- Video yourself swimming for slow motion review later (from side and front view)
- Use our Camera Mount to drop the camera in the water, hook camera on lane line, station camera on floor of pool, or any other placement you need
- Have a friend walk along the pool deck with you swimming using our Camera Mount roller
- You should improve on one stroke flaw before moving onto the next
- Many of these flaws are caused or hindered by other flaws, thus progress needs to be made with sequential problems in the listed order
Evaluation: Video yourself from the side and underwater while swimming without a snorkel
Description: Your head (when not breathing) should be facing just slightly (10-15 degrees) forward
Reason: When your head is too high, your hips drop which in turns creates frontal resistance and restricts proper stroke and kick quality
Solutions:
- Drill 1: Swim with Snorkel and Dual Ankle Buoy with your eyes at the bottom of the pool (Learn to focus on what you SEE as an indicator of which way you head is positioned)
Evaluation: Using a snorkel, video yourself from the side and underwater
Description: Your hips should be within 2 inches of the surface and ideally touching the surface
Reason: When your hips are dropped, this creates frontal drag resistance and restricts proper stroke and kick quality
Solutions:
- Drill 1: 360 T-press Power Bags on Hips and front with half Dual Ankle Buoy in each bag (Learn to press your buoyant chest down in order to drive your hips to the surface. This drill creates the instinct of a chest press)
- Drill 2: 6-kick switch with Power Bags on hips with half Dual Ankle Buoy in each bag (Learn to keep your hips up while you stroke with power)
- Drill 3: Pull-only with Dual Ankle Buoy/snorkel (Learn that you can now naturally keep your hips up while you are stroke and what this new lack of frontal resistance feels like)
Evaluation: Using a snorkel, video yourself from the side and underwater
Description: Your feet should point back behind you and flex slightly upward and downward at the top and bottom of the kick cycle
Reason: Biking and running can greatly limit ankle flexibility that is needed for good swim technique. Dropped ankles add a lot of frontal drag resistance
Solutions:
- Dryland Drill #1: Plantar Flex with Latex Band or 1FlexBand (with time, you will and must improve your ankle flexibility)
- Dryland Drill #2: V-Position Kick with 1FlexBand or Latex Band (any form of kicking with straight legs will improve your ankle flexibility over time)
- Drill #1: Kicking with fins regularly will help flex your ankles (it is nearly impossible to kick with bent ankles when you have fins on)
- Drill #2: Kicking with Power Bags on feet w/snorkel (you won’t get very far but Power Bags on your feet will greatly improve ankle flexibility)
Evaluation: Using a snorkel, video yourself from the side and underwater
Description: Your knees should bend the least amount possible and your feet should just touch the understand of the water’s surface
Reason: Too much knee bend creates frontal drag resistance and breaking the surface tension of the water should be avoided
Solutions:
- Dryland Drill #1: V-Position Kick with 1FlexBand or Latex Band (any form of kicking with straight legs will improve your ankle flexibility over time)
- Dryland Drill #2: Kicking with the Dryland Kick Assembly (this can fit on any door and many other places to help you train away from the pool)
- Drill #1: Kick only with 1Flexband and snorkel (put 1 ankle in an outer hole and 1 ankle in the center hole)
- Drill #2: Kick or Swim with Flexright on the back of the knees (these panels will allow you to bend your knees for flip turns but act as springs to keep your knees as straight as possible)
- Drill #3: Kicking with Power Bags on feet or on Calves (w/snorkel) (The added resistance will restrict your speed and total yardage but will help you focus on straighter knees)
Evaluation: Using a snorkel, video yourself from the side and underwater
Description: The ‘Early Vertical Forearm’ is the key to freestyle power. The ‘paddle’ is the hand + forearm.
