While standing outside the water, put your hands on the outside of the lowest ribs. Fill your tummy and lower back with air. Keep your ribs “expanded” while you slowly exhale. Make sure to not let your ribs collapse the moment you begin exhaling. See how long they can remain expanded while you breath out.
Float Ball
Fill your tummy and lower back with air and curl into a ball. Head is tucked in, knees tucked into the chest and your arms are hugging your knees. Hold your breath and watch yourself float. When you begin to exhale you will naturally start to sink.
To become more aware of your breath control and how it plays a vital role in your body’s natural buoyancy, try to find a space between the bottom and the surface, blow out your air slowly until you find the point of equilibrium where you are no longer rising or sinking.
Float Laying Nose exhale
To practice breathing out of your nose, take a breath into your tummy and begin humming as you descend into the water, or put your face into the water and remain humming as your face breaks the surface (so no water enters the airways on the way up).
Downhill Float
THE PURPOSE OF THIS DRILL • Learning to shift weight to achieve a “downhill”
“downhill” floating position • Understanding the importance of a correct head position • Feeling effective core tension and stability
HOW TO DO THIS DRILL Step 1: Float face down in the water, with your arms at your sides, in a head leading position. Don’t attempt any forward motion. Step 2: Notice your body position. For most people, the legs will soon begin to sink, leaving the swimmer in an “uphill” floating position.
Step 3: To begin correcting this disadvantageous floating position, lower your chin, so you are looking at the bottom of the pool, not forward. For many people, this simple action will have a positive effect on their float, including raising their sinking legs a bit.
Step 4: Now focus on your spine. Make it as straight as possible by contracting your abdominal muscles and pulling your bellybutton in. Learning to achieve and maintain a straight spine through core tension is an important skill that can be applied to all strokes.
Step 5: While holding your core stable, lean forward on your chest. Doing so should allow your hips and legs to rise toward the surface of the water. This is the desirable “downhill” floating position upon which you can build a good freestyle.
Step 6: Stand, breathe and again lay horizontally in the water, face down, this time with your arms extended over your head, hands leading. Look at
the bottom of the pool, achieve a straight spine and stable core. Shift your weight forward and feel the “downhill” float.
DRILL FEEDBACK CHART
Problem
Modification My legs still sink.
For some people, either because of densely muscular legs, or low body fat, their legs will tend to sink no matter what. For these people it is all the more important to learn to hold their core in a “downhill” floating position.
I can’t balance on my chest. Try rotating your shoulders back, and rounding your chest out. Pretend you are standing at attention horizontally. Focus on your breastbone, moving it gently lower in the water.
I can’t breathe. This drill requires you to hold your breath. When you run out of
Grab a Wall
Grab a kick board from the end and lift your legs and lower body, stay there as long as possible.
Grab the end of kickboard
Grab a kick board from the end and lift your legs and lower body, stay there as long as possible.
Variations
no board arms front
Body Balance
Rotation Arms down – variations arms on the front
How will it help?
Establishes alignment of head, hips and heels.
Allows you to feel the buoyancy of your body in the water.
Teaches you to relax and let the water hold you up instead of fighting to stay afloat.
• Maintaining the horizontal axis while rolling • Accessing power from your core • Getting comfortable floating “downhill” in a non-flat position HOW TO DO THIS DRILL Step 1: Float face down in the water, arms at your sides, head leading, without attempting any forward motion. Achieve a “downhill” float and position your head so you are looking at the bottom of the pool. Step 2: Maintaining your core tension and head position, roll onto your right side by rotating your right hip and shoulder one quarter turn clockwise. Hold for 5 seconds. Step 3: Maintaining your core tension and head position, roll onto your back by rotating your right hip and shoulder one quarter turn clockwise. Hold for 5 seconds. Step 4: Maintaining your core tension and head position, roll onto your left side by rotating your right hip and shoulder one quarter turn clockwise. Hold for 5 seconds. Step 5: Maintaining your core tension and head position, roll back onto your front by rotating your right hip and shoulder one quarter turn clockwise. Hold for 5 seconds. Step 6: Stand, breathe, then repeat this drill rolling counter clockwise. Figure 2 Log Roll DRILL FEEDBACK CHART Problem Modification I can’t get a quarter turn. Try initiating the turn from the hip and letting your shoulder follow. My sinking legs get in the way. You can do this drill with a very light kick if necessary. I can’t breathe. You can catch a breath when you rotate to your back.
Tarzan
Swim with your head out of the surface of the water looking straight. This will make the hips to sink so you have to engage your core and do a strong kick to keep your hips up.
If you’re having trouble maintaining the tarzan position you can add fins.
How will it help?
Body awareness
Core control
Faster tempo (sprinters)
Clearer view (open water)
1 & 1
Put your left paddle and your right fin now swim normal freestyle, try to pull as much water as the hand with the paddle on, and try to have an effective kick with both legs. Engage the core to stabilize your stroke.
