Three Tips To Improve Freestyle Swimming
In this article, we are going to talk about three things you should do to improve your freestyle swimming. Finding out the mistakes beginners do when swimming is important and fixing them with correct techniques is even more important. A lot of beginner swimmers repeat common mistakes that can go unnoticed. Repeating the same mistakes and not correcting them on time will cause trouble in the future.
1: Do speedy kicks instead of Scissor Kicks.
Sometimes when you take a long time on your breath, it’s very easy to stop kicking and do a scissor kick to re-balance your body. However, it’s more efficient and faster to do a speedy kick through your breath. Doing scissor kicks will slow you down and can break your pattern of kicks which will also cause problems with breathing and pulling later on in the lap. It will also disqualify you from the competition.
This is one of the most common technique errors among beginner swimmers. It’s very easy to fix if you can notice it. Make your family member record your swimming and then review the footage for such mistakes.
2: Do quick breaths instead of slow rainbow breaths.
This is another very common mistake repeated by beginner swimmers. We call it looking at rainbow or rainbow breaths. It’s where you take your breaths to the side but then you follow your hand forward in front of your face as it enters the water. It looks like you are looking at a giant rainbow in the sky.
It’s more efficient and faster to take a quick breath to the side and put your face right back in the water.
Perfecting any swimming stroke takes a lot of practice and guidance from well-trained instructors. If you or your kids are looking for private swimming lessons from the best instructors in Austin Texas, look no further! Schedule Private Swimming Lessons today and get 50% OFF on your first lesson!
For new swimmers, breathing is a very challenging part. It is very common that beginners to take slow breaths to make themselves comfortable. It is generally due to the fear of water rushing down their nose or mouth. Slow breathing can be good when you are at the beginning stages of swimming but learning to take a quick breath is important down the road.
The advantage of breathing quickly is to keep your head down and steady as much as possible. Turning your head to the side for a longer period of time will break your hydro-dynamic position and will deviate you from a straight line. So use the bathtub or a bucket to learn to breathe as quickly as possible.
Tip: Practice breathing out before your nose and mouth are out of the water. Once your nose and mouth are out of the water use your mouth to blow out the water drops and then breathe in quickly.
3: Perform Catch-Up Freestyle instead of Pocket Freestyle
Another good in-between stage from using a device with catch-up freestyle to regular freestyle is “almost catch-up freestyle” or “tomato freestyle”. That’s when both hands will meet side by side without touching. One arm will not begin its pull until the other arm has met up with it.
Another thing to look at is the had that stays up when taking a breath and sometimes drops too early. This is very common in beginners so we usually do catch-up freestyle with a device like a kick-board. It helps a lot to use a supportive device before moving to regular freestyle.
Always practice the catch-up technique when swimming freestyle. Catch-up Freestyle is when both hands meet after each stroke, so only one arm is moving at a time. Young children find catch-up much easier to understand and learn as they are only using one arm at a time. Catch-up Freestyle will strengthen your core region so the swimmer can develop a long, powerful Freestyle stroke.
Catch-up drills allow the swimmer to work on the timing of their breath more easily.
Perfecting any swimming stroke takes a lot of practice and guidance from well-trained instructors. If you or your kids are looking for private swimming lessons from the best instructors in Austin Texas, look no further! Schedule Private Swimming Lessons today and get 50% OFF on your first lesson!
Watch the following video to improve your freestyle swimming.
