Body Position in Freestyle – The 3 Steps to Achieving Correct Body Position in Freestyle
Want to get the right body position in freestyle swimming? Body position is vitally important to a smooth and effortless swim stroke. It’s a key ingredient for swimmer who wants to take their speed and times to the next level. A greater improvement in overall swimming will come from correcting body position more than increasing fitness.
Each training session work on swimming with the correct body position rather than exerting more effort in the pool. You will not only feel better in the water, but your technique will come more naturally and your times will improve with less effort. There are 3 steps to achieving a killer body position in swimming which will blow your competitors away:
1. Lengthen your body – The reason many swimmers hit a plateau is because they get too ‘caught up’ with where they should be pulling with their arms, how hard they should be kicking and many other ‘minor’ issues compared to their body position. The swimmers which focus too much on the other things usually aren’t lengthening out there body. The longer your body is in the water, the quicker it moves and the less resistance it creates. Think of your body as a long yacht which glides effortlessly through the water, and avoid being a big wide barge which is slow and cumbersome.
2. Rotate your shoulders – To move more easily through the water in freestyle, you must rotate your shoulders. No doubt you’ve been told to rotate in the water, but too often swimmers are told to rotate the entire body as they take each stroke. This is incorrect. Elite swimmers work on keeping their hips relatively still with only minor rotation. This allows the hips to generate a powerful kick and provides a strong core for the upper cody to leverage from. The shoulder should rotate to the point where the shoulder is out of the water as it is taking a stroke. This reduces frontal resistance and allows for a high elbow recovery which is a key part of freestyle.
3. Stay flat to the water – Resistance increases exponentially as you get faster. This is why it’s important to reduce your total resistance created by your body. Keep your body flat to the surface or slightly raised at the front, but don’t allow your hips and legs to sink. This creates resistance on your lower body and makes it difficult to swim faster. Remember, the easy way to swim faster is to reduce your resistance.
In your next session, why not focus on improving your body position by lengthening your body, rotating your shoulders and keeping your body flat to the surface. This will help you swim faster, smoother freestyle.