{"id":67604,"date":"2014-03-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/uncategorized\/whats-keeping-freestyle\/"},"modified":"2014-03-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-03-06T00:00:00","slug":"whats-keeping-freestyle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/training-technique\/whats-keeping-freestyle\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s keeping your freestyle down &#8211; Head position, resistance and balance."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Brant Best is an Australian national swimming team coach as well as coach to 100m freestyle World Champion, James \u2018The Missile\u2019 Magnussen. We asked Brant for a few inside freestyle tips, and he was happy to help!<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h3>Instinct vs. efficiency<\/h3>\n<p>Proper body position is key to freestyle swimming. Yet our instinct works against us. As land animals we spend most of our life looking where we\u2019re going so we don\u2019t run into things. In the water, we compensate for lack of balance and orientation by looking forward. We may feel more secure about approaching threats such as walls, other swimmers and rogue kick boards, but it doesn\u2019t help get us down the pool efficiently.<\/p>\n<h3>Swimming ergonomics<\/h3>\n<p>If your eyes are too far forward, your head is too high. You\u2019re fighting an uphill battle with the rest of your body. While you\u2019re busy getting a better look at oncoming traffic, your body has gone south. And that\u2019s not all. You\u2019ll be using more fuel on keeping yourself afloat rather than propelling yourself to the other end. Whether it be 10 laps or 100, overcoming the extra drag and expending more force to stay buoyant will raise your heart rate, tighten your neck, shoulders and back and slow you down in the process.<\/p>\n<h3>Change your point of view<\/h3>\n<p>The best swimming mechanics cannot defeat the physics of increased drag \u2013 public enemy number one for Olympian and recreational swimmers alike. So whether you\u2019re training to take down the competition or just going head to head with the pace clock, swim with your eyes down and slightly forward. Take a couple of looks down the pool if you need to so you\u2019re not surprised by an advancing lane mate. And you\u2019re on your way to faster freestyling.<\/p>\n<p>Stay tuned for further freestyle tips and advice from Brant!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brant Best is an Australian national swimming team coach as well as coach to 100m freestyle World Champion, James \u2018The Missile\u2019 Magnussen. We asked Brant for a few inside freestyle &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1290,"featured_media":16878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10090],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.14 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What\u2019s keeping your freestyle down - Tips and advice|What\u2019s keeping your freestyle down - Tips and advice|What\u2019s keeping your freestyle down - Tips and advice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Are you looking to improve your freestyle? Find out from Brant Best an overlooked secret to swimming more efficiently.|Are you looking to improve your freestyle? Find out from Brant Best an overlooked secret to swimming more efficiently.|Are you looking to improve your freestyle? 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