Freestyle - Single Arm Freestyle

Posted by Glenn Mills on Dec 09, 2005 10:22AM (15,601 views)

Why Do It:
Single-Arm Freestyle helps you work on several aspects of a powerful freestyle: great ROTATION; maintaining a balanced body position with EYES DOWN; REACHING FULL EXTENSION on every stroke; and keeping elbows high and wrists straight during the pull.

DESCRIBE THE IMAGE How To Do It:

1. Push off in streamline, then pull one arm to your side and KEEP IT THERE as you rotate for air. You should breathe toward the arm that is at your side.

2. After the breath, return your face to the water, and keep one arm at your side as you swim freestyle with the other arm. Breathe toward the same side as your nonstroking arm.

How To Do It Really Well (the Fine Points):

1. Stay balanced and horizontal in the water. Keep eyes down and head low.

2. Reach full extension with the stroking arm - on every stroke.

3. As you reach with the arm and hand, ROTATE your body. See if you can rotate enough to get your nonstroking shoulder to clear the water.

4. Catch and hold the water with your lead hand. Then, keep elbow high and wrist straight as you pull all the way through and into the recovery.

Responses

Tomás	Responded Dec 09, 2005 01:37PM I have a problem with this drill. When I use my right arm I do it fairly well, but when I use my left arm it is a disaster. Not only I loose my alignment and with it my whole posture but my rotation (the purpose of the drill) almost stops. The use of a front snorkell help me a bit, but only if I kick real hard I can get it a litlle bit right...but in this drill one is not supposed to kick but to rotate. Tomas
newcoach	Responded Dec 09, 2005 03:37PM G'da Glenn, This is a great drill. I have my senior swimmers (12- 14 yr olds) do 200 metres of this nearly every training night. Some of the younger kids have difficulty with it so I have them extend the non - stroking arm out front and this assists them in maintaining their balance. I have had great success with this drill and have turned straight armers and short strokers into quite reasonable freestyle arm strokers by using it. New Coach Jerilderie NSW Australia
tigtig	Responded Dec 09, 2005 03:54PM I find that this drill comes together best for me if I focus on the shoulders first before paying much attention to the arms and hands. I find that if I concentrate on the nonstroking shoulder, and on giving it an added emphasis or "zip" downward, then the stroking arm kind of just "happens" quite powerfully without consciously "pulling" and the rotation/momentum are maintained. (Of course, the kick has to be synchronized too with the rotation or contortions of body/spine are inevitable, in my case at least.) tigtig
jack	Responded Dec 09, 2005 07:16PM I have the problem with my left arm in both single arm free and back. I assume that it's because I'm right-handed. The other thing I've noticed is that when doing single arm free (not back), my kick and rotation gets messed up. For those reasons I try to pay close attention during these drills so that I can correct accordingly.
Tomás	Responded Dec 09, 2005 09:13PM tigtig I went to the pool and practice that "zipping" downward of the shoulder, it sure makes a difference!!!! I felt much more comfortable. Thanks. Tomas
Tomás	Responded Dec 10, 2005 02:06PM Newcoach I have this question: since I have so much trouble with my left arm, I extend the non stroking arm and its pretty easy that way...but then I can not rotate and it seams more of a butterfly drill than a freestyle drill...can you give some advice on this drill? Thanks Tomas
soulswimmer	Responded Dec 11, 2005 10:22AM This is a favorite of mine. I think it is great from a technique standpoint, doing breathe-away and breathe-toward style. This can also be a very effective sprint freestyle training aid. It enforces an effective kick, and hand speed simulatneously. An example set is 8 x 50 on 1:15, descend 1-4, 1-arm free. The goal is to get down to within 5-10 seconds of your best 50 free time. While +:05 seconds may sound fast, in fact good sprinters with strong kicks can actually achieve this. I allow the non-stroking arm up or down in the speed drills, and have found little difference in performance, with the best sprinter I have coached (23.+ Long Course in high school) preferring arm down.
soulswimmer	Responded Dec 11, 2005 10:24AM By the way, the video footage on this one is outstanding Glenn.
Tomás	Responded Dec 11, 2005 11:44AM Soulswimmer Aren't drills supposed to be performed at a very slow pace? Isn't it true that a 99% "good" drill is a 100% "bad" drill? Tomas
soulswimmer	Responded Dec 11, 2005 05:04PM Well, yes and no Tomas, depends upon what your objective is. If you want to increase your physical vocabulary to perform a specific motion in a specific manner, then a slow drill is a good idea, much as one would learn a new piece on the piano, etc. However, in order to swim fast, you have to be able to execute a complex motion with rapidity, and you need to train a new motion at speed to use it for high performance. I also believe that their is a "passive technique" effect, whereby the challenging motion of drills stimulates adaptation in the body -- I think the effect differs at slow and fast rates. Now, I am not a physiologist or anything, so this is my own explanation for what is going on, but I at least have anecdotal evidence that suggests that this approach is effective.
Glenn Mills	Responded Dec 11, 2005 08:45PM I used to say that too, 99% good is 100% bad, until a great coach told me that when you demand 100% perfection, you limit freedom and stiffle the swimmers. Swimming is NOT about perfection, or creating a "perfect" movement. Swimming is about figuring out what works for you, depending on what your needs and goals are. If I'm working with a 20 year old college swimmer, I'm going to have a totally different way of teaching than if I work with a 40 year old who has never swum, and wants to do triathlons. New coach, thanks for the arm-extended version. I think we filmed that, I'll have to look for it. You're absolutely correct about how it helps younger kids, and can also get athletes to really focus on DRIVING that lead hand forward during the finish of the stroke. Cool, and thanks.
dcoughman	Responded Sep 18, 2006 10:52AM Is it imperative to breathe to the non stroking side? It feels more natural to breathe to the stroking side.
Sheila	Responded Oct 09, 2010 06:52AM What happened to the video? Is it no longer available?

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Freestyle - Single Arm Freestyle

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