Consistency in training, putting in the yards… and yet, you feel like you’ve hit a plateau?
To swim faster freestyle, it’s not just a matter of cranking up your intensity or turning over your arms faster. More often than not, progression goes hand in hand with freestyle technique optimization. Before you try to shift gears, you have to nail the fundamentals: a well-executed freestyle allows you to drop time, but more importantly, it lets you hold pace longer without burning out.
Maintain a Streamlined Body Position to Reduce Drag
- Stay Horizontal in the Water: body position is the foundation of efficient freestyle swimming.Your body should remain as horizontal as possible, with your head aligned with your spine and your eyes looking toward the bottom of the pool. The moment you lift your head, your hips begin to sink. This increases drag and immediately slows you down.
- Engage Your Core: core stability is essential for maintaining an efficient body position. A strong, stable torso minimizes unnecessary movement and helps you swim in a straight, streamlined line
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Head Position: Your Built-In Rudder. Your head controls the alignment of your entire body.
When your head is in the correct position, everything else naturally follows. Looking forward—even slightly—breaks your streamline, causes your hips to drop, and dramatically increases energy expenditure.
This effect becomes even more noticeable in open water, especially when wearing a wetsuit.
Develop Long, Efficient Arm Strokes
- Hand Entry and Extension: an efficient freestyle stroke begins with a precise hand entry. Reach forward in line with your shoulder without crossing your body's centerline. Keep your fingers relaxed and close together to create an effective surface for the catch.
- The Catch and Underwater Pull: Once your hand enters the water, establish a solid catch before applying force. Avoid pulling with a completely straight arm. Maintaining roughly a 115-degree bend at the elbow allows you to engage your latissimus dorsi more effectively and generate stronger propulsion. Once the underwater pull is complete, keep the overwater recovery relaxed to eliminate unnecessary tension.
- Use Your Kick to Maintain Balance: for middle- and long-distance freestyle, the kick primarily serves to stabilize your body and keep your hips close to the surface. Large kicks or feet that break the surface create unnecessary drag while wasting valuable energy. Instead, aim for compact, controlled flutter kicks.
Fewer Strokes, More Speed
Swimming faster doesn’t mean moving your arms faster. Elite swimmers cover more distance with fewer strokes because every pull is more effective. By improving your catch and glide, you’ll reduce your stroke count while maintaining—or even increasing—your speed. The result? Less fatigue and greater efficiency.
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Increase Stroke Rate at the Right Time: only after you've developed efficient technique and consistent stroke length should you begin working on stroke rate. The objective isn't to spin your arms faster.
Instead, find a sustainable rhythm that matches your race distance while preserving stroke quality. The fastest swimmers combine good stroke length with an efficient stroke rate.
Coach's Final Takeaway for Free Speed
Learning how to swim faster freestyle isn’t about applying brute force; it’s about mastering your hydrodynamics. A perfectly aligned body, precise arm mechanics, a compact kick, and an adaptable stroke rate will allow you to cut through the water while conserving precious energy.
Before you chase the clock, lock in your technical baselines—ideally with a coach on deck or through targeted technical drills!