FREESTYLE TECHNIQUE

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Freestyle Technique Basics

Quick Note: One size does NOT fit all! And freestyle is probably one of the most diverse strokes. Some people “gallop”, rather than swim in perfect straight line, some breathe only to one side rather than bilaterally, some breathe every stroke, while others breathe every 3-5, some people use straighter arms (especially sprinters), some like to have their elbows at 90 degrees under water (meaning elbows at water line) for more efficiency for longer distances.

That said, the point is not to put every swimmer into the same mold, but rather help them customize their techniques to their own body and the distance/speed they are swimming at. With that said, here are some of the things to look for and think about:

• Head and Body Position– Should be neutral with eyes glued to the bottom. You should be flat in the water and looking straight down with your head in a neutral position (in the same place you would have it when you are standing up or walking). Lengthen the neck, pull the jaw back and make sure the head is in line with the spine. NO SWINGING OF HIPS TO SIDES AND TRASHING! Hint: a good way to measure correct head alignment is to use a snorkel and kick or swim- the tip of the snorkel should only be a few inches out of the water and pointing up, not behind or forward, all while moving straight forward without snaking side to side. With that said, “defensive swimming” with head/eyes sometimes tilting up to see where you are going is understandable in practice, but in competition/when you have the whole lane to yourself, the crown of the head should be under the water line as much as possible- with the bow wave flowing over it.

• Timing– Most beginner swimmers get thrown off this stroke by starting the catch too early (i.e. before the recovering arm is past the shoulder). It’s called a “front crawl” for a reason and this stroke is not symmetrical in arm motion, meaning the hands are not in 6 and 12 o’clock position when they rotate to propel you forward (although it might seem so when swimmers are moving fast), but rather in 12 and 3, with the front arm starting the catch when the recovering arm is for about at shoulder line. The catching arm should not start too early, as it causes a lot of “snaking” and non-streamline movement through the water. Smooth free-stylers don’t start pushing/catching with one hand, until the other one is ready to get into position for a great streamline and they’ve had enough time to rotate properly and take the breath. Get the timing down slowly first and then increase the speed.

• High Elbows– Both under water (so the catch gets initiated as early as possible and grip maintained with efficiency) and above water (for more efficient arm recovery). Arms can get (much more) straighter as you go faster /sprinting, but for most age group kids, it’s important first to be able to swim extended distances. Younger/weaker swimmers don’t have the muscle mass to support extremely straight arm pulling (they’ll try anyway and put themselves at risk for shoulder injuries while doing it, so teaching them to pull with high elbows first is paramount). Recovery is a different story- straight or bent elbows, really rotating the body is the key to good high/vertical recoveries so the rotational momentum is preserved and shoulders saved, yet speed not compromised.

• Early Vertical Forearm (EVF)– When arm enters the water, you first pull down with forearm/hand leaving elbow high and then once you are in that high elbow position you continue the stroke pushing straight backwards, not sideways, with the whole hand (palms always facing back) and forearm, for as long as possible! Essentially making a paddle and staking it onto the bottom. IMPORTANT NOTE on EVF- really bending your elbow very early on takes a lot of shoulder flexibility, so younger and weaker swimmers should aim to point the fingers down asap, but they don’t need to get their arm to bend to 90 degrees at the elbow near surface like Sun Yang does before the top of the arm starts moving. Dropping the elbow in the beginning of pull (it should always be higher than your hand front back and middle) and then leading with it should be a NO-NO #1!

• Holding Water and Dorsi-Flexing the Wrist– Wrist/hand flexes to vertical position in the beginning of pull (drop the fingers/palm towards the bottom as soon as pull starts) and dorsi-flexes/bends back-wards to stay vertical to waterline) as it ends the pull. And it remains always facing backwards through-out the whole pull. Like doing a muscle-up while getting out of the pool. Hold the water (keep the pressure that builds up in front of your palm) in your hand for the whole pull cycle and don’t lose it by not having your hand bent in any direction besides being vertical and facing backwards (not side ways, or up and down)… at the end simply lift the hand out- no need to flick water up like we were taught long, long time ago.

• Fingers– Not totally glued together, but with tiny gaps (about 3-5mm) in between and a bit relaxed while pulling. Just a bit more powerful, as it simulates bigger hands and contrary to common belief, water does not escape through the fingers, as it gets compressed while going through the small openings and can’t move as fast through your fingers. Essentially you are using water, that can’t escape fast enough, as your paddle.

