There is certainly a whole range of drills for freestyle sprinters, but the 3 drills referred to in this article should be included in any sprint swimmer’s training plan.
Left arm/right arm freestyle. The first thing to pay attention to is how your body is balanced during the propulsion phase and arm recovery. As we have already seen, your shoulders should rotate through approximately 30°/40° on both sides. This drill is useful for controlling your leg kick, which should remain constant throughout the entire drill to allow make the arm recovery phase easier.
Swimming freestyle, initially perform this drill with your stationery arm extended in front of your head and then, when you have learnt the proper position, you can extend your arm along your body.
Learn to count the number of strokes you make every 25 m, this will allow you to correct any unnecessary movements and work more effectively on your forward propulsion and on reducing any resistance due to incorrect movements.
When performing this drill we often use either fins or (later in the season) a water parachutes or T-shirt to turn this into a strength training drill in the water.
