Keeping my elbows near the surface is something I work on every day.  In this clip, focus just on my elbows.  Notice how they stay up near the surface as I extend, catch, and pull.  

This is something I learned from watching the world’s greatest freestylers -- guys like Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett, Larsen Jensen, and Erik Vendt.  They all swim with their elbows right up near the surface or just an inch below.  

Swimming with a high elbow lets me pull with as big a surface area as possible and helps me get maximum power from every stroke.  

I’m better at keeping my left elbow up than my right elbow, so I have to work harder on my right side -- to keep that elbow near the surface.  I work on this constantly in the pool.

To help focus on a high elbow, I think about extending my fingertips forward...keeping my elbow in place...and then bringing my hand underneath my elbow.

Here you can see it from another angle -- I keep the elbow in place, right near the surface, then bring the hand underneath the elbow.  I’m creating a pulling surface that extends from my fingertips all the way to my elbow.

Keeping the elbow near the surface is a hard technique to master, so you might need some drills.

One good drill is single-arm freestyle.  Keep your right arm by your side and swim with just the left arm -- breathing toward the nonworking arm.  Pause out front for about 3 counts and then start the pull.  

On the next length, switch arms and focus on keeping the right arm out front -- with the elbow up high -- for 3 counts before starting the pull.  

Here’s another good drill, called reverse catch-up.   Instead of catching up out front, you catch up with your hands at your sides.  

This enables you to swim one arm at a time, and makes you really focus on getting your hands out front, with elbows near the surface.

Another good drill is to swim with paddles, but hold them at the top.  This also keeps your stroke long, which we talked about in the last chapter.

And if you’re still having trouble keeping your elbow near the surface, try holding a kickboard out front while you swim.  If you’re holding the board, you’re automatically swimming catch-up and keeping the elbows up near the surface in order to hold the board.  


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Freestyle Technique - Keep Your Elbow Near the Surface