These 5 exercises will keep your legs from sinking in freestyle and help you swim faster and smoother!
- WALL FLY KICK.
You might not think this is good for your freestyle, but your legs sink because your hips are sinking. So you must learn how to activate your core muscles to lift your hips and legs. So try holding on to the wall and lifting your hips by doing a butterfly kick.
- WALL FREE KICK.
Now that you have activated your core muscles, do the same but this time freestyle kick. Make sure you lift your hips all the way to the surface. Pay attention to how you are doing this and how it feels on your core muscles because this is what it should feel like when you swim.
- SIX KICKS FOR ONE STROKE.
Often, our breathing is what makes our hips sink. So try this: Do one stroke and breathe. Then, keep your arms in front and kick about six times. Then, still holding your breath, do another stroke and six more kicks. Repeat that cycle for the whole length.Do the next two exercises only after you have mastered the first three drills.
- KICK AGAINST BOARD.
If you have fins, now is a good time to use them. Put the kickboard against to you and start kicking. This will make your kick stronger, and you’ll be able to lift your legs with only one kick while you are swimming freestyle. If you can do this last one for about 10 meters or more, you have dominated the problem of sinking legs.
- SWIM FREESTYLE BACKWARDS.
We are able to swim like this because we keep our hips up close to the surface with our core muscles. This is also an excellent coordination exercise.
Those are our 5 top drills to help you swim freestyle smoothly and easily. It’s all about the core muscles.
Check out our core muscles playlist that will help you strengthen those muscles.
By Raul & Mauricio Uranga Last updated Jan. 13, 2025
Thanks for reading!
Swim fast!
We’d love to know what to you thought of the post on our comments section below ↓