Drills

Some Drills that I have collected over the past few years, I hope they are helpful

Freestyle Drills

Firestone - The purpose of this drill is to work on quick fast turns and breakouts

• Have the swimmers grab onto the wall and kick all out for 10 seconds, face in the water, when the coach yells go the swimmers do their flip turn and sprint halfway down the pool, the last half is an easy swim. 
• This can be done as an individual set, for example: 8 x 25 firestone on the 1:15 (the interval will depend on the number of swimmers you have in each lane and number of coaches you have available, with a greater number of swimmers you will need a longer interval in order to have enough time to finish the last swimmer and send off the first)

Zipper Drill - The purpose of this drill is to encourage the swimmers to keep a high elbow during the recovery phase of freestyle. It provides a faster turnover and allows you to get back to the power phase quicker.

• During the recovery have your swimmers stick their thumb out from their hand, it will be an L shape.
• As they do the recovery they will drag their thumb up their side into their armpit, this is the zipper motion
• Their arm, keeping that elbow high, will continue over their head and enter the water in front of them as they rotate.

Rotation Drill - Can be done for freestyle or backstroke. It helps develop the habit of optimal rotation during both freestyle and back stroke.

• This is a slow motion freestyle/backstroke, the swimmer will take 3 strokes and pause
• While on their side they will take 6 kicks before taking 3 more strokes and pausing on the opposite side
• Take 6 kicks and repeat the rotation.
• While paused, the swimmers should be completely on their side
• NOTE: The rotation should also be emphasized in the 3 in between strokes, this is not a slack off phase

H-H Drill - High elbow recovery hesitation drill

• The H-H in this drill stands for Head-Hip
• On the recovery have the swimmer touch their hand to their head and then their hip before bringing it fully forward for the pull
• while the recovery hand is touching the head and hip the other hand should be streamlined and the pull should be completed when the recovering hand comes forward after touching the hip (like a normal recovery)
• This drill works best when the swimmer is completely on their side during the recovery, it helps work on proper rotation during the swim

Fingertip Drag – High Elbow

• Swim freestyle normally, breathing every 3 strokes
• During the recovery as your hand exits the water by your thigh drag your fingertips through the water to the entry point above your head
• Your elbow should be bent and be higher than everything else
• This drill helps you get your hand from the exit point at your thigh to the entrance point above your head in the shortest and fastest way possible, it also helps you enter fingertips first rather than palm first

Backstroke Drills

6/6 – helps with rotation

• Start on your side with one arm outstretched above your head and the other arm at your side
• Kick 6 times on this side
• In the 7^th  kick, pull with the outstretched arm
• Bring the arm by your side through the recovery (thumb out, pinky in) and stretch it out above your head while rotating to the other side
• Repeat this doing 6 kicks on that side before pulling and rotating to the opposite side
• NOTE: when rotated, your shoulder should be directly in line with your chin

Breaststroke Drills

Timing Drill

• Take the first arm stroke
• Kick and glide
• In the streamlines position count one one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand before taking your next arm stroke
• As the swimmer becomes more comfortable you can decrease the count until one one-thousand between pulls

Two pulls/one kick – isolates arms and works on strengthening pull

• Instead of one pull/one kick, perform two pulls per kick
• During the first pull the legs should stay stretched out behind you
• After the second pull, perform your kick and glide
• Repeat (pull, pull, kick, pull, pull, kick)

 Two kicks/one pull – works on kick

• Similar to the previous drill, perform two kicks per pull
• Take your first pull then kick and glide
• During the second kick your arms should be stretched out in streamline position
• Repeat (pull, kick, kick, pull, kick, kick)

Butterfly Drills

One-arm butterfly – teaches rhythm of butterfly arm stroke with the kick

• During this drill the arm not used should be stretched out in front of you
•  As your am reaches in front and extends under the water, do a down kick
•  As you pull and your arm goes below your body, do an up kick
• The second down kick should happen as your hand exits the water by your thigh

 3-3 Arm Drill

• Similar to the one-arm butterfly drill, do 3 arm strokes with one arm
• Switch and do 3 strokes with the other arm
• This drill still focuses on timing but makes it a little more challenging focusing on both arms rather than just one

 3-3-3 Drill

• Same as above, 3 strokes with the left arm then 3 strokes with the right arm
• After the right arm take 3 full strokes of butterfly with both arms
• Repeat this pattern for the whole drill

 One-arm, Six kicks

• Take one stroke of full butterfly pull
• Go underwater and do 6 butterfly kicks before coming up to do another pull
• Repeat for the whole length