Swimming Freestyle
Slide-Front-Slide Drill

This swimming drill is designed to teach you how to roll from one side to the other while swimming freestyle, with and intermediary prone 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.

You will also practice dynamic balance and maintaining a long body while you roll from side to side. This is an excellent exercise to learn how to keep a long, balanced and slippery position while you swim the freestyle stroke.

Swimming Drill Video

Drill Instructions

• Start to glide on your side like in the previous slide on your side freestyle drill.
• When you are perfectly balanced, start to slide the hand on your side up along your body, as if you were taking it out of a pocket.
• When the hand arrives at the level of your face, roll with the whole body in a prone position, face now looking straight down to the bottom of the pool.
• Simultaneously, your sliding hand enters the water and extends to the front, until you have both arms extended with one hand on top of the other. You are now in exactly the same position as in the balancing with extended arms freestyle stroke drill.
• Now take the time to rebalance perfectly. This means the head is aligned with the spine, the face is looking down, you are pressing on your chest and the hips and legs are close to the water surface.
• When you are rebalanced, start to stroke down with the other arm.
• Roll like a log as the hand passes your head to regain the initial slide on your side position on the other side.
• Rebalance, then start the same cycle again from the other side.

Conclusion

You should now be comfortable swimming on your side and rolling from one side to the other, which is another step towards an improved freestyle swimming technique.