In the first step of swimming a faster freestyle included a swimmer’s overall body position and a quick drill progression for the swimmers to use as they focus on swimming their freestyle faster.

Step 2 is all about hand speed, hand placement, and pull efficiency.  Quite a few swimmers have average hand speed and have an OK catch with a pull that gets them through the water with average speed.  I want to go through a drill progression that will focus on all of the above and really hammer home a faster freestyle technique:

• Over-The-Barrel Scull – Everybody knows how to scull regularely, and if you don’t then please Google it as it’s one of the best drills to do with your young age groupers.  This drill includes the over-the-barrel drill as well which emphasizes a high catch.  So, you want to put your arms as far in front of you as possible (start in position 11 and extend from that point).  Imagine that your arms are hanging over a barrel and keep your arms in that position as you are sculling.  You want to make sure that you’re leading the drill with the two middle fingers and quickly moving your hands (maintain a high hand speed).  Freestyle kick is done with this to help propel you through the water though it’s not needed when you get good at the drill.
• Paddle – So, we all know how to doggie paddle since that’s how we probably started to learn how to swim during lessons. This drill is a little more advanced than that version.  The swimmers have to try to maintain a high elbow position while they work on their quick catch.  The recovery is underwater, and the pull only goes to the front part of the actual pull.  Again, the focus on the early catch and how quickly you can get into that catch.  Make sure the swimmers are not dropping their elbows during this drill as it defeats the purpose.  When they get good at this you can start to really increase the hand speed while maintaining the catch.
• Long Paddle – This is a modification of the paddle drill from above.  This time, instead of only going to the front part of the pull the swimmer is going to pull all the way through leading with their two middle fingers (similar to the scull drill).  However, the recovery is still underwater.  As soon as the swimmer reaches full extension they have to execute that high catch asap and work into their full pull.  Make sure that the swimmers are not dropping their elbows during this drill!  When they get the basics down you can run a second round with them focusing on their arm acceleration through the pull leading with the two middle fingers.
• Meat-Hook Freestyle – This is a little more of a rotational and entry drill to have the swimmers get into their catch a little earlier than they truly would as well as  emphasizes an extended point of entry for the hands.  So, instead of bending the arm for the recovery you want to basically imagine your arm being a meat-hook and your hand being the end of the hook (fingers pointing down into the water).  When you enter the water you should almost already be in catch.
• 3-3-3 (a.k.a Gallop) – Go three pulls right, three pulls left, then 3 pulls regular breathing on the third stroke of each phase. The reason this drill is in here is to tie each of the other drills together but focusing on each arm independently and then bringing them together.  Another variation is to go 3 – 3 – 5 or 5 – 5 – 5 in order to get  a little more concentration on each arm and the overall freestyle.

Remember, in order to swim faster freestyle, the first step is to master your body position.  The second step is to obtain and maintain a high catch, efficient pull, and great hand speed.

Stay tuned for Step 3!