What to pay attention to:
This drill is used to move the body toward the front so that a more level swimming position can be reached. The drill is as follows: Swim freestyle in your regular way except that you pull with one arm at a time with the other arm waiting in front of you. As you finish the stroke both hands should be next to each other in a streamlined position. Keep your hands extended in order to keep a smooth transition and don’t move your arm until both hands touch.
Head position: Your head should remain in the proper position. When both hands are in front of you, you can concentrate on your head position being in the perfect place.
Hand position: As your hand comes next to the hand already at front, focus on having a clean entry into the water and keeping your hand relaxed as it stays in front of your body.
Arm position: When your arm is in front keep it as straight as possible and don’t start to catch the water. This drill is focusing on keeping the body forward so that the body is level so focus on the smooth transition up front.
Shoulder position: Your shoulders should continue to move as if you were swimming freestyle with both arms. Maintain a strong and relaxed body position.
Hip position: The hips should continue to move as if you were swimming freestyle with both arms.
Leg position: The legs should be aligned with the hips and the kick should be small, even, and a good pace.
Arm speed: Arms should move slightly slower than the normal freestyle speed. During this drill focus not on finishing the drill but maintaining correct head and body position. Focus on having the hands meet at the front of the stroke in a level way with a clean water entry.
Breathing: The breathing during this drill should be the normal freestyle breathe every three.
What things mean:
In freestyle you want to be level with the water so that you are not swimming up hill. If you have your head or body to far down then it will feel like you are swimming downhill and your hips will be too high and it will slow you down.
How things work:
Freestyle is swam on your side with power being generated through the rotation of the shoulders and hips. From head to feet however, you need to maintain a level plane right at the water surface so that you are neither swimming up or downhill. This will make it easier to get through the water as well as to be able to rotate from side to side.
How things might turn out: By doing this drill and focusing on proper body position and streamlining when the hands touch, you will be able to have a more level body position when swimming freestyle, you will develop the feel of gliding a bit longer at the very start of the stroke before starting the catch portion, and you develop better hand entry technique. These three main improvements will help you become a more efficient and balanced swimmer.
Fun bit: To mix things up, you can also start the catch portion of the freestyle stroke as your other hand enters the water and is still gliding forward. This will help you concentrate on the catch.
Trivia bit: In freestyle, swimmers originally dove from the pool walls, diving blocks were eventually incorporated at the 1936 Olympics.