Technique tips for freestyle swimming?

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  • violasrbest
    violasrbest Posts: 5 Member
    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
    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
    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
    @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
    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
    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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