How to Achieve and Practice Good Swim Form

I'm  not an expert on freestyle, but I'm pretty sure the S shape is from and old paradigm that posited hand force was primarily generated by lift force, like a propeller instead of drag forces, like a paddle. Now we are back to viewing propulsion as mostly drag related. From this point of view the most important thing is probably early vertical forearm. You can Google drills to achieve that. What's the best thing to do would be to get a coach to at least look at your form and offer suggestions. Failing that you could post a video here and people could make suggestions. It's hard to know what you're doing right or wrong without seeing it. 

I agree with King Frog (Allen) on everything he said.  Definitely get somebody to shoot video.  Make sure they fill the frame by zooming in enough to see nothing more than your body.  Get a straight-on view and a side view, and if you can get some underwater videos, that's even better!  Upload the videos to YouTube, and then post the links here.  Allen is great about providing feedback, and hopefully some other swimmers will join in.  My freestyle is definitely not the best, but I can spot stroke flaws.

Another suggestion:  You can subscribe for free to GoSwim.TV and receive an instructional video each day via e-mail.  The videos (especially underwater views) are great, and I have learned a lot from them.  You could also check out a few on YouTube.

Good luck!

You say that you have a horrible freestyle form just because you are or aren’t making an “S” motion during your stroke??? Wether you are or aren’t doesn’t necessarily mean you aren’t swimming efficiently. I mean like mentioned above…making the “S” pattern was once considered ‘the way’ to do it, and now it’s not. Personally, I would just swim and be as efficient as possible. Think about the various aspects of your stroke as you’re swimming and, if need be, correct them. It doesn’t happen overnight. Eventually these things become second nature.

Dan

USMS has a ton of videos on the subject of freestyle pulling. Here is one of them: https://youtu.be/gO5PBl9BvFw. Check out the whole YouTube page here: https://www.youtube.com/c/USMastersSwimming 

As others have suggested, join a club, hire a private coach, or post a video of your swimming (under the water from the front and side) to get some feedback about your specific form. 

I decided to finally learn to swim properly as a retiree - IE be capable of doing laps without getting totally winded.  It was during the 2016 summer olympics.  I watched the Olympians carefully and tried to copy the freestyle look. That helped a lot.  Move from the hips. Reach long. Cheek to shoulder. Breath bilaterally.  Tilt head down looking somewhat backward when breathing.  Big inhales & full exhales.  Bend at elbow after entry.  (I've been told this distributes the force more evenly between your shoulder and elbow v. all the propulsion force going to the shoulder).  Don't cross arms toward centerline.  Think Fish, Dolphin, Arrow, Submarine shapewise.  Relax.  Focus on form over speed.  Mind the catch - your hand moving water after entry.  So much to think about.  I got a lot of value out of these two books: Total Immersion Revised & Updated (Terry Laughlin 2004), and Swim Speed Secrets (Sheila Taormina 2012).  Total Immersion has some good principles, but is a bit extreme on the glide emphasis over stroke.  SSS is a more scientific approach and is full of great pictures.  SSS is really big on the catch.  I think both glide and catch are important and both books have great insights.    One thing I learned is that there are no two bodies alike and therefore no two exact replicas of swimmers.  You can figure out what advice seems to apply best to your body and stamina level.   Recently I've been using "toys" like paddles flippers buoy snorkel etc...they break things up in the pool and after doing laps with these I feel more streamlined swimming without them.  Good luck!