• Body Rotation– No-one should stay flat in the water along the long body axis! Faster (not necessarily bigger!) body rotation enables your arm to pull harder as you are using the muscles in your whole body in connection with the arm, as opposed to just shoulders. All swimmers need to have body rotation, but how much and where depends how fast and how long you need to go. Sprinters tend to have more shoulder rotation and straighter arms, but also spend a lot more energy than a distance swimmer (with more bent arms) on the same distance. Distance swimmers rotate shoulders, but also add more aggressive hip rotation. Point being, you want to swim freestyle as narrow as you can (narrow-hulled speed boats are faster than flat barges), so aim to stay on your side as much as possible, not on your belly… If you want to go faster you have rotate and rotate aggressively, but only to the point where it’s beneficial. Watch out for over rotation both above and below- Hands should never cross the center line of the body below (or above, believe it or not, some do), elbows should stay in almost straight line with shoulders (when viewed from front) as the body moves side to side and pulls are happening!

• Pull Depth– Deep pulls are more powerful because more body rotation can be used, but waste more energy (need to apply more torque). Shallower pulls (elbow almost to the surface) equals more efficiency, but less power. Choose according to distance and individual strength. Usually drag trumps power, so most swimmers use a shallower pull with elbows close to the surface of water (upper arm almost at surface level) for longer distances and deeper pulls (almost straight arms while pulling) for sprints (50M races especially). Middle distance (100-400) swimmers stay somewhere in between those two extremes.

• Pull Shape– No one does big S-curves anymore as was the mantra decades ago. Ideal path of the pulling hand is a straight line at about shoulder line- the shortest distance between point A (entry) and point B (release). It’s also the path that enables the swimmer to hold onto this “pillow of pressure” that builds in front of the palm, the best, therefore being able to use more power and not spin the wheels as much (AKA making a solid anchor with a big rock in front of it, to push themselves past the hand, rather than moving the hand backwards). So strive for this. That said, almost everyone will have a tiny curve to their pull, but how much depends of how flexible your shoulders are i.e. if you don’t have flexible (and very well trained/strong) shoulders, you will/should be curving just a bit more to avoid injuries (caused by extending/flexing the shoulder joint inwards/backwards too much for your comfort). Even most Olympic swimmers have a slight S in their pull, but usually much, much less than beginners, the winners tend to pull pretty much with the hand moving in a straight line with only elbow moving to the side to some degree, depending on race distance and pull depth. The best way to avoid all this injury stuff is to really have great shoulder rotation (enough, but not too much), so that all your shoulders and elbows stay almost on a straight line the whole time. Hint: Really stay on your sides much more than you are on your belly.

• Kicking– Everyone should be kicking… all the time. Kick needs to be initiated from the hips, not just flapping feet, or bending knees too much/driving knees down. Relax the feet from the ankles, keep knees fairly straight and together and watch out for knees going down too much (ideal is 60 degree knee bend or so). That boat motor should be going, but small and steady, rather than big and sporadic. 6-beat kick is standard for shorter distances, sometimes distance swimmers use 2- and 4-beat kicks, or alternate between them during the race to save energy. Watch out for crossed feet (at ankles) during the kicks- it’s usually caused by rotating the body, but NOT rotating the legs along with it. Feet rotate side to side with the body, so a lot of/most kicking happens on the side, not up and down. Hence the importance of not kicking only with the board, but also practicing kicking on the sides. Ankle plantar flexibility is absolutely paramount for fast kicking- and it can be easily improved with constant stretching. Do it, it’s worth it!

• Relax the Wrist– No matter the style of freestyle you are using, learn to relax the wrist during the first part of recovery as it gives the rest of your hand a break and a chances to relax the muscles a bit. Then as the hand gets past the shoulder line, start firming it up again, but don’t over do it. Wrist should be more or less straight at entry, with palm down. It adds up, especially during distance swims. Note: Many small kids keep their hands really tight (usually with palms curled and fingers pointing up) as they try to place them in the water in front of them carefully and thus createing a more “princessy” glide, thus hindering speed/stroke rate… rather than just popping the hands in straight and with force.

• Breathing– It slows the stroke rate and lifting the head tilts the body to a worse position, but you have to breathe. Only one eye and mouth/nose out of the water to the side is a good start. If heads are high, rest of the body sinks, so as low-profile breaths as possible while side breathing only and breathing fast. Good hint for most kids is to rotate the head to side, as shoulders rotate, rather than using the neck to rotate the head to get the breath height down first (sort of like Robocop) and then start making breaths faster from there on by using the neck more, but still keeping the face low in the water. Ideally they would get used to breathing into the trough that the bow wave creates with small part of face and the whole mouth barely coming out of the water. It also needs to be a fast breath- too many swimmers’ strokes are messed up because they breathe out into the air, not into the water, which puts a stutter in the stroke, besides sinking your body while the head is high out of the neutral position.

