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?
Sounds like you are obsessing over it unnecessarily. Drills are good to refine the stroke but only after you are comfortable doing it. Relax when you swim Free (or front crawl) and enjoy the experience. The other three strokes all have much more technical demands to them. If you are satisfied with them, perhaps it is only that you are expecting something that you should not at this time.
Freestyle doesn't really have a balance feel to many because they only breathe on one side. That is OK, but if you really need to feel balanced, try working on that for a while. It forces you to do everything the same on both sides.
Don't worry about speed at all. If you want to race, speed will come. If you want to learn, speed is not necessary.
Sounds like you are obsessing over it unnecessarily. Drills are good to refine the stroke but only after you are comfortable doing it. Relax when you swim Free (or front crawl) and enjoy the experience. The other three strokes all have much more technical demands to them. If you are satisfied with them, perhaps it is only that you are expecting something that you should not at this time.
Freestyle doesn't really have a balance feel to many because they only breathe on one side. That is OK, but if you really need to feel balanced, try working on that for a while. It forces you to do everything the same on both sides.
Don't worry about speed at all. If you want to race, speed will come. If you want to learn, speed is not necessary.
