I'm an ex-runner, turned swimmer. I swim approximately 5 days a week, 3600 yards each day, of drills, free, fly, *** and back. Freestyle still eludes me, in that I feel like a fish out of water :D - no balance, uneven pulls, dropped elbows, etc, no sick. I've had so many lessons, done all the drills, watched tons of videos, yet free is in my head -- I just don't swim it well. Other strokes are great. Question is this -- whenever I've gone to masters swim sessions, all they seem to focus on is freestyle. What about those swimmers who excel in other strokes? Is freestyle the onl stroke that is considered "real" swimming? Will I ever be a real swimmer with free being my worst stroke?
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Former Member
You can do all four strokes and you swim 5 days a week. You're a "real" swimmer in my book. :applaud: Now that you've gotten that worry out of your head, let's get your freestyle mental block out of there too. :agree: Can you have someone video you swimming freestyle and post it here? People on the forums are really great about offering advice and feedback.
I have a video from a year ago, and am embarrassed to even post it, it's so awful. I have improved since that video - I keep my head level with my spine (looking almost down at the bottom line), and I think my rotation is a little better. I've been doing a lot of single arm drills to work on the lazy pull and dropped elbow, but still my stroke is really not balanced at all and very slow (:30 @ 25 yd.) I will see if I can post it - not sure how to do that.:D
You can do all four strokes and you swim 5 days a week. You're a "real" swimmer in my book. :applaud: Now that you've gotten that worry out of your head, let's get your freestyle mental block out of there too. :agree: Can you have someone video you swimming freestyle and post it here? People on the forums are really great about offering advice and feedback.
I have a video from a year ago, and am embarrassed to even post it, it's so awful. I have improved since that video - I keep my head level with my spine (looking almost down at the bottom line), and I think my rotation is a little better. I've been doing a lot of single arm drills to work on the lazy pull and dropped elbow, but still my stroke is really not balanced at all and very slow (:30 @ 25 yd.) I will see if I can post it - not sure how to do that.:D
