Sprint Drills/Exercises to Improve your Speed!

If you want to swim a faster freestyle, here are several exercises designed to help you improve your velocity in short freestyle events.

1. Fist Sprints

The first drill is fist sprints. You perform this just like a fast freestyle sprint, but you swim with a closed fist. You will feel like you are not pulling any water, and that is exactly the point.

By closing your hands, you are forced to focus on grabbing water with your forearms and the upper parts of your arms. This improves your catch while swimming at high speeds and helps you realize how vital the rest of your arm is for an effective pull.

2. Fast Kick Competition

A powerful, fast kick is essential for sprinting. To improve your leg speed, try this competitive drill: Race a teammate from the flags to the wall.

The rules are simple:

You can only use your legs to move forward.
You cannot push off the floor.
You must use a flutter kick.

Have a third person give the start signal. You will find that it is incredibly difficult to get moving from a dead stop, and you will have to move your legs extremely fast to reach the wall first!

3. Out Kick

Another way to increase your kicking tempo is the “Out Kick.” For this drill, get your feet slightly out of the water and kick as fast as possible.

Don’t worry about traction or bending your knees too much—the sole focus here is pure leg speed.

4. Breakout Drill

In sprint freestyle events, there is really no margin for error. Carrying the momentum from your dive or turn throughout the entire swim is critical for a fast time. A smooth transition from your underwater work to your surface stroke helps maintain that speed.

Practice kicking in a streamline and then performing an explosive breakout:

Keep one arm extended in front.
Pull strongly with the other arm.
Just as the first arm finishes its pull, engage the second arm to start the cycle.

5. Dolphin Breakout

The closer you are to the surface when you begin your breakout, the better. To practice this, dive about a meter (or yard) deep and begin kicking.

Slowly angle toward the surface and try to break out as close to the top as possible. Adjust your timing so that your very first stroke brings your head out of the water. Most importantly: remember not to breathe on that first stroke!