Your Favorite Swim drills

Here is the warmup I do before main set; all drills.

25 yd underskate, right hand extended (a TI drill)
25 yd underskate, left hand
50 yd underswitch (TI again)
50 yd zip up
50 yd catch up

200 yds with paddle and pull bouy
200 yds with just pull bouy

Main set

Cool down usually includes some easy efforts trying to drown myself doing breast stroke and back stroke.

Other drills that I throw in now and again are

Stroke left only 25yds, swim back
Stroke right only....
Stroke three left, stroke three right...
Tarzans....

And my all time favorite for the L-of-it, 360 rotations kicking only.

All my drills are done WITHOUT any devices. No pull buoys, no kick boards, no paddles, etc. These drills focus on freestyle. I don't care about the other strokes.

1. full catch up
2. half catch up
3. superman kick (single arm)
4. super man kick (double arm)
5. looking forward arm flop
6. kicking on back
7. swimming blind
8. closed fist
9. practice in a mirror

full catch up:
The goal of this drill is to learn to go as far as possible with each stroke. Typically it takes me about 9-10 strokes for 25 meters. Focus on keeping your leading arm extended straight. Keep a high elbow during the stroke, nice and perpendicular elbow and flat hands. The recovery is relaxed. Head is looking down, back is straight (not arched). Stretch out and roll to your side as your recovery hand enters the water. You should count the number of strokes periodically, but don't make it the primary focus. Your focus should be on your stroke, not counting your strokes! You can also turn your head and watch your arm as your body goes past it.

half catch up:
Same concepts apply as the full catch up. The leading hand starts pulling as the recovery hand is half way between your head and entering the water. The idea is to get comfortable doing front quadrant swimming, and master breathing at various timings.

superman kick (single arm):
One arm is extended out in front, one arm is at your side. Your body is at a 45 degree angle so that the hand at your side is just out of the water. Keep this position the entire length, and then switch for the next length. Keeping your toes pointed, do flutter kick to get across the pool. Your kicking should NOT produce much splash. The goal here is to work on your body alignment, and work on your kick. You can throw in an occasional stoke, which should be done at a super slow speed. The stroke should always be done with the same arm, that is, the leading arm never takes a stroke. If you take a stroke, your recover arm should take 5 seconds to recover, and should be very relaxed, focusing on technique during the pull phase. To breath during this drill, you'll have to rotate your head out of the water.

super man kick (double arm):
The focus of this drill is hip rotation. This drill is best done with a swimmer's snorkel because it makes breathing easier. If you do not have a swimmer's snorkel, then you'll have to lift your head either up or to the side, possibly requiring a bit of sculling. Both arms are out in front in the streamline position. Your head is looking at the bottom of the pool. While kicking, practice keeping your body as straight as possible, rolling from side to side. You should spend very little time flat on your stomach. Your lower back should be flat, there shouldn't be any arch in your back. The rotation of your body should start at your hips.

looking forward arm flop catch-up:
The focus of this drill is to make sure your hand entry is correct. Your head is looking forward. You keep one hand out in front and the other hand takes a stroke. During recovery, your forearm should be relaxed so it flops in the water out in front of you. Your hand should enter the water straight out infront or a little towards your head, but not on top of your head. Then you take a stroke using the other arm. You also want to watch as the bubbles clear away from your hand, and make sure your hands are as flat as possible. Once you are comfortable, return your head so that it's looking at the bottom of the pool.

kicking on back:
The focus of this drill is keeping your back flat, keeping your body straight and extended in the streamline position, and work on your kicking. Push off under water, on your back in the streamline position. Kick until you get to the other end. Turn around and repeat. Your kicking should not produce any splash.

swimming blind:
The focus of this drill is to focus on how the water feels and to swim straight without always having to compensate. Start off closing your eyes between each breath. Then try between two breaths. Etc.

closed fist:
Swim keeping your fist closed. Your focus will have to be on using your forearm to catch most of the water, which means keeping it perpendicular to the bottom of the pool. Your elbow should be high during the stroke. You will also have to focus on body position. If you normally compensate your breathing by using your hands to push your body up, you will find breathing will be more difficult since you can no longer push your body up.

practice in a mirror:
Looking in a mirror, standing straight up, practise doing your stroke. This will teach you everything you don't know about your stroke.

I always liked scratch/thumb drag....but I'm super lazy when it comes to swim drills!

6-kick is a very useful drill, especially to teach good body position, extension, and rotation.

Very good for beginners.

meepx2.......thanks a lot....lots of drills and descriptions. Going to start on them tonight...SS

Drills? What are those?

You may want fins at first for this. It's a variation on one arm swimming. Your other arm is at your side and you breath towards that side, i.e. the side not stroking. Switch arms each length or lap. You have to roll well. I'm not sure what it's supposed to fix but a coach had me doing it a few times. At first I really struggled with it until I practiced a bit on my own, with fins and eventually without.

Another drill that really makes me work my catch is to do regular front crawl but keep your recovering hand and arm in the water. Sort of like a long stroke dog paddle.

I've also done variations on the 6 kick & stroke drill, using 4, 8, or 10 kicks and/or 3 strokes to switch.

Lots of variations on sculling too to help your catch and feel for the water. That's with or without a buoy but pushing or pulling yourself along by moving your hands from side to side, not kicking. Face up or face down but tipped forward to breath, moving head first or feet first, hands stretched out beyond your head or at your waist, or if you're face down you can stick your arms out to the sides and bend straight down from the elbows.

Our coach called another sculling variation a christmas tree. It's done face down moving head first and starting with your hands close together and stretched overhead but slowly getting wider and working down to your waist as you keep sculling from side to side. Then recover like a breaststroke and start again.


Edited by Micawber 2008-02-06 5:17 PM