I am so disgusted--I've done the TI drills, had lessons, had swim team college kids give me tips, yet I still just can't seem to get the freestyle arm action right. Do you exactly move your arm in the recovery phase the same as you move it in the fingertip drag drills? Or do you do a wind up motion of your shoulder to bring the arm out of the water? No matter what I try, I am so pathetically slow--more often than not, I am feeling like it is all wrong. I am a good breakstroker and decent flyer, and great backstroker, but geez, I need to be able to do the free - I swim about 12 miles a week. Any tips are sooooo appreciated.:bow:
Parents
Former Member
I've been trying to revamp my freestyle after seeing a videotape of myself :eeew:
I've been watching the DVD of Karlyn Pipes-Nielsen. There were a couple of things that hit home that I was doing wrong and i think i'm correctly. Perfect example is that i was crossing the center line. I've been faithfully doing the heads up freestyle drill where you finish swimming normally. When i first started doing this, the wider arms felt strange, now they don't. It's been fun to have something just click and feel right.
But i'm struggling with the initial pull. I know i'm loosing power and think it is because i'm dropping my shoulder.
Anyone have drills to force me to get this part correct so that eventually, it will feel normal?
There is a quick catch drill that you can do to help with this phase of the pull. Essentially what you would do is elongate the time that you enter in the water, fully extend on your axis and as soon as you are fully extended get your forearm vertical as quickly as possible (you can measure this by saying the word "quick"). There might be a couple of swimmers that don't like this drill depending on durability of your shoulders, etc...
Overall, though, in my opinion you need to find a coach that will consistently work with you if you are looking for the technique aspect of the strokes...again, just my opinion. All the best!
I've been trying to revamp my freestyle after seeing a videotape of myself :eeew:
I've been watching the DVD of Karlyn Pipes-Nielsen. There were a couple of things that hit home that I was doing wrong and i think i'm correctly. Perfect example is that i was crossing the center line. I've been faithfully doing the heads up freestyle drill where you finish swimming normally. When i first started doing this, the wider arms felt strange, now they don't. It's been fun to have something just click and feel right.
But i'm struggling with the initial pull. I know i'm loosing power and think it is because i'm dropping my shoulder.
Anyone have drills to force me to get this part correct so that eventually, it will feel normal?
There is a quick catch drill that you can do to help with this phase of the pull. Essentially what you would do is elongate the time that you enter in the water, fully extend on your axis and as soon as you are fully extended get your forearm vertical as quickly as possible (you can measure this by saying the word "quick"). There might be a couple of swimmers that don't like this drill depending on durability of your shoulders, etc...
Overall, though, in my opinion you need to find a coach that will consistently work with you if you are looking for the technique aspect of the strokes...again, just my opinion. All the best!
