The moment you've all been waiting for!
Juicy, JUICY SECRETS!
Here, you'll find tips and secrets based on what I've learned about freestyle.
Many swimmers aren't as dedicating into swimming as much as I am, which means they are sometimes lazy and don't always try at practice.
TIP #1: ALWAYS TRY at practice, even when sets are difficult because eventually, all your hard work will pay off! Also, don't worry about being called a 'try-hard' because later on you'll know that you can swim faster than them ;)
TIP #2: Try to focus on one problem at a time when you are fixing your stroke technique, and build into it. Later on, you'll swim great, naturally!
TIP #3: When your head is submerged into the water, always look down at the bottom at the pool to ensure a straight body position.
TIP #4: When breathing, always keep one goggle in, and one goggle out of the water. Basically, just tilt your head to the side instead of lifting your entire head out of the water...that causes drag and late timing!
TIP #5: When recovering from your pull, always make sure you have a high elbow in the air. When pulling, always have a high elbow catch so that you can pull more water. High elbows are the key!
TIP #6: When kicking freestyle, remember to kick from your hips, NOT your knees and ankles. Also, kick in a tiny whipping motion, but not too big!
TIP #7: ALWAYS do your underwater kicks, and NEVER breathe in and out of the flags and before the first pull after a flip turn!! These little details will affect your races. Just by not breathing in or out of the flags can possibly get you from 2nd place to 1st place!
TIP #8: Enter with the tip of your fingers, NOT the sides, or your palm!
TIP #9: Always finish your pull, from head to hip.
TIP #10: Relax your arm during the recovery and keep it close to your body.
SECRET #1: When you workout the upper body portion of freestyle, you should feel a pain mostly in the back part, near your under arm muscle. If you feel most pain in your biceps or triceps, that is a signal telling you that you are pulling incorrectly!
SECRET #2: When you workout the lower body portion of freestyle, you should feel your body working out the thigh muscles of your body. If you feel like your calves are getting a workout while freestyle kicking, refer to tip #6.
SECRET #3: You ought to have body rotation while swimming freestyle to ensure smooth swimming strokes. When rotating, imagine yourself reaching your arm out to something in front of you.
SECRET #4: When coming up after a flip turn, use your opposite hand that you are facing in to pull your first stroke. For example, when you turn and face to the right, pull with your left hand first and vice versa. This helps with the reduction of drag.
SECRET #5: While swimming; imagine yourself extending out to something infront of you. This helps me and I hope this helps you too!
SECRET #6: Use your shoul
ders to let the hand enter as far forward as possible. Swimmers use their shoulders all the time! That is why it's so wide ;)
SECRET #7: DON'T bend your knees too much while kicking! All you need is a slight bend :)
SECRET #8: DON'T kick too much out of the water! If your whole foot comes above the surface, try to kick lower into the water.
SECRET #9: Breathing out through the nose may help prevent water from entering your nose.
I hope you all love these tips and secrets! If you have any questions, comment below and I'll do my best to answer! :)
Wishing you the best,
Amanda Le