Breakwater Freestyle 2 - Session 3: Early-Vertical-Forearm Freestyle

We are continuing to focus on aspects of the early vertical forearm catch. Notice in the photos to the left that the swimmer first gets into the setup position and then gets her hand and forearm vertical while her elbow is still out in front of her head. This gives her a very long stroke. Learn to leave that elbow out front until your hand and forearm are perpendicular to your direction of travel.

Drills

• Scull #1 and Doggie Paddle
• Kickboard Single Arm Drill
• 6-1-6
• 9-3-9

We did all of these drills last week -- see last week's notes for more information.

Near the bottom of the Video Clips - Arms page, there is a video of the dryland exercise that I demonstrated on the pool deck. If you perform this exercise regularly, in a very short time you can gain strength and increase mobility so that you will be able to rotate your arm, bend your elbow, and get your forearm and hand perpendicular to your direction of travel while still out in front of your head.

Next session, we'll continue our focus on the arm stroke mechanics, and we will introduce exercises and drills that focus on getting into the setup position correctly and quickly.

Note that getting into the setup position quickly means not only recovering your arm quickly through the air, but more importantly getting your entire body into that setup position - from fingertips to toes. We tend to focus on hurling the arm out front and extending it as far as possible - but how you shape the body behind that arm is more important. See you next week!

Back to the Freestyle 2 program page.