Posture, Line and Balance Focus

Posture. Shape your core like a torpedo (in other words flatten your spine):

Tilt your pelvis towards your lower ribs. Do not bend at the waist.
Fully extend your neck, pressing your chin back towards your spine, head neutral.

Try this lying on a mat, then standing, try it in the pool while vertical kicking, then swimming.

Line. Your arms and legs extend the stable core posture described above to create your aquatic line, which is a straight line.

Balance. Keep your body parallel to the surface of the water, from fingertips of the extended arm to the toes. Freestyle swimming is balance shifting from a perfect aquatic line on one side to a perfect aquatic line on the other.

Technique Focus Points

Head neutral, eyes down. Keep your head neutral on your spine. Look straight down at the bottom of the pool. (Except when breathing!)
Long neck. Keep your neck fully extended, chin in.
Flat back. Tilt your pelvis towards your ribs.
Legs straight. Do not bend the knees, do not let the legs sink below the column your core is swimming through.

Posture, Line and Balance Focus Workouts

More Information

Video Clips. In the Natalie Coughlin video clips on the following webpage, she really empahsizes body position. Watch how she maintains perfect posture, line and balance right at the surface, and notice how little her breathing disrupts her stroke:

Video Clips - Natalie Coughlin

None of the clips on the pages below deal specifically with posture, line and balance, but look at the better swimmers carefully as they swim freestyle and perform various drills. Their posture, line and balance are most often very good. That is what separates the really good swimmers from the less disciplined swimmers.

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