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How To Swim Freestyle With Perfect Technique

Freestyle is the most popular swimming stroke in the world, and is an essential skill for swimmers of all levels. Every single swimmer, from beginner to elite, has at least one element of their freestyle stroke that can be refined and improved.


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From body position to the catch and the kick, here’s how to swim perfect freestyle.

1. Body Position

Streamline

Streamline is the fundamental body position in swimming. In streamline, you make your body as narrow as possible to help reduce drag as you dive in or push off the wall. When in streamline, squeeze your biceps to your ears and keep your legs tight together. Any extra space creates resistance that can slow you down! Think like a torpedo.

Related: Learn to Float in Less Than 10 Minutes!

Head Position

Head position plays a major role in your overall body position. When you swim freestyle, try to look down and focus your eyes on the bottom of the pool. Your neck and head should be in a neutral position, straight above your shoulders. You should not lift your head or look up in front of you.

Hip Position

Your head position has a direct effect on your hip position. If your head is neutral with the eyes focused down, your hips will naturally lift up, making it much easier to kick. Try to press your upper body lower in the water, which will make your hips higher. Add short and strong flutter kicks, and your legs will be right on the surface of the water.

Related: 10 Steps to Smarter Freestyle

2. The Catch

The “catch” refers to your arms pulling water as your body moves forward.

Fingertips

Your hands should be relaxed with a few millimeters of space between each finger. This actually helps you swim faster and increases the power of your pull compared to swimming with your hands cupped tightly together!

Related: How to Improve Your Catch with Open Finger Swim Training

Your fingertips should enter the water about 12-18 inches in front of your shoulder at a 45 degree angle to the water. Try not to cross your arms along the center of your body — it’s inefficient and might cause you zig-zag around your lane.

Your middle finger should enter the water first, followed by a long reaching extension through your shoulder and arm. Once your shoulder is fully extended, your chest will open up to the side, and you will keep looking down. This is the beginning of your catch, where you will start to pull water with your full arm.

Related: Sculling Drills to Improve Your Feel of the Water

Early Vertical Forearm (EVF)

Related: How To Do Perfect Early Vertical Forearm (EVF)

After your arm is fully extended, bend at the elbow and angle your fingertips toward the bottom of the pool. This sets you up for a strong pull phase, turning your entire hand and forearm into one large paddle. It’s also much easier on your shoulders than pulling with a straight arm.

Pull Phase

After initiating EVF, you will begin your pull. Pull straight back toward your feet, keeping your hand relaxed with the fingertips slightly apart. Try to keep your elbow above your hand for most of the pull, eventually extending your arm straight when your hand reaches your hips.

Related: Analyzing Katie Ledecky’s Freestyle Technique

3. Rotation

Hips & Shoulders

Related: Beginner Freestyle Training Plan 

Every time you take a stroke, keep your head in place and use your hips to rotate to the right and left. Try to focus on rotating your body with your core, instead of leading with shoulder twists. The hips will initiate the movement, and your shoulders will follow. Connecting these two parts of your body will keep your body in a perfect, streamlined position along the surface of the water.

4. Breathing

Head Position & Rotation

The most important part of breathing in freestyle is to keep a neutral head position. You do not want to move your head forward or up, as this will ruin your body position and waste energy.

When breathing, take a stroke with one arm, and as you reach forward, you’ll notice your upper body rotating to the side. Your head and neck should follow the same momentum, and begin to rotate as your chest opens up.

Related: The 5 Most Common Freestyle Mistakes

Keep one eye underwater and open your mouth to breathe. The water line should be in the middle of your face. It might feel like you’re going to swallow water, but your forward momentum creates a small air pocket that’s just large enough for you to take a quick breath!

Make sure to focus on your opposite arm as well — it should still be extended straight in front of you. This extension will keep your body more streamlined, and will allow you to continue moving forward. If you pull your arm down while you breathe, you will stop moving forward.

5. Kicking

Keep it Simple

Many beginners kick too much and too big. This is an easy way to ruin your body position and slow yourself down. We recommend keeping it simple, and de-emphasizing your kick. For beginners, your body positioning, breathing, and arms will be much more important, and the kick should be an afterthought that helps you rotate and keep your hips up.

Short & Fast Kicks from the Hips

Try to keep your legs almost straight, with a slight bend in the knees. The power and strength in your kick will comes from your hips. As you move through the water, your legs should kick in a short and quick motion. Bigger kicks that are larger than 12 inches in height will take up too much energy, and will break you out of your streamline position.

6. Silent Swimming

Hearing, Touching, Smelling, Tasting and Seeing

Silent Swimming allows you to focus on all of your senses as you move through the water. The goal is to make as little noise as possible while you swim, which will help refine your stroke and pinpoint where you might not be as efficient in the water.

And most of all, being aware of your experience in the water will make swimming much more enjoyable! This is a wonderful opportunity to connect with your body, mind and spirit and simply relax in the pool. We always recommend a couple laps of silent swimming to end every workout!

How to Practice Your Freestyle Stroke

There are hundreds of swim workouts and drills that you can try in the water to practice your freestyle. Check out our YouTube channel or download the MySwimPro app for more tips and workout ideas!

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