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Set Up & Drive is a Freestyle Drill that is Athlete Approved. It will help you to improve your swim freestyle with more efficiency and speed. It will help prevent injury. Minor technique improvements in your swimming compound over time.
If you are a competitive swimmer, every millisecond counts. If you are a beginner swimmer, just learning how to swim freestyle, using correct technique will build muscles that will be less injury prone. Let’s take a look at the freestyle drill below.
Using Body Position, Timing, and Hips When Learning to Swim or Mastering Freestyle
Swimming freestyle correctly all starts with proper body position. Keeping your head down (eyes looking at the bottom of the pool) will promote higher hips. When many beginners learn how to swim, they look forward to see the wall. Competitive swimmers also develop this habit when they swim in crowded lanes or look up for the wall. Keep your head down! And “head down” does not mean chin-in-the-chest. Keeping your head down means looking at the bottom of the pool. We have lines there for a reason! Try using a using a Snorkel (we like Finis)!
Timing of the arms, hips, and legs will make you a more coordinated swimmer. Picture a person walking. They move their legs one step at a time and swing their arms. Now imagine that person swinging their right hand out when the right leg steps forward. And then the left hand out when the left leg moves forward. Like walking, timing is crucial in swimming. See this video for a great freestyle drill on Connection Exercise.
Lastly, it is important to master the power in the hips. Try swinging a golf club with no hip movement. It does not matter how strong you are, you won’t be able to hit the ball half as far as when you drive with hip movement. Water will allow you to move forward without hip rotation, you just will not be as efficient and this could lead to injury. Pay close attention to the power generated by the hips in the video.
Athlete Approved Tools to Help you Improve Your Freestyle
We recommend using a snorkel, paddles, and fins when learning.
*Equip yourself for success with our Athlete Approved Guide to Lap Swimming Equipment!*
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