Freestyle Swim Stroke
Roll to the Side Drill

In this freestyle swim stroke drill, you will still maintain a long body in the water. You will however roll from a body down to a body to the side position.

This drill belongs to an older sequence of swimming drills to learn the freestyle stroke. Please consult the Learn How To Swim The Freestyle Stroke article to learn the current sequence of swimming drills.

This will start to ingrain the habit to swim more on the sides in the freestyle swim stroke.

Swimming Drill Video

 Swimming Drill Instructions

• As previously, lie flat in the water, with the face down, and the head aligned with the body.
• Extend your arms to the front, one hand on top of the other.
• Look straight down to the pool.
• Kick with a relaxed flutter kick.
• When you are balanced, you start to stroke down with one hand on a line that follows the center of your body.
• When the stroking hand passes the hips, they roll out of the way. Your whole body should then roll like a log.
• You should stop to roll once you are on your side. You should now be looking at the ceiling, breathing, your bottom arm still extended to the front and your top arm lying on your side.
• After you have taken your breath and rebalanced, you roll back to the initial position with the stroking arm recovered to the front.
• Rebalance and start the cycle again.
• Practice the drill alternating pool lengths where you roll to the left side and pool lengths where you roll to the right side.

Some tips

If you notice that your hips drop down while you roll, make sure that you don't start to roll before your hand passes your head. Also make sure that you lean onto your head and the shoulder of the extended arm to keep your hips and legs up in side position.