Core Connection and Body Position

Core connection and body position are essential for balance and easy power. Some of these drills come from the University of Arizona in Fast Lane Freestyle. This video gives excellent instructions and tips on many essential drills with world class swimmers demonstrating technique. The Elevation and Bow Drills are two that I do regularly. They are also the foundation for all the other drills from UA. The idea here is to hold a body position at various points of the stroke to gain better balance, strength and understanding of how to move through these points while swimming. A snorkel is the one essential tool for these drills. It allows us to hold these positions without being interrupted by the breath. Finally, the kick. If you do get to watch Fast Lane Freestyle, you will find that all these drills are kick heavy. The kick is the anchor to our stroke, giving us something to leverage against and provides us forward momentum.

• Elevation Drill- bottom arm relaxed at your our side, top arm with finger tips to elbow in the water, bicep just out of the water, and elbow near the top of your head. In this position the elbow is above forearm, forearm above wrist, wrist above finger tips.

• Bow Drill- bottom arm reaching forward about 10 inches below the surface, top arm with hand held just before the entry point about 10 inches above the water.

• Rotation Drill- a very slow and deliberate freestyle stroke with a body position pause into a quick, snappy rotation.

• Easy Swim- put it together and stretch it out, maintain a quick and snappy rotation.

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Kick like Thunder

It’s all in the kick!

The kick is the foundation to a good stroke. It gives us leverage for the rotation and the power in the pull. These ideas are not new and I certainly did not come up with it. If you look at the many videos from the great world class coaches you will see that they all discuss this. It may not be the same exact words, but these ideas are all in there. If you get a chance, watch Fast Lane Freestyle with University of Arizona swim coaches; Frank Busch, Rick DeMont, August Busch and Greg Rhodenbaugh. This is where Frank Busch talks about a great kick as setting up body position and Rick DeMont talking about the kick is the anchor for leverage in our stroke. As Coach DeMont says, “Kick Like Thunder.”

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