Freestyle Swimming Drills

If you want to learn how to be faster in the water, you need to work on the basic swimming techniques. Nothing goes further till you learn and understand the foundation to become a better swimmer. And that's where specifically designed drills come into the picture. With warm climate closing in, brushing up on your swimming skills is essential. And if you would like to take swimming more seriously, for recreation or competitive purposes, you need to work on some helpful drills. So we thought of putting together few drills that will assist you now and for the future.

Out of all the swimming strokes, the freestyle swimming stroke is the first technique taught to amateurs. As this style helps them learn to breathe and control their body alignment in the water, it becomes very important for them to be better than good at it. And since swimming drills are done repetitively, you not only learn the technique properly but also become an efficient swimmer. So let's not waste anymore time and get to the different drills.

Swimming Drills for Beginners

For you, as an amateur swimmer, the most important thing is to get the proper freestyle technique right. And these drills work towards achieving just that. So speak to your coach or instructor to help with these drills.

Drill #1 - Go inside the swimming pool and stand in the shallow end. Stretch your arms out in front of you and close your palms to make fists. Now begin swimming in the freestyle manner, but don't open your fists. You will use your forearms and bent elbows to gain speed to move forward. After practicing this drill, with your palms open, your arms' movements will become sharper.

Drill #2 - To do our next drill, you need to be in the deeper end of the pool; the soles of your feet shouldn't touch the bottom. Stand near the edge of the pool first and then slightly push yourself in. Keep your elbows steady and just move your forearms in clockwise manner. This will keep you floating in water and counteract gravity. If you wish to go down the swimming pool and touch your feet at the bottom, move your forearms in anticlockwise manner. This drill helps you to learn how your arms' movements help you keep yourself above the water surface.

Drill #3 - This drill will help you breathe efficiently and naturally while swimming freestyle. For this, you need to do 150 freestyle strokes. For the 1st 50 strokes, you will take a breath after every 3 complete strokes. After that, for the next 50 strokes, you will take a breath after every 5 complete strokes. In the end, for the last 50 strokes, you will take a breath after every 7 complete strokes. This breathing drill will help you learn how to control your breathing pattern. And when you breathe while normal swimming, keep your breathing pattern even; as in don't take a breath after 3 strokes and then another breath after 5 strokes.

Drill #4 - Stand in the pool and stay at the shallow end. Hold the edge of the pool and lift your legs up, but keep them under the surface of water. Extend your arms, keep your chin on the surface of water, and start kicking your feet. As you do so, keep your feet under the surface of water and make sure they don't come out even once. This drill will help you kick your legs properly so that you can push yourself forward while swimming.

Drill #5 - For our final drill, you need to be inside the pool and on the shallow end. Extend one arm in front of you, under the water and use the other hand to carry out the freestyle strokes. Do one lap with left hand extended, not moving at all, and the right hand doing all the work. In the next lap, keep your right hand extended and let the left hand do all the work.

If you would like to go over some more drills and swimming tips, then here's a Buzzle article on freestyle swimming technique for beginners. Not only does this article give you tips on learning the freestyle stroke, but it also includes some helpful drills to learn. Take your time in perfecting the swimming drills because you don't wish to make haste and practice the wrong techniques.