Technique tips for freestyle swimming?

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  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    For me it helps to consciously kick at my ankle, flexing my feet. It is easier to tell I am doing it right than "kicking from the hips". This helps avoid the knee bend and does cause your leg to move from the hip. The result is the same, but easier for me to control.
  • KettleTO
    KettleTO Posts: 144 Member
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    Lots of good suggestions here.

    If you don't have a swim background, you may want to check out Total Immersion Swimming (i.e., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC8ZZZhabp4 ). There seem to be a lot of videos on youtube. Your library may also have the dvds. The approach is popular with triathletes (especially with a running background) who pick up swimming seriously as adults. Good drills for body positioning and legs that drag.
  • hanlonsk
    hanlonsk Posts: 762 Member
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    Not that I was ever good at following instructions when I swam competatively. But these two bits still ring out from all of the coaches tips as bing easy to visualize.

    Kicks: when on your back, the flutter kick should seem like you are trying to bounce a ball along with you as you kick.- for freestyle same concept but flipped over- but better visual cue the other way

    Stroke: coming up out of the water, should seem like you are pulling your hands out of the back pocket of your pants as you go to start your next stroke. Then cup your hands just enough to PUSH thru the water...
  • Theo166
    Theo166 Posts: 2,564 Member
    edited May 2017
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    lporter229 wrote: »
    Today was my 8th session swimming and I swam 850m in 30 minutes, so I am making progress, even though it's slow. The advice of staying relaxed has really helped a lot. The biggest issue I am having right now is trying to get my kicks right. I feel like I am doing a combination of freestyle stroke with breaststroke kicking, if that makes sense. I feel like I can go through the water pretty well this way, but as soon as I try to focus on kicking my feet correctly, I revert back to my flailing around and going nowhere technique. Does anyone have any advice for syncing my kicking with my arm strokes? Would practicing with a kick board help? Or am I best to keep focusing on my arm strokes and not worry about my legs yet?

    Thanks in advance for the help!

    practicing your flutter kick with a kick board is a good way to break up the monotony of the laps, and give your legs a good workout. Try swim 8, kick 2, repeat.

    Side stroke kicks are common with a leisurely front crawl, but not breast stroke kicks. Keep working on your arm technique and your legs will likely fall in line.

    Beyond that, don't worry too much about your legs unless they are providing negative motion because of bad form (I've seen it before). Virtually all your power and speed comes from your upper body arm motion. While sprinters kick up a storm, distance swimmers use their legs more as a balance to their body roll and not for propulsion.
  • juliet3455
    juliet3455 Posts: 3,015 Member
    edited May 2017
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    @lporter229 Missing you in the Running Group. Come over and join us in the Did You Swim Today

    If your local pool does not have Adult Lessons you can try to improve technique by adding drills into your swim workout.
    Drills are designed to Break The Stroke Down Into Manageable Chunks, Isolate particular elements of a stroke.
    Do Drills Slowly and Deliberately, Take your time.
    Use Fins, Pull Buoy, Kick Boards, Hand Paddles, Forearm Fulcrums etc. Don't be afraid to ask the LifeGuards where they are stored and for tips. You may want to buy your own Fins/Hand Paddles to get ones sized for you. I prefer Stubby ( short ) fins as the ones the pool's normally have are usually more like snorkelling fins and I find them to be a little long/oversized/undersized and I get Toe Cramps from them.

    My Adult Swim Club normally would do a 100m Warm-up swim and a 50m kick set.
    Then we would start Drill Sets of 50-100yds per drill. Here are a few Video links to some common stroke improvement drills.
    Drill #1: Front to Back Body Balance
    Drill #2: Side Body Balance
    Drill #3: Six beat Switch
    Drill #4: Catch Up Drill
    Drill #5: Finger Tip Drag
    Zipper & Finger Tip Drag
    Once you are comfortable doing the Finger Tip Drag and Zipper you can start to incorporate both of them into one stroke. Once you are comfortable with this combination you can add the Fist Drill into it at the end of the stroke incorporating 3 drills into one. This really improves the position/alignment of your Forearm in the water ensuring you are getting the maximum pull from your arm.

    5 Catch Drills

    This one is a pretty good video, it has a lot of stroke tips integrated into 1 video and demonstrates some of the swim aids. The audio quality suffers from the Echo in the room.
    The Freestyle Catch: The Key to Swimming a Faster Freestyle
    Breathing Technique

    Swim Smooth Site
  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
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    Thanks @juliet3455. I miss the running group too! I have been popping in from time to time, but I have to admit that it's kind of hard to see all of the amazing runs when you are sidelined. Still trying to check in when I can though.

