Freestyle Drills

Important Note to the Viewer

LESSONS: 146 VIDEOS

Freestyle - Active Gliding

Here are some more freestyle videos that focus on extension - https://gosw.im/30ai4KO Many swimmers, when they strive for the most efficient stroke, introduce huge pauses, or glides, in their stroke to make sure they're not spending too much energy swimming. Don't forget: If you're not propelling, you're slowing down. That's just the way water works.

Kick Set Flip Turns

Here’s a great way to discover new opportunities to work on your push-offs. Why do it: Walls. Walls. Walls. Great push offs set you on each length with more velocity, get you further down the pool, and are a necessity in competitive swimming. Think of all the kick sets you do that include poor push-offs. Here’s an opportunity to practice push-offs with overload. How to do it: 1 - Kick with your board like you normally do, but if you’re a “social kicker”, you’re going to have to leave your goggles on. 2 - When you approach the wall, you can initiate a freestyle stroke with one arm, then push the board into the water with the other arm. 3 - Follow the board down into the flip and push off the wall. 4 - Get both hands back on the board for a strong pushoff. How to do it really well (the fine points): You’re going to have to push off deeper than you typically do. The board will want to pop you up right away, so angling down a bit more will allow you to incorporate a couple more dolphin kicks. This will also require a stronger push than normal on kick sets, which is a positive. Set the spot or target for your breakout. Our swimmer is trying to get passed the flags on each turn with the board. Done with repetition, this overloaded pushoff during kick sets is a great way to continue working on an important skill when most of the time it’s a missed opportunity.

Freestyle - Floating Hand

This fun quick drill helps you to work on extension and challenges you to really direct your energy forward. Most fun drills come to you by accident, and this one is no exception. When swimming with paddles, you may sometimes feel this drill whether you want to or not. Why do it: This adds a new dimension of thought when swimming with paddles and makes you acutely aware of how your hand is extending forward. You may think you're reaching directly forward when, in fact, you're reaching up or down. This is a quick way of watching what you're doing without the use of underwater video. How to do it: Start by taking your favorite paddles and loosening the straps. Our swimmer has only one strap over his middle finger and that has been quickly loosed enough so that the paddle can easily move away from the hand just a bit. Swim freestyle, focusing on your forward extension. During this extension, feel the paddle start to separate from your hand. The goal is to have it fly directly parallel to your hand. Play with it, and feel the paddle floating just beneath your hand. How to do it really well (the fine points): This entire drill is really a fine point. To reach a level of mastery where the paddles don't rip away from your hand is quite a trick. You'll want to do this drill while swimming at a fairly relaxed pace. If you go too fast, you won't have time to really feel what's going on up front. When loosening the paddles, they should be just tight enough to stay connected with your hands during the recovery.

Freestyle - Eyes Up Catch

Sometimes it's a good idea to SEE what you're doing when you're trying to master a skill. Why do it: Swimmers have the ability to check their technique many times during a practice. It's not always just how something feels, but it can also be how something looks, or what you see. The simple act of watching your hands catch the water can be added at any time, in any practice. How to do it: 1) While swimming freestyle... look up at your hands. 2) See how they're moving into the catch. Are your elbows high? 3) Continue with the high head, not worrying about your hips as this drill isn't about that. 4) While you're watching, think of how the hands feel as the elbow stays high. How to do it really well (the fine points): Slowly get your head back into your regular position, focusing on keeping the hands doing the same thing as when you were watching them. Frequent checks are a good thing for developing swimmers, and those swimmers who can monitor their own technique become more in control of their destiny as competitive swimmers.

Freestyle - The Stick Lesson

We use this tool in our lessons with more advanced swimmers. This flows from the lessons in the Kristian Golomeev course in which he uses the stick on its own and then uses the stick with paddles. This video will provide insight on what we look for when teaching with this device, and how we take it to actual swimming.

Freestyle - Finding Resistance

When reaching forward in freestyle, the hand needs to fly straight, not up or down, but just straight. Why do it: When setting up the stroke in front, some young swimmers allow the hand to rise up to create an early connection. This is a natural desire that the swimmer should become aware of. How to do it: 1 - Start by asking the swimmer to discover resistance by focusing their attention on the extended arm. 2 - While just kicking on the side, move the hand UP and feel the pressure of the water pushing under the arm. 3 - Move the arm down and feel the water pushing on the top of the arm. 4 - Continue to experiment with raising and lowering the arm to feel the resistance of your extension, gradually finding the position where the water releases the arm, and it just flies forward. How to do it really well (the fine points): Most this to slow swimming, or alternate a length of discovery, with a length of swimming. To make sure the focus is on discovery, and eventually driving the hand forward, we tried to stabilize the swimmer with a snorkel and fins. This releases the pressure of trying to develop propulsion from the pull, and can help focus the athlete on what’s going on out front.

