Working on technique regularly will drastically improve your overall swimming efficiency, speed, and confidence in the water. This workout focuses on three freestyle drills and then applying them into the main set. It’s just less than a mile, but we believe in quality over quantity.

See Also: 10 Steps to Swim Smarter Freestyle

Workout Statistics:

Distance: 1,500 yards

1,500 yards Duration: 35 Minutes

35 Minutes Focus: Freestyle Technique

Warmup

Every workout needs to start with a proper warmup. This warmup is relatively short and builds into the pre set which details three different drills.

Drill Set: Freestyle Technique

In swimming, your success as an athlete hinges on how efficiently you can move through the water. It’s a medium that’s nearly 800x more dense than air, and requires an entirely different set of technical skills than any land-based sport. For this reason, any flaw in form is magnified exponentially in the water.

Honing your technique is the best way to reach your potential in any activity, but this is truer in swimming than any other sport. Working on improving technique regularly can drastically improve your overall swimming efficiency, speed, and confidence in the water.

3 Strokes + 12 Kicks

Driving your rotational momentum from the hips is a necessary part of swimming fast. Drill: 3 strokes + 12 kicks. Take 3 strokes then balance on your side for 12 kicks. Focus on keeping your balance and a proper body line. You should be completely on your side with your head down during the duration of the 12 kicks. Remember that rotational power comes from your hips and then your shoulders.You can try this drill with fins. It will help keep your balance and keep you moving fast enough to really feel the effect of the drill.

Fist Drill

Fist Drill: Ball up both your hands into a fist and swim as you normally would. By reducing the surface area of your hand, you’re forced to pull the water more efficiently with your entire arm. This really engages your forearms. As you extend forward imagine you’re reaching over a large log to pull yourself forward. Once you go back to normal swimming, the nerves in your hands should feel alive and swimming should feel effortless.

Zipper Drill

Having a high-elbow stroke simply means your elbow is always above your hand – whether it’s in the water or out of the water. Zip-Up Drill: At the end of every stroke, zip-up your hand across your body’s torso into your armpit before reaching out and placing your hand In the water. This will also help you engage your back muscles and help prevent shoulder injury down the road. No matter what your speed, keeping your elbows high is a must for efficient swimming.

Main Set

The Main set applies the drills through a series of 50s and one single 200. The goal on these 50s is to hold a perfect stroke. One method to maintain max distance per stroke is by counting the number of strokes you take per length. You should even split the number of strokes you take meaning take the same number of strokes on the first 25 as you do on the second 25.

Cool Down

It’s important to let your body recover and cool down after a physically fatiguing set like this one. 100-200 yards is the minimum recommended to flush out lactic acid that was built up during the main set. A cool down and post-swim recovery can easily take up to 30 minutes or more. Hot tub?

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