Simple Science

Swimming isn’t rocket science, but using simple science and some common sense coaches and athletes can make great advances.  Body position in the water is the most important aspect of any stroke.  Body position manipulates your line of travel.  If your line of travel is not straight then you’re swimming farther than someone with a straight line of travel.  You can work on pull strength, kicking power and endurance all you want, but without proper body position your eventual peak performance has been limited.  I’ve had the opportunity to witness the training of a world-class sprinter who probably utilized over 60% of his training volume working on technical skills.

 Body position can be influenced mostly by head position and the ability to maintain that head position throughout the stroke.  Anytime the athlete changes the head position the body follows the heads same path, so each time the athlete breathes the head position changes, the body then follows so the athlete must make adaptations to the movement of the head to maintain the proper line of travel.  Here are a couple of drills to improve your freestyle line of travel:

 Head Lead Body Roll:

• Kick with your arms at your side, roll from side to side while kicking rolling each shoulder out of the water on each side
• Watch the black line at the bottom of the pool this helps keep your head down and helps keep you moving in the right direction, this also allows you to assess your line of travel
• Sample a few different head positions both while not breathing, as well as; while taking a breath.  Keeping your head as low as possible during breathing helps keep your head in line with your body (think one eye in, one eye out!)

Single Arm Freestyle:

• Start by doing the Head Lead Body Roll drill then allow one arm to swing over the top as that shoulder comes to the surface of the water
• Make sure you maintain your body position while pulling and breathing
• Breaths should be taken on the opposite side of the arm you are pulling with (so pull with left arm, breathe on the right side)

 Putting it all together:

Do a couple of easy 25’s of freestyle, try the Head Lead Kick drill then repeat a couple 25’s of freestyle.  Now try the Single Arm Freestyle drill then repeat a couple 25’s of full stroke freestyle.  Try repeating this process 3-4 times while assessing your body position!  If you have a friend available let them video your skills so you can review later or send them to “The Athlete Village” for technical analysis!