Tips to correct the most common mistakes in Freestyle

Freestyle, also known as front crawl, is one of the most common and efficient swimming strokes. Here are some tips to help you improve your freestyle technique:

Timing and Rhythm:

Coordinate your arm movements with your leg kick and body rotation to maintain a smooth and efficient rhythm
Avoid overreaching or rushing through the stroke phases

Practice Drills:

Incorporate drills into your practice routine to work on specific aspects of your freestyle technique, such as catch-up drill, Fist drill, and single-arm drills and other Related drills can check on the website

Consistency and Patience:

The freestyle technique takes time to develop. Be patient and consistent with your practice
Record yourself swimming or seek feedback from a coach or experienced swimmer to identify areas for improvement
You can Find a swimming coach click on link

Body position

The most important in freestyle body position is the streamline. In streamline, you make your body as narrow as possible to help reduce front drag. Less water resistance will allow you to swim faster and use less power.

What reasons can cause the incorrect position of the body position?

Poor understanding of the centre of gravity and buoyancy
The high position of the head during the glide or breathe phase

Wrong:

Here’s what to do instead

Try to keep the angle of attack of the water 5 to 7 degrees to avoid deep body position in the water
Keep your head in line with your body

Correct:

Tips:

Swimming with a pull buoy between the ankle will help to keep legs at a high horizontal point
Minimize resistance by keeping your body streamlined during each stroke
Keep your body horizontal and parallel to the water’s surface

Body rotation

Body rotation minimizes front drag in the water and helps you inhale quickly. The body’s rotation affects the mechanics of the propulsion phase of the pull and recovery phase pull.

What reasons can cause the incorrect position of the body rotation?

Your arms and legs. Do cross the center line of the body while swimming
During the end of the pull, the arm moves too far behind the back
Kicks to the right or left side instead of up and down kick
During inhalation, the head moves out of the streamlined position
Inhalation on one side occurs an imbalance in the rotation of the body

Wrong:

Here’s what to do instead

A roll of 40 ° accompanies each stroke to 65 ° on each side
The head is in line with the body
When we glide forward, your arms and legs do not cross the centre line of the body but are very close to it to reduce frontal resistance

Correct:

Tips:

During the stroke, try to rotate the body while keeping the head in place. You must use the core in order to pair your hips and shoulders. It will help you to keep your body in a perfect, streamlined position along the surface of the water
This rotation allows you to engage more powerful muscle groups and reduces strain on your shoulders

Breath

Breathing and enriching the blood with oxygen is the most crucial element in swimming. No one person can swim long distances while holding their breath. Some people can swim 3 meters while another person can swim 50 meters.

A good and quick breath is the key to fast swimming and fast enriching muscle with oxygen.

What reasons can cause incorrect movement of the breath?

Head goes too high while breathing
Looking back while breathing

Wrong:

Here’s what to do instead

Head and body move in longitudinal axis while breathing
Keep your head in a neutral position, looking down and slightly forward
Turn your head to the side while your arm is recovering above the water to take a breath

Correct:

Tips:

One goggle out of the water while another goggle into the water
Inhale always using your mouth
Avoid lifting your head too high, as this can cause your hips and legs to drop, creating drag
Exhale slowly and steadily underwater to empty your lungs before each breath
Practice bilateral breathing (breathing on both sides) to balance your stroke and improve your endurance

Pull

The freestyle pull is the main element to move the body in front. It is essential to understand how to pull effectively to move your torso forward.

There are many different kinematic techniques in freestyle and variations of fast stroke. We will describe in the following article more detail about the stroke and their varieties and how they affect the entire swimmer’s technique.

What reasons can cause incorrect movement of the pull?

Elbow dropping on entry
Short rotation of the body. It will cause your hand to come back across the side, increasing the recovery phase
Fingers point inward or upward while pulling
The body pushes upward while pulling
The elbow touches the water before the palm
The hand drops while breathing

Wrong:

Here’s what to do instead

Recovery arm with a high elbow, fingers pointed down and close to the surface of the water
During recovery, fingers and forearm relaxed
Recover arm forward along a straight line with shoulder
Your fingertips should enter the water first
High elbow position when catching water and pull
Start pushing the body forward
Finish your pull after the arm cross the hips line
Keep your strokes long and smooth, avoiding excessive splashing

Correct:

Tips:

With a good stroke, you should feel caught in the water and propose your body forward. Pressure in the water is created by resting the palm and forearm in the water. From the moment of catching the water to the end of the stroke, the speed of the pull should accelerate
Do scull in different phases
Fingertips should enter, reaching straight forward in streamline with the palm facing down. Then, the fingers should be pointed directly to the bottom of the pool as the elbow bends in the catch and pull phases of the stroke

Kick

Kicking in freestyle provides stabilisation of the body and help to keep the body in a streamlined position concerning the water’s surface.

Good coordination of the legs with the hands helps push the body forward during the stroke.

What reasons can cause incorrect movement of the kick?

Legs are very deep during kicks
The knees after kick remain very deep and do not return to the surface of the water
During the kick, the toes pointed down
While kicking, the hips are very deep concerning the surface of the water
Legs open wide

Wrong:

Here’s what to do instead

Legs should be in a streamlined position relative to the surface of the water
The toes are pointing backwards and inward, almost touching each other

Correct:

Tips:

Your flexibility in the ankle will play an essential role in effective kicking
Always do a fast and steady kick; it has become a muscle memory habit that will allow you to swim faster. For a good kick, you must feel like a “whip” kick with your legs

Tips to correct the most common mistakes in Freestyle

Body position

Body rotation

Breath

Pull

Kick

Stroke correction