Championship Stroke Breakdown Series: Freestyle Breakdown

One of the most effective ways to improve your freestyle swimming technique is to break down the stroke into its main components, improve each component, and then rebuild the stroke.

2012 National Coach of the Year Arthur Albiero provides drill progressions that isolate the key components of freestyle for all swimmers wanting to improve their stroke. Three-time NCAA Champion Joao De Lucca provides demonstrations for over 20 different drills, as well as starts, turns and relay take offs.

Coach Albiero outlines the key components of freestyle - from body line, kicking and breathing to starts, turns and breakouts.

Body Line
Learn a five-drill progression designed to create a tight body line that will minimize drag and keep the swimmer's body fully engaged from fingertips to toes. This progression provides balance through core stabilization. Throughout the progression, Albiero notes which drills De Lucca favors because they play to his strengths and which ones he doesn't favor although they remain valuable as they address his challenges - and why both are important.

Pull Progression
Discover drills for addressing every aspect of the freestyle pull - from the catch through the middle scull to the finish.

Coach Albiero's "Pull Drill" progression advances from sculling drills that focus on feeling the water to catch drills. Albiero adds a little twist to these familiar drills by using tools like snorkels, paddles, sponges and tennis balls to isolate components.

This progression helps swimmers develop slow hands in the front of the pull and fast hands in the back of the pull phase into the hand exit for excellent timing, tempo and rhythm. Coach Albiero teaches an eight-drill progression that transitions from a sculling focus during the beginning of the propulsive phase to swimming with a complete superb freestyle stroke.

Turn & Starts & Turns
Coach Albiero analyzes the elements of a fast freestyle turn. He breaks down the wall approach, foot positioning on the wall, the ideal body line leaving the wall, the dolphins and the breakout stroke.In addition, you will gain insights into the forward start and the two-step relay start. Albiero demonstrates the mechanics of the start and discusses the ideal "feel" when on the blocks - stable, comfortable and relaxed but ready to react.

Strategies
Great technique is just part of the equation when it comes to lowering times. In this segment, Coach Albiero interviews three-time NCAA champion De Lucca about race strategies for 200, 100 and 50 freestyle. They discuss pace, breathing, and use of straight arm recovery at turns and finishes for a burst of speed. This interview will give swimmers insight into the level of planning required to maximize meet performances.

Help your athletes refine their freestyle by using component training and drill progressions to swim faster and more efficiently.

39 minutes. 2015.