Reason: When the arm is straight it has far less power as it can not properly engage the bicep and max pulling power
Solutions:
- Dryland Drill #1: High catch fingertip paddle and stretch cord (this is the ideal way to learn both the technique and the power of a high catch. Use a mirror to watch or add our Stroke Right to force the elbow to stay high)
- Drill #1: Swim wrong with both arms completely straight (it helps to start by proving to yourself what ‘wrong’ feels like so you can start to fix the problem)
- Drill #2: Catch up drill- w/ Brute + Wrist Trainer + Power Pad and a snorkel and Dual ankle buoy (this displaces pressure from the hand and adds pressure to the wrist. This drill isolates 1 arm at a time without any breathing or kicking)
- Drill #3: Sculling w/ knuckle wrap over the Stroke Master paddle with a snorkel and Dual ankle buoy (moving forward ONLY by sculling with the high catch position bulids muscle memory and the technique for the high catch stroke)
- Drill #4: Catch up drill- w/Stroke Master knuckle wrap and snorkel with Dual ankle buoy (because of the ‘knuckle wrap’ aspect of this drill, you will move slowly but also focus on the value of your forearm in the power of your stroke)
- Drill #5: Sculling Stroke Master paddle on hand (without strap over finger… flip backwards!) with a snorkel and Dual ankle buoy (strapless paddle sculling takes practice (think “thumbs down as press away, pinky down as press inward’) and patience at first but will engrain your feel for the water)
Evaluation: Using a snorkel, video yourself from the side and underwater
Description: The ‘Early Vertical Forearm’ is the key to freestyle power. The ‘paddle’ is the hand + forearm.
Reason: When the elbow ‘leads’ the forearm during the catch phase, it releases the max pulling power
Solutions:
- Dryland Drill #1: High catch fingertip paddle and stretch cord (this is the ideal way to learn both the technique and the power of a high catch. Use a mirror to watch or add our Stroke Right to force the elbow to stay high)
- Drill #1: Swim wrong with both arms leading with the elbows (dropped elbows) (it helps to start by proving to yourself what ‘wrong’ feels like so you can start to fix the problem)
- Drill #2: Catch up drill- w/ Brute paddles and a snorkel and Dual ankle buoy (this displaces pressure from the hand the back of the paddle catches water when you lead with your elbow so the paddle wants to slide off your hand)
- Drill #3: Single arm catch up drill with snorkel and Dual ankle buoy (this drills allows you to ONLY swim with your ‘bad arm’ that is dropping the elbow and focus on improving that arm)
- Drill #4: Sculling w/ knuckle wrap over the Stroke Master paddle with a snorkel and Dual ankle buoy (moving forward ONLY by sculling with the high catch position bulids muscle memory and the technique for the high catch stroke)
- Drill #5: Sculling Stroke Master paddle on hand (without strap over finger… flip backwards!) with a snorkel and Dual ankle buoy (strapless paddle sculling takes practice (think “thumbs down as press away, pinky down as press inward’) and patience at first but will engrain your feel for the water)
Evaluation: Using a snorkel, video yourself from head first
Description: For maximum power, the body should rotate substantially and equally to both sides
Reason: When one (or both) sides of the body does not rotate completely, it does not generate the necessary power
Solutions:
- Drill #1: Catch up drill- w/Stroke Master Paddles (middle finger under tubing) with a snorkel and Power Bags on the hips (with half dual ankle buoy inside each Power Bag). (The paddles add forward speed to feel the force on the floating Power Bags to add awareness to your body rotation).
