How to Swim a Faster Freestyle

Swimming a faster freestyle requires discipline and dedication to learn and practice swimming skills, including stroke technique, kicking skills, and putting the two together to swim fast. Swimming fast also requires appropriate aerobic conditioning and speed training.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. The first step to a faster freestyle is a good freestyle kick. Most of the oxygen used by your body while swimming is used in your kick, therefore, your kick must be rhythmic and not overpowering. If you are swimming freestyle for distance, kick using a 1-2, 1-2 pattern, kicking every one to three seconds. Kick using your whole leg with just a slight bend in the knee.

2. The next step to a faster freestyle is arm stroke. Your hand should enter the water just above your head diving into the water parallel to the surface, reaching far enough above your head so that your body rotates to the same side as the the arm that is above your head. From there, pull your arm down through the water to your waist, bending at the elbow, finishing the stroke by thrusting your forearm back by your side/thigh. The arm stroke should resemble drawing a question mark with your arm. You can practice this out of the water.

3. Using the appropriate stroke, the next step is training. In order to really get fast at freestyle, you will need an aerobic base followed by anaerobic (speed) t raining. Aerobic training in the pool requires sustained swimming with a main set of 30 to 50 minutes swimming intervals with short rest periods. For example: 5 x 200 with 15 seconds rest interval. Once you have an aerobic base , depending on fitness level this can take 1-3 months, anaerobic training is necessary. Anaerobic training consists of swimming shorter distances really fast, with little rest. For example: 6 x 50 on 1:00 minute interval followed by an easy 200 swim, followed by another 6 x 50 on 1:00, 200 swim, ending with 6 x 50 on 1:00 and a 200 easy swim. This actually builds aerobic capacity and should be added to your aerobic training as soon as you have an aerobic base.

4. Speed training is the final step in swimming a fast freestyle. Speed training consists of swimming short distance in an all-out sprint with a full recovery as a rest period.

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on 3/7/2009 An entire manual on Personal Swim Instruction is available for free download at www.psaes.info or by typing into your address bar personalearning.info.