Freestyle - Heavy-Hand Side Kick

Learn to connect the pulling arm to the recoverying arm to give you another option for strong freestyle.

Why Do It:
Options!  Swimming is all about options, and learning which one works best for you, in sprinting, or long-distance swims.  Sometimes what ends up being right, is the absolute opposite from everything you've heard.  If you've not tried it, you'll never know.

How to Do It:
1.  Start by developing great balance by kicking flutter kick on your side.
2.  Keep the lead arm out front, eyes directly down at the bottom, and use fins if you have a need for a bit more push during your kick.
3.  Slowly begin to recover the trailing arm and, as you do, feel the weight on your lead hand.
4.  Don't fight the weight.  Instead, allow the hand to be pushed down into the catch by the weight of the recovering hand.
5.  You know you're doing it right when your body snaps to the other side.

How to Do It Really Well (the Fine Points):
Rather than having the hands in a front quadrant timing, they should be much farther apart... nearly opposing.  When you learn to use the weight of the recovering hand to help drive the pulling hand down into the catch, you can also choose to either add rate for sprinting, or add effeciency for longer swims.  The most important thing is to keep playing, and don't get stuck in a rut.