Guy's Freestyle Swimming Page

    I have set up this page to share some of my enthusiasm and hopefully some tips   
    on swimming freestyle. Please email me (see the link at the bottom of this document)
    any comments etc.This page is for beginner to intermediate swimmers. All of what I 
    have written is based on experience through what I have read, observed and been taught
    by others. 

    Freestyle, also known as the front crawl, is a very gracefull stroke to watch when
    it is done well. It is also a relaxing and enjoyable stroke - using the least energy
    to take you through the water faster than any of the other strokes. 

• Use your energy and effort appropriately


• Swim Downhill
• Roll through the water
• Make yourself tall
• Slow down your stroke rate
• Enjoy swimming
• Keeping your goggles from misting

Keeping your goggles from misting.

Many of us have experienced the problems of goggles misting up.
There are three different ways, of dealing with this, that I have come across.
Different solutions available are:

• Spitting in your goggles.

Who really wants to see the person next to them spitting into their goggles then

rinsing them out in the water they are about to swim in.

• Using an anti misting spray such as speedos anti fog spray.

Personally I have found this spray to be not particularly effective.

As you have to rinse it out since getting the tuff in your eyes is not advised.

• Licking your goggles.

I saw someone doing this for the first time and wondered how effective it was.

On trying it out myself I found it to be the best method.

Ok it sounds a little bit ugly but this is how to do it:

Rinse your goggles. Lick the insides of the goggles. Then rinse the goggles again and leave a very small amount of water in the goggles.

Enjoy Swimming.

    The most important thing though is to enjoy swimming. In fact the more you enjoy swimming, 
    the more you will become aware of the subtle changes you need to make to improve your technique. 
    Swimming freestyle involves a lot of concentration, to do it well, and a concentrated mind is a happy mind!

Make yourself tall.

    As each arm enters the water stretch the arm forward so that you are long in the water.
    Rolling (see the section on Roll through the water) and swimming downhill (see the section 
    on Swim Downhill) will help make yourself taller as well.
    The 'taller' you are the less drag you will be creating, and the more water you will have
    to pull past you.
    Really stretch that arm out so that you feel a stretch running from under your arm down to
    your hip.			
 

Slow down your stroke rate.

    Soon after I had become reasonably proficient at swimming freestyle I noticed something. 
    This was that I was taking far fewer strokes than many other people, while at the same time 
    I was as fast or faster than these people. I also noticed that if I slowed my stroke down even 
    more I could in fact go even faster through the water. I know this sounds really counter-intuitive. 
    But here is my little theory on why. We need to visit the world of jet aircraft to understand 
    this theory. For a jet to accelerate most efficiently the air it expels needs to be travelling just 
    slightly faster than the speed of the air entering the jet's engine. So translating this to swimming. 
    To swim through the water with the highest speed your hand/arm needs to move through the water 
    at around the same speed as your progress through the water. Now I am willing to be told that I am 
    completely wrong - but my experience is that slowing my stroke speed down has a marked effect 
    on my velocity through the water. Of course what will then happen is that as your velocity increases 
    so your stroke speed will. However you will still be covering the same distance with each stroke. 
    So stop that splashing around, relax and you may notice a difference. 

Roll through the water.

    When you swim through the water you will be creating a certain amount of drag.
    This means that the water will be 'trying' to slow you down as you 'try' to move
    forwards. What needs to happen therefore is to minimise the amount the water slows 
    you down. 

    Rolling through the water enables you to do this. You will probably be rolling 
    already when you take your in-breath. The next thing that needs to happen is 
    that you need to roll when you are not taking an in-breath. As your arm is entering 
    the water and stretching forward (see the section on 'Make yourself tall'), you need 
    to roll onto that side. So as your left arm stretches forward you will be rolling 
    with you left side closer to the pool floor than your right side. The amount you 
    need to roll is for you to discover. Practising this you can exaggerate the roll, 
    with your torso facing the wall of the pool.
    So why will this help? Well see for yourself. You will see a definite increase in 
    your speed through the water. You may even notice this change straightaway - if 
    you have not been rolling already. 

Swim Downhill.

    Swimming downhill is just a term used to describe what to aim for. 
    To travel through the water efficiently you will need to be as flat 
    as possible in the water. That means if your feet are considerably 
    below your head - you will be slowing yourself down. So what we need 
    to do is bring our lower body up and our upper body down a little. 
    Another way to think of it is to try to get your backside out of the 
    water. So try to aim the front of your body down and your legs will 
    float up. Practise this - or better keep this idea in your mind as you 
    swim and work with seeing what happens.

Use your energy and effort appropriately.
Swim gracefully.

    To start with the obvious - to move forwards you need to move
    the water past you towards your feet. Ok, sounds obvious like
    I said, but how many of us splash though the water. Or introduce
    a whole load of air bubbles into the water. 
    All that energy going into splashing through the water is being
    converted into water flying out of the pool and probably soaking
    those hapless swimmers in the slow lane. All those bubbles underwater
    also mean that you will not have as firm a purchase on the water
    as you could have, if you created fewer bubbles.

    Aquatic animals demonstrate this very well. The grace of dolphins,
    whales, seals and all sorts of fish demonstrate this point.
    I know we don't have fins but the grace of their movement,
    hides the power behind it.   

    The point you may try and reach is to skim through the water.
    Producing very little splashing, having no bubbles under the water 
    and powering through the water gracefully.

    Eliminating the bubbbles.
    So how do you stop introducing bubbles into the water?
    Well the answer is you can't do that very easily. But 
    you can remove the bubbles from under you palms quite easily.
    As you hand goes into the water stretch it forward and leave it
    forward (see the section on "Make yourself tall"). If you slide
    your hand into the water, at an angle, this will also reduce
    the bubbles.
    What you want to see under water as you pullyour arm down and
    back, is an arm with no bubbles fizzing off it.

    Swimming without splashing.
    This is a little harder. Read the section on "Make yourself tall".
    What it boils down to is this. Why waste all that effort throwing
    water out of the pool, when you could be shifting that mass of water
    behind you, and moving yourself forwards faster as a consequence.

    Swimming gracefully.
    Freestyle, swum well, is a gracefull stroke to watch. The apparent 
    ease with which each stroke pulls one through the water can hide the strength
    behind the stroke.        
 

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