Body Position in Freestyle
Body position.
Of all the issues that come up in swimming technique, I would argue that body position is the most important. Why? Because if this falls apart, nothing else matters.
When you are swimming freestyle your body should be level with the waterline. Your head, butt, and feet should all be in line, at the same depth.
The thing most people struggle with when it comes to maintaining body position is preventing your legs from dropping. In swimming parlance it’s called “keeping your hips up”. That basically means you want to keep your butt level with your head. This in turn keeps your legs higher in the water, so when you kick your heels should be breaking the surface of the water, creating a “boiling” effect.
Why is this important? Get ready for some top-notch art.
When your hips drop, you are literally dragging your body through the water. This makes it very difficult to move forward and gives you a sense of sinking. This slowing, sinking feeling can also make you feel a little panicky, which leads to a person starting to pick their head up to breathe as opposed to rotate. That, in turn, makes your hips drop even more.
So what can you do you prevent your hips from dropping?
1. Head position. First and foremost. Picking your head up makes your hips drop (try it in the water sometime: float face down and pick your head up to breathe, see where your butt and legs go.) You basically want to keep your head in a neutral position, looking towards the bottom of the pool. And when breathing you really want to avoid lifting your head out of line with your body. Instead think of rotating to the side, physically keeping your ear on your shoulder if you have to (more on this in another post).
2. Pushing your chest down. Often times coaches will tell you to “swim downhill”. Your torso is full of two big air pockets (your lungs). By pushing that down in the water you will force your hips up.
3. Keep your body long. Your spine should be straight and extended. This will make you more aerodynamic, and the faster you go, the easier it is to maintain your body position (think of riding a bike—the faster you’re going, the easier it is to stay straight.)
4. Kick. Having an effective kick will help you with speed and keeping your legs up. This, also, is worth another post on its own.
If you’d like to get the sensation of having better body position with a little help, you can also try swimming with fins (this will give you some extra speed and lift, as well as helps with ankle flexibility) or use a pull buoy (though this prevents you from kicking, it should make swimming a lot easier if you are struggling with body position.)
Additional articles:
Swimming World Magazine
Drill from Training Peaks
Video on Body Position in Freestyle (sometimes a visual is super helpful)