Freestyle - Intro to Speed

First, I’m a BIG believer in making the athlete responsible for their intervals and times. I feel we, as coaches, sometimes become such a crutch for the clock, that we miss coaching the swimmers. For this set, we use two PACE PAL underwater pace clocks. These clocks allow the swimmers to see when to go, but more importantly, they see their time coming into the finish, and don’t practice the bad habits of lifting their heads. With the athlete knowing they’re responsible for their intervals and times, we can get started. This specific swimmer has not done much of this, so we’re introducing her to the demands of swimming fast during practice. The set starts with 16 x 25 on :40 with all 25s swum as close to :14.0 as possible. The swimmer understands that if she missed the target time, she must stop, and reset. She was able to make all of her goal times. After the completion of that short set, she takes a short recovery swim. Next, we reduce the amount of rest by :05 and repeat the set with the same goal time. The swimmer was only able to make 6 of the 25s at goal pace prior to missing. She went on another short recovery swim. We repeated the set again, with the rest reduced another :05. Now at her goal time of :14.0 on the :30, she was able to make 7 of the 25s at goal pace. This showed the athlete is just learning how to sprint at this pace, and will do better next time. We immediately got her up on the blocks for a fast 100 free, which she completed within 2 seconds of her lifetime best time. As she continued to improve with her understanding, we revisited a few more 25s on the :40, but resetting the goal time to :13.0. Which she was able to do. Transitioning from a long smooth stroke, to one that can generate some speed isn’t an immediate process, but rather, a process that takes some time and understanding.

Freestyle - Continuous Stroke

Sometimes we focus so much on length and balance, we forget to teach swimmers how to turn up the rate. Why do it: Experimentation with rate and connection can help athletes learn how to sprint better. How to do it: 1 - Start with regular, long, smooth freestyle. 2 - Now begin to shorten the amount of time the hand spends in full extension. This DOESN’T mean to SHORTEN the extension, just shorten the TIME that you’re IN extension. 3 - Almost immediately, allow the hand to fall into the catch position. 4 - The trick to this is to allow this to happen WITHOUT too much connection. Pay attention to the FORCE you place on each stroke… don’t sprint… yet. How to do it really well (the fine points): Now take the stroke to speed. Set some goal times for 25s that are FASTER than your best 100 time. Force yourself to continue the arms moving, but now, with adding FORCE to each stroke. Repeat the 25s until you miss your goal time, reset, and try again. An extended explanation of this set is available to our PRO subscribers at this link.

Freestyle - Balance Progression

Because it’s so important, we’re going to revisit core stability in freestyle again. Why do it: Making sure your body is in near perfect alignment while swimming freestyle, means that the movements you make with your arms and legs have a better change of being productive for moving you forward. How to do it: 1 - This is a quick progression you can do during a freestyle set. Start with the pull buoy between the thighs like normal. 2 - Next, lower the pull buoy to between the knees, keeping the toes pointed and legs held tightly together. 3 - Move the pull buoy to between your feet. Maintain a stable body line through this part, and don’t allow the hips to fall. 4 - Swim with STRAIGHT LEGS, no kicking or as little as possible. Focus on the entire body, from the shoulders, torso, hips and legs, all rotating together. 5 - Start to add a small kick and swim. How to do it really well (the fine points) You’re really thinking about your stomach and hips through this exercise. When you’re drilling, and when you get to swimming, you should feel the hips engaged, or touching the surface on each rotation.

Freestyle - Side Glide Swim

Building a solid freestyle means you should focus on core stability and learning to send your energy forward. Why do it: Mastering core balance means that all your propulsive efforts will be more effective. How to do it: 1 - Start by taking a few strokes, and then pausing in the extended / rotated position to see how far you can glide. 2 - Do your best to stay close to the surface and try not to let the legs sink. 3 - When you feel confident if your line while paused, restart your swimming with a slow, stable stroke. 4 - Build to a high speed again, and then drive your hand and body forward to another pause... the keep repeating. How to do it really well (the fine points): Don't forget the kick. During the initial stage of this progression, it's good to try to stabilize without the use of the legs. Moving forward in the drill, as you get to the repeating phase, make sure you're driving everything forward, through the entire drill, with a steady and strong flutter kick.

Freestyle - Shoulder Breath

If it weren't for the breath... that darn need for air... just about anyone could learn to swim a beautiful freestyle. This drill, which asks you to connect the shoulder to the breath, can help you establish better rhythm and timing.

Freestyle - Kick Flips

Here's a very quick drill that works on many small aspects of your swimming. Why do it: This is a good intense drill that encourages quick flips. When looking further at the drill, to do it well will require many details be mastered. How to do it: 1 - Start by kicking flutter kick directly into the wall. The head can be up or down. 2 - When the coach directs, PUSH off the wall with your hands and glide back until your face is over the first marker (we used dive weights). 3 - When you get to the marker, start to aggressively swim back into the turn. 4 - Flip and sprint to the second marker. Flip and sprint back to the finish. 5 - Add a swimmer and have them race. How to do it really well (the fine points): Let's quickly look at the various aspects coaches and swimmers can work on: - The aggressive flutter kick. - A balanced body to move backward. - A solid immediate connection to move forward from a stop. - A quick flip turn. - Streamline push (we're going short rather than focusing on long underwaters). - Another quick flip. - The solid immediate connection to move forward from a stop. - A no breath extended finish. Have the swimmers focus on one piece, or just have them continue to go as fast as they can.