroke and also corrects over-reaching. Ensure you keep your head very still (no swinging from side to side) and you should be able to hold your chin above the waterline. Here is the link to the video:

Freestyle Catchup Drill Wide Arm

Finally I found a You Tube clip demonstrating this swimming drill done the way I like it to be done. Most people will perform this drill with the hand of the working arm touching the hand of the stationary arm before the switch occurs. This promotes over-reaching. The correct entry point for freestyle (and backstroke and butterfly) is 11 o’clock and 1 o’clock; or in line with your shoulders so this is the same line that you should use when performing the catchup drill.

To do this drill the working arm strokes and ‘catches up’ to the stationary arm, and then the stationary arm becomes the working arm. In other words you are swimming one arm at a time, alternating.

Why do this drill? By isolating each arm you can focus your attention on one arm at a time and make sure you perform really top notch technique on each and every pull. It is good for ensuring full extension at the front and good body roll.

Here is the link to the You Tube clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVceC6pUBzw

A big thanks to former New Zealand Olympic swimmer Dean Kent for taping this drill with wide arms rather than narrow arms like everyone else on You Tube. If you really want to focus even more on your technique (say you are learning a new aspect) you can perform a slight variation on this called the 6-kick catchup. Do this exactly the same but with 6 kicks in between each switch over (both arms are extended). This gives you a bit of time to gather your thoughts and really set yourself up for a great catch and pull through.