- Drill #2: 6-kick switch with Power Bags on hips (with half Dual Ankle Buoy in each bag) and snorkel. (Learn to drive your rotation aggressively from your core for each transition stroke)
- Drill #3: Catch up drill- w/Stroke Master (middle finger under tubing) and snorkel with Dual ankle buoy (Catch-up is a ‘flat’ drill as you return to a flat position on the surface between strokes. Focus on your rotation as you catch and finish each stroke)
Evaluation: Using a snorkel, video yourself from head first
Description: For maximum power, your hand needs to pass just on the outside edge of your body line, not at your center line
Reason: When reviewing video you can imagine a line down the center of your path (not your body). You are weak when you hand comes close to this line
Solutions:
- Drill #1: Zipper Drill (slide fingertips along the side of your body as you recover the arm over the surface) with the Glide Paddles, using Dual Ankle Buoy and Snorkel (Zipper Drill makes rotate very high while creating awareness of the hand’s position just before it enters the water)
- Drill #2: Swim as perfect as possible with the Glide Paddles and the Dual Ankle Buoy (focus on the body rotation and the path of your hand as it strokes. The fins on the Glide Paddle (when the hand is relaxed and flat) will cause the paddles to pivot in your hand as you cross over or out with your stroke)
Evaluation: Using a snorkel, video yourself from head first
Description: For maximum power, the hand should enter just to the outside edge of your body line
Reason: When the hand enters the water surface too wide, it restricts the timing and degree of body rotation
Solutions:
- Drill #1: Zipper Drill (slide fingertips along the side of your body as you recover the arm over the surface) with the Glide Paddles, using Dual Ankle Buoy and Snorkel (Zipper Drill makes rotate very high while creating awareness of the hand’s position just before it enters the water)
- Drill #2: Swim as perfect as possible with the Glide Paddles and the Dual Ankle Buoy (focus on the body rotation and the path of your hand as it strokes. The fins on the Glide Paddle (when the hand is relaxed and flat) will cause the paddles to pivot in your hand as you cross over or out with your stroke)
Evaluation: Using a snorkel, video yourself from the side
Description: In order to set up the more powerful stroke engagement, the elbow needs to be the LAST part of the arm to enter the water
Reason: When the elbow is dropped into the water before the hand, it makes it impossible to set up for an early vertical forearm catch
Solutions:
- Drill #1: Zipper Drill (slide fingertips along the side of your body as you recover the arm over the surface) with the Glide Paddles, using Dual Ankle Buoy and Snorkel (Zipper Drill makes rotate very high while creating awareness of the hand’s position just before it enters the water. Be sure that the nose of the paddle is the first thing to enter the water, not your arm)
- Drill #2: Fingertip drag (similar to zipper drill but the finger tips drag the surface of the water, just beside the body line) with a snorkel and Dual Ankle Buoy (This is another drill that helps create hand and arm awareness for hand entry)
- Drill #3: Swim as perfect as possible with the Glide Paddles and the Dual Ankle Buoy (focus on the body rotation and the path of your hand as it strokes. (Be sure that the nose of the paddle is the first thing to enter the water, not your arm)
Evaluation: Video yourself at the water level while breathing (from both sides)
Description: While breathing, the head should be as low as possible with 1 goggle in the water and the side of the mouth touching the surface of the water. Pinch half of the mouth closed in the side closest to the water. Make sure you keep your stroke rate/tempo constant when you breathe (most people slow down to breathe).
Reason: When the head is lifted to breath, the hips drop, causing frontal drag resistance
Solutions:
- Drill #1: Single Arm Stroking breathing towards stroking arm with dual ankle buoy (opposite arm up in the front). Breath to your normal side and ONLY stroke with the arm on that side to address your head position. Keep one eye under the surface and the edge of the mouth touching the water.
- Drill #2: Single Arm Stroking breathing AWAY FROM the stroking arm with dual ankle buoy (opposite arm at your side). Breath to your normal side and ONLY stroke with the arm on the opposite side to address your head position. Keep one eye under the surface and the edge of the mouth touching the water.
- Drill #3: Single Arm Stroking breathing TOWARD the stroking arm with dual ankle buoy (opposite arm at your side). Breath to your normal side and ONLY stroke with the arm on that side to address your head position. Keep one eye under the surface and the edge of the mouth touching the water.