• Arm Entering Water– Should be for about at the line with a shoulder or little narrower, with the hand driving forward on top of the water as long as possible and then coming down hard in a smooth arc to preserve the momentum, and not waiting to initiate catch for too long- depending on speed of course (distance swimmers glide longer and the end of entry just has to be underwater, but even they keep the hand out until the rotation to other side starts to happen). Point being- If we are going slower we can glide a bit longer, but the hand entry should be as far away from the head as the stroke rate allows. Fingertips should still enter water before the wrist, buuttt… too many kids/inexperienced swimmers take it as a cue to enter right in front of/close to the head, rather than making the hand travel in the air as long as possible and then coming down with a straight arm and at shoulder line! Or they enter the hand with the palm already facing backwards, which is only beneficial at extremely high stroke rates during 50 sprints. Or they let the wrist drop so palm faces forward + sometimes angled to side, which is the worst. All these mistakes are costlier than you’d think, so think more like skipping a stone and letting the tricep enter first while still driving the hand forward on top of the water, with the elbow maybe curved towards the ceiling just a bit to get a good high elbow catch going right away. And make sure the fingers get wrists are straight and palms are facing down (definitely not thumbs first nor fingers/thumbs spread). Watch out for the mistake of “in front of/close to head” entry- it is a very common and costly problem as it causes big in and out sweeps a lot! Besides, if you watch the fastest freestylers in the world today- they all try to hold their hand out above the water as long as possible while it’s moving forward and then pop it into the water with force i.e. almost like skipping a stone or gliding on the armpit as long as possible. All done to reduce drag as the hand moves/pushes forward over the water, rather than through the water for as long as possible. Just don’t do the underwater push forward from right by your face and keep your fingers and thumb together and the wrist straight at entry!

• Pop The Stroke- Following from previous. Accelerate the hand in the air as it’s coming down. When the hand finally enters the water, it should always be with a pop/force and with max speed. You need to take advantage of that hand moving faster through the air and coming down with the help of gravity. And then NOT having the fingers/thumb spread on entry to slow down all that extra speed you just gained from your hand pulling you forward. “The Pop” will give you that extra little boost when throwing that hand into the water with force, no matter what arm recovery height/style you are using or distance you are going, because of the gravity X mass X kinetic energy from your muscles driving your hand forward will make it something that pulls the rest of your body forward as well. Fastest swimmers/sprinters in the world have a splash of about 3 feet high every time their hand enters the water when going at sprint race speeds. Practice it even during easy swims/warm-ups/cool-downs. You should have a little splash whenever your hand enters the water, while not making a wave with your head as much as possible! And try to feel that pull the “pop” gives you at end of each entry.

• Finishing the Stroke/Acceleration- No need to fully lock the elbow and flick the hand/palm up at the end, simply lift the arm and start the recovery when the arm is almost straight, but the wrist can still be somewhat dorsi-flexed.

More Advanced: Shoulder-Driven VS Hip-Driven VS Hybrid-Driven Freestyle

All are meant for certain circumstances/distances/speeds.

Hip-driven freestyle is used for longer distances (400+), recovery and aerobic work- get as much pull out of your hands as you can by rotating the hips more aggressively, therefore allowing the hands to go further to the back and to the front. It saves energy, but is slower as it’s harder to have a fast stroke rate. Arms are more bent while recovering and move slower, but are more relaxed (especially during recovery). Think hands below the elbows on recovery (just dangling) and arms bent to almost water line on pulls with aggressive hip and shoulder rotation.

Shoulder-driven freestyle is used mostly by women, sprinters and 100-200 swimmers. All about the stroke rate. More of a propeller motion than gliding, it uses hips less and shoulders more for rotation of the body. Arms tend to be straighter both above and below the water and, importantly exit a bit earlier. Think hands almost straight on recovery as well as during the pull and shoulders moving at 90-130+ stroke rate while hips stay flatter so they don’t get on the way of rotation. All about generating speed (stroke rate) and power at the cost of efficiency. Most elite sprinters use this style.

Hybrid-driven (galloping) freestyle– is used for middle to long distances of 200 to 1500. Breathing to one side only and every stroke, so your breathing side arm drives farther and more powerfully forward like hip driven free, the other (non-breathing) arm is shorter and faster like in shoulder-driven free, creating an asymmetrical stroke. From above it looks more like “galloping”. What it mostly does is getting you over-the-wave-under-the-wave and enables the swimmer to get more air, while keeping some of the speed and power of shoulder driven free. Requires a strong kick to do well and for the head to go down under water fast and powerfully after each breath, so you get to avoid pushing through the bow wave up in front of you.

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