    Thanks for all of the great info on the drills. I will definitely be checking them out. Because I swim at my health club, there are no lifeguards and limited equipment. My neighbors have kick boards for the kids at their pool, so I am going to see if they will let me borrow one.

    Also, I really appreciate all of the advice that has been given on this thread. It has been extremely helpful!
  • violasrbest
    violasrbest Posts: 5 Member
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    Thank you so much for this information, it is extremely useful. I partly want to bump this thread up to make it easier for me to find, but also I have a question for you experienced swimmers. I need to keep my heart rate below 120ish (70% Maximum Heart Rate) for medical reasons. Will gentle freestyle swimming achieve this?
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    lporter229 wrote: »
    The biggest issue I am having right now is trying to get my kicks right. I feel like I am doing a combination of freestyle stroke with breaststroke kicking, if that makes sense.

    Try incorporating some kick sets into your workouts. I do the same thing when I'm tired and my form starts to break down.

  • loneda
    loneda Posts: 103 Member
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    The number 1 issue I see with swimmers that can be improved is kicking from the knee, not the hip. You want your knees to be loosely bent, not locked, but the kick needs to come from hip and your legs should be straight (but your knees should not be locked.)
  • maddymama
    maddymama Posts: 1,183 Member
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    violasrbest wrote: »
    Thank you so much for this information, it is extremely useful. I partly want to bump this thread up to make it easier for me to find, but also I have a question for you experienced swimmers. I need to keep my heart rate below 120ish (70% Maximum Heart Rate) for medical reasons. Will gentle freestyle swimming achieve this?

    You should be able to keep your heartrate within a range if you are aware of it. I would stop every length or two and check your heartrate (there should be some kind of a pace clock on a wall to allow you to count your beats for 15 seconds) while you swim. Once you get the feel of your pace and heartrate, you might be able to swim for a few more lenghts at a time between checks. Some of this will depend upon your general fitness level and how comfortable you are in the water, and how well your body adapts to swimming. That will vary person to person, day to day.

  • violasrbest
    violasrbest Posts: 5 Member
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    Thanks Maddy. I am quite unfit at the moment but used to be a fairly strong swimmer, so I'm reasonably comfortable in the water.
  • cs2thecox
    cs2thecox Posts: 533 Member
    edited July 2017
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    I went through a phase of swimming, including open water races a few years ago, and found a structured training plan really helped me to improve, including improvements to my technique through drills like high elbows and catch-ups.
    I used the swim4fitness plan which is free from the Zoggs website. (Disclaimer: Not advertising. Nothing to gain. It's just a free thing that I had a good experience with!)

    I have leg issues, so my kick is always going to be pathetic, but my open water time came down to about 30mins for a mile, which I was pretty pleased with. I was faster in the pool, since you have the walls to push off!

    My gym pool didn't allow fins or paddles, but had kick boards and pull buoys available. I also bought my own combined one for when I travelled.
  • juliet3455
    juliet3455 Posts: 3,015 Member
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    cs2thecox wrote: »
    and found a structured training plan really helped me to improve, including improvements to my technique through drills like high elbows and catch-ups.
    I used the swim4fitness plan which is free from the Zoggs website. (Disclaimer: Not advertising. Nothing to gain. It's just a free thing that I had a good experience with!)

    My gym pool didn't allow fins or paddles, but had kick boards and pull buoys available. I also bought my own combined one for when I travelled.

    Structured Training Plans are great. I join our Adult Swim Club every fall to get the benefit of the trained swim coach's. I am Surprised they don't allow fins or paddles. Due to size limitations and damaged common pool equipment I purchased all my own gear, fins, paddles, kickboard and pull buoy.
  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
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    @cs2thecox -Thanks for the suggestion on the training plan. I will definitely check it out. I seem to have stalled at 850-900m per 30 minutes and I am sure it is all due to technique. I know I need to start doing more drills, so thanks!
  • Alidecker
    Alidecker Posts: 1,262 Member
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    Great advice in this thread, I swim about 1500 yards in 30 minutes, but only go once a week. Would like to get a little faster. I could swim longer, just have a morning time constraint. I have an open water swim in August, so trying to get in the pool more often.
  • h3hound
    h3hound Posts: 1 Member
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    swimming with fins has helped me a great deal. they help strengthen kick muscles around the hip. legs feel much lighter with fins off after a few drills. a good kick keeps my hips up fro a more streamlined position. another thing for me was slow stroke tempo and over gliding. i drill with bi lateral breathing to force me to get around for air every third stroke O_o.

    but really - bottom line is focus on fundamentals with drills and keep at it.

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