Evaluation: Video from the side, while breathing to both sides and evaluate the arm that is about to stroke after the breath
Description: The lead arm while breathing tends to be the the greatest limitation for most swimmers. To support a head that is too far out of the water, many people push down with a straight arm
Reason: A straight arm has less power than a bent, ‘high elbow’ catch
Solutions:
- Drill #1: Single Arm Stroking breathing towards stroking arm with dual ankle buoy (opposite arm up in the front). Stroke Hand = Brute Paddle/Wrist Trainer/Power Pad. Non-Stroking Hand = Glide Paddle. Breath to your normal side and ONLY stroke with the arm on that side to address your head position. Keep one eye under the surface and the edge of the mouth touching the water while you focus on driving your forearm down under your elbow as you stroke and breathe.
Evaluation: Video from the side, while breathing to both sides and evaluate the arm that is about to stroke after the breath
Description: The lead arm while breathing tends to be the the greatest limitation for most swimmers. To support a head that is too far out of the water, many ‘lay’ on their forearm, which creates a ‘dropped elbow’ catch
Reason: A dropped elbow catch has less power than a bent, ‘high elbow’ catch
Solutions:
- Drill #1: Single Arm Stroking breathing towards stroking arm with dual ankle buoy (opposite arm up in the front). Stroke Hand = Brute Paddle/Wrist Trainer/Power Pad. Non-Stroking Hand = Glide Paddle. Breath to your normal side and ONLY stroke with the arm on that side to address your head position. Keep one eye under the surface and the edge of the mouth touching the water while you focus on driving your forearm down under your elbow as you stroke and breathe.
Evaluation: Video from the side, while breathing to both sides and evaluate the arm that is about to stroke after the breath
Description: The lead arm while breathing tends to be the the greatest limitation for most swimmers. To support a head that is too far out of the water, many ‘push away’ with their forearm, which creates a catch that is too wide
Reason: A wide catch has less power than a bent, ‘high elbow’ catch and restrict the body rotation
Solutions:
- Drill #1: Single Arm Stroking breathing towards stroking arm with dual ankle buoy (opposite arm up in the front). Stroke Hand = Brute Paddle/Wrist Trainer/Power Pad. Non-Stroking Hand = Glide Paddle. Breath to your normal side and ONLY stroke with the arm on that side to address your head position. Keep one eye under the surface and the edge of the mouth touching the water while you focus on driving your forearm down under your elbow as you stroke and breathe.
Evaluation: Video from the side, while breathing to both sides and evaluate the arm that is about to stroke after the breath
Description: The lead arm while breathing tends to be the the greatest limitation for most swimmers. Some swimmers overcompensate or loose focus on their catch and allow the arm to come into the center line
Reason: A narrow catch has less power than a bent, ‘high elbow’ catch
Solutions:
- Drill #1: Single Arm Stroking breathing towards stroking arm with dual ankle buoy (opposite arm up in the front). Stroke Hand = Brute Paddle/Wrist Trainer/Power Pad. Non-Stroking Hand = Glide Paddle. Breath to your normal side and ONLY stroke with the arm on that side to address your head position. Keep one eye under the surface and the edge of the mouth touching the water while you focus on driving your forearm down under your elbow as you stroke and breathe.
Evaluation: If only breath to 1 side… need both arms while breathing… stroking arm and entering arm
Description:The wrist should bend about 10-20 degrees forward.
Reason:The Wrist and fingers are the first point of muscle engagement in the stroke. The wrist is not powerful when it is bending too far back or too far forward
Solutions:
- Drill #1: Single Arm Stroking breathing towards stroking arm with dual ankle buoy (opposite arm up in the front). Stroke Hand = Brute Paddle/Wrist Trainer/Power Pad. Non-Stroking Hand = Glide Paddle. Breath to your normal side and ONLY stroke with the arm on that side to address your head position. Keep one eye under the surface and the edge of the mouth touching the water while you focus on driving your forearm down under your elbow as you stroke and breathe.
