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How to swim freestyle: overview and swimming technique

July 19, 2021

Engaging in the act of swimming offers a remarkable opportunity to maintain fitness, unwind, and fully immerse oneself in the water. Out of the diverse range of swimming techniques available, freestyle emerges as the preferred and widely adopted style. It has been around since ancient times and has undergone several modifications, now commonly known as the crawl stroke. Despite its name suggesting freedom, freestyle swimming has specific rules, and competitions are regularly organized.

This stroke variation is known for its smoothness and efficiency, enabling swimmers to effortlessly cover extensive distances. Whether you are a novice seeking guidance on how to swim freestyle or an experienced athlete aiming to boost abilities, this piece of text will suggest a comprehensive overview and beneficial tips for enhancing your skills in water-based sports.

Swimming Technique – Analyze the sequential arm stroke movements

Improve hand position and jumping into water

To kick things off, let's focus on some guidelines for enhancing freestyle swimming tips, specifically in relation to hand movements. Maintaining a relaxed hand with closely spaced fingers is crucial. When entering the water, aim to make contact with the surface approximately 30 cm above your head. Position your palm at a 45-degree angle, ensuring that your index and middle fingers touch the water first. Keep your wrist slightly bent downwards, positioned above your fingers, and raise your elbow above your wrist. It is advisable to minimize splashing as your hand enters the water. Once submerged, extend your hand another 10 centimeters forward.

Furthermore, it's essential to avoid forcefully slapping your hands in the water. Instead, focus on smoothly transitioning your hand into the water and allowing it to effortlessly slip through. This will contribute to an effective sway. Try not to raise hand too high above your head when entering the water, since this can result in slower movements and hamper your freestyle swimming technique.

Push your arm in, up and out of the water

Transitioning into the next phase of refinement, you can significantly increase your speed in the swimming stroke. As your arm begins to approach your torso, initiate a forceful push against the water. Continue this pushing motion until your arm reaches the level of your hips. This phase of the stroke will be the most rapid and forceful, excellently propelling you forward.

Professionals unanimously agree that sway efficiency plays a vital role in swimming performance. In case one of your main concerns is how to swim faster freestyle, concentrate on optimizing your body's extension. Furthermore, aim to extract as much water as possible by extending your arm along your hip. For added propulsion, incorporate small flutter kicks with your legs. However, be careful not to excessively bend your knees while doing so.

Perfect your dive

Think of your hand as a lever, where your body will rotate towards the hand that is actively paddling. With your forearm and arm, lower them downwards and backwards while maintaining a forty-five-degree angle at your elbow. It is crucial to not emerge elbow in water during paddling motion. Pay attention to your freestyle swimming breathing, because it is essential for appropriate diving.

During this phase, focus on executing the movement swiftly, but avoid trying to swim faster. Attempting to increase your speed at this stage will not effectively propel you forward. Instead, it may lead to increased water resistance.

As you reach forward with your arm and forearm, make sure they enter the water in front of your body. Utilize your arm as a paddle during this part, and exert a powerful kick against water. This will initiate the forward motion of your body, marking the beginning of the "advancing" phase. Don’t miss the appropriate freestyle swimming breathing technique.

When your arm gets closer to the center of your trunk, your shoulder will parallel with your chest, while your elbow will start to bend at a ninety-degree angle. At the midpoint of your body, the rolling back moment begins.

Take your elbow out of the water

During the weakening phase, you won't be able to progress forward, but it will actually offer assistance to the arm that is pulling you beneath the water's surface. It is crucial to focus on refining your technique to smoothly submerge your arm into the water. To complete your paddling motion, raise your arm, keeping it parallel to your shoulder and out of the water. Your fingers should dangle loosely above the water, while your palm generates a broader freestyle swim stroke compared to your hand. It's important to maintain a relaxed hand and execute a wide swinging motion.

Swimming Technique – Leg swings and rotations

Engage your legs slightly below the water's surface

Ensure that your hips remain near the top of the water and execute a rapid paddling motion with your legs. The key objective is to minimize resistance while propelling yourself forward. Consequently, your kicking range should be compact. Avoid kicking forcefully or extending your feet too far below your body line.

Make the swing from the hip

While practicing these freestyle swimming drills, it's crucial to avoid performing a swing motion from your knees. This particular movement, known as a scissor kick, creates additional resistance in the water. Instead, you can opt to slightly bend your knees during the swinging action, maintaining a more efficient method.

Pull your socks up

Neglecting to do so will result in additional resistance caused by your front foot. During the movement, aim to point your toes inward, with your big toes almost touching each other. Pulling your toes helps enhance ankle flexibility. If your ankles lack flexibility, you can assist yourself by using your hands to facilitate the leg swing. This freestyle swimming technique for beginners is also beneficial for more advanced athletes.

Incorporate the concept of energetic footwork into the rhythm of your two-stroke movement

This method doesn't demand excessive energy expenditure and is particularly useful for swimming medium to long distances. It involves executing a single-leg movement within each stroke cycle. A stroke cycle refers to a complete sway. Coordinate the stroke of an arm with the opposite leg movement.

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