The fundamental freestyle skills, located in one place for your reference.
Swimmers who perform the strokes with apparent ease do so because they do the fundamental skills well. Their strokes are clean, direct, fluid, continuous, and harmonious. There are no unnecessary movements, no unwanted pauses or interruptions, and the parts fit together nice and beautifully.
Below is a breakdown of the fundamental freestyle skills. Performing these skills well and at the right time in the stroke will ensure you are on your way to a seamless, smooth, well-executed stroke.
Fundamental Body Position and Stabilizing Skills:
Body Long and Taut
Head Steady and Level
One-Goggle Breathing (Breathe on the stretch - with your shoulder roll, not your neck)
High Elbow, Relaxed Recovery
Six Beat Metronome Kick
Fundamental Propulsive Skills:
High Elbow Catch and Pull
Wrist/Rotate/Press
Square the blade
Straight Forward, Straight Back
Notes on Connection and Balance
At the top of the stroke, the swimmer's aim is to grab a hold of a "mountain" of water. As they catch, they should engage the big muscles of their torso, namely the lats and pecs. The brain should be recruiting as much help as possible from these muscles to do the heavy lifting during the pull.
The core must be stable and the body balanced so that the arms can act as propulsive agents and NOT balancing agents. To ensure propulsion, the fingertips stay pointed toward the bottom during the pull, and not inwards toward the side. The palm faces the back wall, always pressing backwards, always propelling the body forwards.
The kick serves to stabilize the body, while also acting as a timing mechanism that keeps the stroke rhythmic and harmonious.
Notes on Feel
At the catch swimmers grab a hold of the water, creating great traction - they should feel a massive amount of water pressure against the hand and forearm, creating the resistance necessary to generate propulsion. Swimmers maintain this traction as they press and accelerate through the pull. The better sense of feel a swimmer is able to develop, the more resistance he will be able to generate during the propulsive phase of the stroke, and the faster he will swim. Feel can and should be developed by concentrating on the fundamentals during practice and aiming to listen to the signals your body is sending you.
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