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Smooth swimming step by step
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on this video I’ll show you set of exercises that take around 20 to 30 minutes and will
help you start swimming like this.
By the end of the video you’ll know how to do at least one stroke that looks and feels
like these ones.
This video has 5 parts:
This 100 meters freestyle swimming demonstration.
5 key points of the theory of this freestyle swimming technique.
5 Common problems when trying to swim like this.
Exercises to help you swim smoother in 5 steps.
A Giveaway.
Theory Basics
There are many ways to swim freestyle or front crawl.
This way is efficient and moderately fast.
From now on we will call it arrow freestyle.
The key of the technique is that there are not a lot of extra movements, the only movements
there are, are optimized to help you move forward.
I did a total of 50 strokes in 100 meters.
It’s almost catch up swim.
(Catch up is a popular drill used by coaches to help swimmers glide and make their body
longer.)
The kick is a 2 beat kick.
Which means 1 kick per stroke.
This helps save up energy since the legs have big muscles that use a lot of energy and oxygen.
Advantages and disadvantages of the arrow freestyle technique:
This is by no means the fastest way to swim but when you perfect it, it can be pretty
fast.
Once you start swimming and practicing with this arrow freestyle technique you can build
up a lot of endurance and you’ll be able to swim long distances at a constant pace.
That is why this technique is often used by open water swimmers and long distance pool
swimmers in the middle part of their swim.
It may seem easy to swim like this but it does take effort, specially if you are not
used to it.
Pros It can be pretty fast .
Build up endurance.
Constant pace over long distances.
Cons: - Not the fastest
Not easy takes time and effort
5 Key points:
The legs need to be synchronized with the arms.
You kick down with your right leg at the same time that your right arm is pulling.
The body needs to be as horizontal as possible.
Your legs need to be very straight.
Your breathing needs to be quick.
Breathe faster than me for optimal results.
Your arm should always wait for the opposite arm to almost finish before it starts moving.
Specially when you are breathing.
Since your arms are producing most of the forward movement, they should be very efficient-
meaning: high elbow (vertical forearm as soon as possible),
using the rotation to pull with bigger muscles and having barbie hands.
Common problems
You should expect 5 things to be your main obstacles:
Legs kicking fast instead of 2 beat kick.
Splashing water, instead of smooth swimming.
Not enough glide.
Balancing problems (difficulty maintaining a horizontal position).
Kick and pull not synchronized.
Exercises to help you fix them
One stroke at a time.
If I told you to swim at this pace with this technique and you have never done it, you
would probably think that I am asking too much.
But if instead I asked you to spend 20 to 30 minutes trying to do just one stroke that
looked and felt like this, you’d probably be up for the challenge.
So let’s do that.
One arrow stroke.
Why only one stroke?
Many coaches try to correct technique while swimmers are at full speed swimming many laps.
This is probably the worst time to try and correct technique since you are tired, focused
on other things and probably in autopilot.
At least in the beginning of changing your technique or trying out a new one, we believe
that you need to slow things down and break things into manageable pieces.
Then build your technique while you put together those small pieces.
What does it take?
This arrow freestyle looks easy but you’ll actually need to master 5 things.
And you can improve 4 out of those 5 things in just 20 to 30 minutes with the exercises
I am about to show you.
1 - Balance
You need your body to be horizontal.
You need your legs not to sink.
This is a bit easier if you are moving, kind of like riding a bicycle.
Practice this: push off and stay still.
Keep gliding with that horizontal balance by pushing your chest down and having a tight
core and tight legs.
2- Mobility
This is unfortunately the one that you won’t be able to fix quickly.
In order to put your forearm like this you need to be able to move your shoulder like
this and like this.
Stop this video and try to put your arms like this.
If you can’t you’ll need to do these stretches daily for a few weeks.
3- Control
We naturally have a tendency to move our legs fast in order to move faster.
But for this technique you need to control that tendency.
You need very straight knees and pointing toes.
You only bend them when you kick down once every stroke, and you never stop the plantar
flexion.
This is relatively easy to correct.
To force yourself to stop kicking like crazy put on a pullbouy between your feet, or a
kickboard or wrap a stretch band around your ankles.
Anything that stops you from kicking.
And swim 4 x 25 like this.
4- Listenning
A good hand entry should sound like this… one kick per stroke sound likes this … If
you hear this instead … it means that you are doing something wrong.
Find out what it is and do 4 to 8 x 25 listening carefully to try and swim smoother.
Then listen to your sense of touch.
We have a lot of nerve ending in our skin, use them by feeling how the water moves around
you.
Around your hands and around your torso.
Feel the pressure agains the top of your feet when you kick down.
Notice that feeling of knife through butter when you have pointing toes.
Feel how the forearm uses leverage to move you foreword when it is perpendicular to your
body.
Do 2 x 25 focusing on one part of the body: hands, forearms, torso, feet - for a total
of 8 x 25.
5- Coordination
The final step is to coordinate the previous 4 steps.
One arrow freestyle stroke like this is all that we are going for right now, remember?
Push off as horizontal as possible and feel the water speeding up on your skin and then
slowing down as you start to lose speed.
Before you stop moving pull water with your forearm trying to have it as perpendicular
as possible and glide on the side of your torso.
At the same time that you are doing your powerful pull, your leg of the same side of your body
should be kicking down quickly.
What’s next?
If you can coordinate at least one stroke and one kick on arrow freestyle, while the
other side of your body doesn’t move, you’ve done the hard part.
The next time you practice you’ll try to go for two arrow strokes.
One on each side.
You may stop after each cycle.
Then you can start connecting them in a row.
After that your next challenge will be to learn when and how to breathe.
And if you want to swim 100 meters in 1:09 with this technique in a 25 meter pool, you’ll
also need to learn underwater kicks and flip turns.
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