Comprehend: Proper rotation and balance is key to maintaining a consistent stroke and speed.
Goals: The body should stay equally balanced as it rotates side-to-side
Self Analysis: Video yourself from front for future reference
Sensory Drill: Take 3 strokes with your shoulders remaining flat on the surface, then overly exaggerate your rotation by driving each shoulder into the water as the arm enters
FEEL: How the rotation connects the entire body into your power and reduces shoulder strain
Finds: Review your videos:
- Do you rotate at all as you stroke?
- Do you rotate more to one side than the other?
- Do you stop rotating during a breathing stroke to a particular side?
Fixes: Drill – Single-Arm stroking with non-stroking arm up (swim a few laps on each arm)
It’s time to stop using a snorkel and train your body balance when stroking AND breathing.
Comprehend: This drill will train proper timing of your breath, proper rotation, and an equal rotation on each side. It also makes swimming with quality technique very hard so it is ideal to perfect your stroke. For this drill, you have to consciously rotate your non-stroking shoulder down between each stroke. Use the paddles described in the previous section to fix your individual stroke problems.
Drill 1:
Breathe away from your stroking arm (breathe every stroke) – swim 50+ yards
Drill 2:
Breathe toward the stroking arm (breathe every stroke) – swim 50+ yards
Drill 3:
Breathe toward the first stroke, don’t breathe for second stroke, breathe away from the 3rd stroke, repeat; This third version addresses the most problems, so use this drill regularly in warm-ups
Repeat: This drill process is ideal for repetition as you learn to breathe behind the bow wave