Evaluation: Before videoing yourself from the side for sighting problems you need to study our process and videos for sighting properly. You need to practice breathing to both sides to prepare for waves, competitors, etc…
Description: The process of sighting is ‘sight, breath, stroke’. A ‘sight’ stroke has your mouth UNDERWATER (gator eyes). After 1 stroke with your eyes looking forward you immediately roll your head to the side and drive the top of your head downward (to help lift your hips) as you breath low and to the side. After the breathing stroke you take another stroke and then start over. This will mean your stroking arm alternates with each sighting stroke and alternates for each breathing stroke. The kicking for the sighting process should be a 1 beat kick while breathing and stroking and a 3-beat kick while sighting.
Reason: When in ‘open water’ you need to sight every few strokes in order to keep yourself on the straightest path. Every deviation will make your path longer
Solutions:
- Drill #1: 3 Stroke heads up (with mouth under the water, eyes at the surface), then 3 Strokes head down (with snorkel). (This is designed to train you to breath with your eyes at the surface. You neck is going to become stiff and this may be a drill you need to do regularly for a week or 2 before moving on to other drills very much.
- Drill #2: Swim properly with the sighting process (think as ‘sight, breathe, stroke’)
Evaluation: Video from the side while a full sighting progression (about 5 strokes per progression)
Description: A common flaw while sighting is to try to support the body with a straight arm stroke while sighting and/or breathing
Reason: A straight arm stroke is very inefficient and pushes the body UP, not forward
Solutions:
- Drill #1: Swim while sighting properly, using Brute Paddles + Wrist Trainers + Power Pads. (Focus on driving your forearm under your elbow as you initiate the catch)
Evaluation: Video from the side while a full sighting progression (about 5 strokes per progression)
Description: A common flaw while sighting is to try to support the body by ‘laying’ on the forearm, which sets up for a dropped elbow catch while sighting and/or breathing
Reason: A dropped elbow stroke is very inefficient and has no forward propulsion
Solutions:
- Drill #1: Catch up drill with heads up with Brute Paddles and a snorkel (this displaces pressure from the hand and adds pressure to the wrist. This drill isolates 1 arm at a time to focus on the high elbow catch)
- Drill #2: Swim while sighting properly, using Brute Paddles + Wrist Trainers + Power Pads. (Focus on driving your forearm under your elbow as you initiate the catch)
Evaluation: Video from the side while a full sighting progression (about 5 strokes per progression)
Description: Your hips WILL drop while you take the sighting stroke(s), but the goal is to drive the hips back UP during the breathing stroke
Reason: Low hips create frontal drag and GREATLY slow down your forward propulsion
Solutions:
- Drill #1: Swim while heads up (mouth under water, eyes at water surface) with Power Bags on hips (with half Dual Ankle Buoy in each Bag). (Focus on driving your hips up IMMEDIATELY as you roll from a forward sight to a side breath stroke))
- Drill #2: Swim while sighting properly, with Power Bags on hips (with half Dual Ankle Buoy in each Bag). (Focus on driving your hips up IMMEDIATELY as you roll from a forward sight to a side breath stroke))
Evaluation: Before you video your kicking method (from the side) you should review our videos and learn more about the proper kicking strategy.
Description: Your heart is most impacted by your kick rate. Your speed is more a factor of how you can minimize frontal resistance while maximizing the power from your stroke. Therefore a 1-beat kick (1 kick per arm entry) helps rotate your body while conserving your heart rate. However, you also need a 3 beat kick (3 beats for each arm stroke) when you lift your head to sight forward (lifting your head drops your hips, therefore a 3-beat kick can help offset the hip drop).
Reason: A 1-beat kick is a great kick strategy to learn early as it will help you swim longer with less heart stress. this will allow you more focus on your technique and power.
