Head Position during Free

Current Swimmer indicates the proper head position is 'low' in the water, more or less the oncoming water seeing the top of your head. On the other hand, many tell me to have the water line break the forehead, thus a higher head position than shown as 'right' in Swimmer (page 25). Advice to look to the bottom of the pool rather than forward plays into this matter. Any consensus here? In the late 70's/80's the thought was to use the forehead like a rudder and have the water line right at the hair line which led to looking forward at about a 45 degree angle. This is still pretty close to how sprint freestyle is still performed. But for longer distances, stroke mechanics have evolved to create a neutral head position with the tip of the nose pointed towards the bottom of the pool to promote a cleaner, longer and straighter over all body line in the water.

Current Swimmer indicates the proper head position is 'low' in the water, more or less the oncoming water seeing the top of your head. On the other hand, many tell me to have the water line break the forehead, thus a higher head position than shown as 'right' in Swimmer (page 25). Advice to look to the bottom of the pool rather than forward plays into this matter. Any consensus here? In the late 70's/80's the thought was to use the forehead like a rudder and have the water line right at the hair line which led to looking forward at about a 45 degree angle. This is still pretty close to how sprint freestyle is still performed. But for longer distances, stroke mechanics have evolved to create a neutral head position with the tip of the nose pointed towards the bottom of the pool to promote a cleaner, longer and straighter over all body line in the water.