Matt Targett - Fast Free Head On

One of the first things you notice when Matt swims right at us is how his arms remain wide, outside his body through the entire pull.

His pull is very linear, or straight. He tries to remain in a full backward push through the entire pull.

Even with this aggressive pattern, Matt reaches full extension on EACH stroke. The extremely tight relationship between his face and shoulder keeps him as narrow as possible at these very high speeds. You can see how he keeps his elbow high, which puts his entire arm in a powerful position as early as possible, and maintains that position through the entire pull. Watch how his lats engage early in the pull to show how he uses the larger muscles on his sides and back to aid with the pull.

At the very end of the pull, you can also see how he turns his hand to exit pinky first, slicing out of the water for more speed into the recovery, and back to the front for another pull.

As is standard with all great freestylers, his head remains extremely steady for this much attack in his stroke.