Proper technique is critical to swimming efficiently. In order to swim faster, it's important to reduce your drag, and the secret to that is having good form! Try incorporating a few of our drills into your training sessions and see what a difference it makes to your times.
Sculling
Sculling is known as the Swiss-army knife of swimming drills. The variations are endless! This drill is ideal if you are having trouble sticking the hand entry or you want more power and more 'stick' wit your catch.
When you are doing sculling drills make sure your body is positioned as closely as to when you are normally swimming to maximize the effects. Sometimes this means using a pull-buoy or fins.
Catch-Up
This is definitely one of the classic freestyle drills. It helps to isolate arm movement, which helps with distance per stroke. This drill will also encourage you to use a fuller and more balanced flutter kick to ensure you keep moving forward.
Head-Up Freestyle
This is a great one for forcing you to kick harder so that you maintain a straight body line. It removes any over-glide at the front of your stroke because gliding will sink your face into the water. The removal of the glide also forces you to maintain a continuous rhythm with your stroke, which will, in turn, encourage a higher elbow recovery. You can also perform this till with fins for added leg work.
Paddle Swimming
Using the hand or finger paddles will increase the surface area of your hands. This creates resistance when you try to pull them through the water. Using the paddles during your sessions will promote a greater feeling for the water and help develop a more powerful pull phase. After taking off the paddles continue swimming so that your hands can feel the different resistance against the water.