How will it help?
Improve your coordination.
Stabilize your core
Improve your pull and kick
Glide Rotate Glide
Useful equipment: snorkel, fins.
Some of us don’t rotate enough. This goes hand in hand with the gliding. You need a good rotation in order to glide and to grab more water with each stroke. So practice gliding and rotating your shoulders, then come back and rotate again before taking your next stroke.
How will it help?
Make your stroke more efficient.
Swim smoother long distances
Dip & Kick
Useful equipment: paddles, snorkel, fins.
One arm resting on the side of your body, with the other arm you will do one stroke once the arm is gliding in front of you will put it back to recovery position doing this 3 times the 3rd time you will do it fast and you will start kicking explosive. Then change arms.
How will it help?
Improve your explosiveness
Coordinate your stroke and kick
Correct hand entry
Low Pullbouy
– rotate a bit
How will it help?
– rotate a bit
Breakout
Break out drill there is really no margin of error in the sprint freestyle event carrying the momentum from the dive or the turn throughout the entire swims is critical for a good fast free a good transition from your underwater to your stroke will help you carry that beep practice kicking in a streamline and doing an explosive breakout leave one arm in front then pull strongly with the other and when the first one is about to finish falling engage the second one as well
How will it help?
Keep the speed from the dive
Fast transition
-Variations-
Dolphin Breakout
Finally the closer you are to the surface of the water when you do the breakout the better practice this kick and dive about a meter or yards deep slowly come up and try to break out very close to the surface adjust until the first stroke brings your head out of the water remember not to breathe and the first stroke
How will it help?
Keep the speed from the dive
Fast and better transition
Dolphin to flutter
streamline butterfly kick then change to flutter
How will it help?
optional
Use Snorkel
Steady Hand
Just do 1 stroke and stay
How will it help?
Improve your coordination.
Stabilize your core
Improve your pull and kick
Rotate on Streamline
Rotate on Streamline
How will it help?
-Variations-
Pullbouy or band
How will it help?
Butterfly kick on back
or hands down
How will it help?
optional
Use Snorkel front streamline
Socks
fly kick with socks
How will it help?
Improve your coordination.
Stabilize your core
Improve your kick
Finger Tips
When doing the stroke on the recovery of the arm keep your fingers pointing down touching the surface of the water with your fingers on every stroke. Keeping your finger somewhat rigid.
By doing this drill you will see where and how you are entering the water.
How will it help?
Have a relax recovery.
Keep a high elbow.
Catch-Up
Do one normal arm stroke, keep the other arm still in the front waiting for the arm doing the stroke to catch up. Once the arm doing the stoke reaches the arm in the front do a stroke with the opposite arm.
How will it help?
Help your distance per stroke
Improve hand entry so it doesn’t cross over.
Have a better glide
Underwater Freestyle Recovery
This will help you feel the frontal drag. It will help your body understand the importance of the pull and the recovery. Try to optimize your pull by grabbing all the water you can while reducing the frontal drag of your other arm by positioning your hand to be always pointing to the front. This drill makes it harder to recover since the recovery is underwater, but it will help you have a more relaxed recovery once you do normal freestyle.
How will it help?
Improve hand speed
Catch more water.
Body line position
Freestyle with Dolphin Kicks
Do normal freestyle strokes but instead of doing a flutter kick you will you dolphin kicks, try to do them with some synchronization. Start with a normal pace, and as you get better try to increase the speed.
How will it help?
Improve stroke rhythm and tempo.
Improve your coordination.
Freestyle with Breaststroke legs
Do a breaststroke kick every 2 strokes with your arms (left & right) then breath to the front while doing the breastroke kick.
How will it help?
Improve your coordination.
Freestyle Backwards
freestyle backwards
How will it help?
Improve your coordination.
Improve your flotation.
Zipper
touch your big finger yout body on recovery
How will it help?
Improve your coordination.
Arms streamline – on knee, standing, on block
Arms streamline on one knee,
Arms streamline standing
Arms streamline on block
How will it help?
Arms down – on knee, standing, on block
Arms down on one knee,
Arms down standing
Arms down on block
How will it help?
Body soldier in streamline
Jump in a streamline, feet first good tight streamline
How will it help?
Dolphins – shallow water
push from the floor and go in then repeat
How will it help?
Penguin jump
jump with the head first
How will it help?
Arms on streamline leg up
Kromowidjojo drill
How will it help?
run and jump *very cautious*
Kromowidjojo drill
How will it help?
Grab the block
Dive starting postion, do not grab the black with the hands, give the start command and grab the block asap
How will it help?
Escape the kickboard
While the swimmer is on the block, a partner stands directly behind with a kickboard. As soon as the start signal sounds, the partner swings the kickboard. The swimmer should be off the board before the kickboard catches how or her legs.
How will it help?
Circle worm or ula ula
make a circle in the water and jump to it
How will it help?
Jump past a noodle
put the noodle like a line where you have to jump farther
