Improve Your Freestyle Technique with the Fingertip Drag Drill
Freestyle Stroke Perfection: How the Fingertip Drag Drill Enhances Your Swim
Before starting today's session, we will focus on the Fingertip Drag Drill, a freestyle technique that helps refine your stroke by emphasizing a high elbow recovery and fluid arm movement. By gently dragging your fingertips along the water’s surface, you will develop better control, relaxation, and efficiency in your freestyle stroke. This drill also reinforces body rotation and balance, key components of a smooth and powerful swim. Pay attention to keeping your hands close to your body and maintaining a steady rhythm. Let's focus on precision and technique as we go through this drill!
Fingertip Drag Drill
Purpose:
Fingertip Drag is a classic freestyle swimming drill designed to improve your high elbow recovery, promote relaxation in your hands during the recovery phase, and enhance overall body balance and rotation. It is simple yet highly effective in refining your freestyle technique.
How to Perform the Drill:
- Swim freestyle as you normally would.
- As your arm recovers out of the water, drag your fingertips along the surface from the moment your hand exits the water until it extends forward.
- Keep your elbow high while maintaining constant fingertip contact with the water.
- Rotate your body smoothly with each stroke to allow for a controlled and balanced movement.
Key Focus Points to Execute it Well:
✔ Maintain a High Elbow Recovery – Keeping your fingertips in contact with the water ensures that your elbow stays high, helping you achieve an efficient stroke recovery.
✔ Relax Your Hand – Avoid stiff fingers. Keeping them relaxed prevents an early drop into the water and helps maintain fluid motion.
✔ Extend Your Arm Forward After Recovery – Once your hand passes your shoulder, stretch forward to maintain a long and streamlined body position. This helps with balance and efficiency in the stroke.
✔ Keep Hands Close to Your Body – Avoid swinging your arms too wide. Proper body rotation allows your elbow to stay high while keeping your fingertips in contact with the water.
✔ Adjust if Necessary – If you struggle to keep your fingertips in the water, think of it as a wrist drag instead, focusing on the back of your hand lightly pushing the water instead of just the fingertips.
Why This Drill is Important:
✅ Reinforces proper arm recovery mechanics
✅ Encourages relaxation in the hands and forearms
✅ Enhances body balance and rotation
✅ Improves stroke efficiency and control
Practice this drill regularly, and you’ll notice improvements in your freestyle technique, making your stroke smoother, more efficient, and ultimately faster!
Tags for the FingerTip Drill for Better Swimming
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