Solutions:
- Drill #1: 1-Beat Kick with 1 hand on a kickboard (or half of the Dual Ankle Buoy) stroking with 1 hand (kicking down with the opposite leg as the stroking hand enters). (A 1-beat kick mimics the natural body rotation)
- Drill #2: Swim with a 1-Beat Kick with the 1FlexBand on the ankles (1 ankle in each of the outside holes of the band). Be sure to keep constant pressure on the band to keep your legs fully separated at all times
- Drill #3: Swim with a 1-Beat kick with power bags on each foot to accent the down kick
- Drill #4: Swim with a 1-Beat kick with a power bag on one foot and a power bag on the other calve to accent the down kick
Evaluation: Once you have learned how to do a natural 1-beat kick, a 3-beat kick will feel more natural.
Description: Your heart is most impacted by your kick rate. Your speed is more a factor of how you can minimize frontal resistance while maximizing the power from your stroke. Therefore a 1-beat kick (1 kick per arm entry) helps rotate your body while conserving your heart rate. However, you also need a 3 beat kick (3 beats for each arm stroke) when you lift your head to sight forward (lifting your head drops your hips, therefore a 3-beat kick can help offset the hip drop).
Reason: Mixing a 3-beat kick with a 1 beat kick is a very advanced strategy. Don’t get frustrated with this process and allow yourselves months (or more than a year) to learn this process.
Solutions:
- Drill #1: Swim with the ideal kicking strategy while sighting properly. This is very advanced and is your long term goal
Evaluation: No 2 entries are identical but the more you can practice your race pace beach entry in different locations, the more you will improve your race pace.
Description: As you enter the ocean or lake with a gradual grade change, you can waste a ton of energy fighting through water that is too low to swim and too high to run through
Reason: Learning when to ‘high step’ and when to dolphin dive can save a ton of strain on your heart and have you fresh as you first break into your stroke pace.
Solutions:
- Run with ‘High Knees’ until water is at mid thigh, then ‘dolphin to the ground and jump off the ground until deep enough to swim
Evaluation: When you have a empty lane and a friend to keep you from running into walls you should use black goggles or close your eyes and swim for 20 yards or such
Description: Swimming with blinders or your eyes closed will show you how well you can swim straight (or not)
Reason: When you are in a dark river, lake, or ocean there is no indicators to help you swim straight. Not swimming straight will mean you will swim a much longer course than a competitor that can maintain their intended path
Solutions:
- In lap pool: swim 5 strokes with eyes closed (make sure you are the only person in the lane)
- In open water: swim 5 strokes before sighting
Evaluation: Every time you go around a buoy will be different depending on the crowd, water conditions and degree of rotation you are making
Description: You will need a range of methods to make it around a buoy. When you are on the outside of a crowd and further away from the buoy, hold your inside arm stright forward and stroke with your outside arm. But when you close to the buoy and/or in a tighter crowd, you will need to be able to do the corkscrew drill for tight turns
Reason: With the corkscrew drill you can make tight turns and avoid getting kicked in the head and other interferences
Solutions:
- Drill 1:Corkscrew drill
Evaluation: As a beginner it will be best to stay away from the initial surge of the pack to avoid tight swimming conditions, which can be difficult at best. With practice, power, and experience in gauging your own place in each race will help you determine where you should place yourself in the starting pack.
Description: Drafting’ is a very diverse topic which involves the high end strategies of; a) how close to swim behind another swimmer for an easier pace, b) how to draft at the hips of another swimmer for an easier pace, c) how to position yourself in a tight pack, and d) how to decide when to draft behind another swimmer and how to break out and fight to get in front of them.
Reason: Most drafting issues are only necessary when you are in the top 10 racers or so. However a very common issue that is encountered by most swimmers is having swimmer just on your feet or just on your hips. So it is a great plan to train regularly with tight conditions and taking turns in various locations in the group so you can see where the ‘draft’ is located and how it can help the drafter and slow down the leader.
Solutions:
- Drill 1: Swim at partners hip/behind them