To continue working on the feeling of setting up the best pull, Dog Paddle can help you isolate how to engage the larger muscles in your back to help you pull better.

These short, quick strokes keep you focused on the FRONT of the stroke, so don’t press too far back.  You’ll feel like you’re taking half strokes, but again, this is to make sure you can focus completely on the initiation of the catch, not the full pull.

Using a snorkel is great on these drills, but if you don’t have a snorkel, you can also lift your eyes and mouth forward.  This actually puts a bit more pressure on the hands to hold you up, which is a great way to learn how to initiate the catch.

With the head up, you must press DOWN just a bit to hold you there.  As you lower the head, keep the hands doing the same thing, and that bit of tilt forward will move the UPWARD press to a FORWARD press as lean down into the water.

You should start to feel your lats engage in this drill to know you’re doing it correctly.  As the hands connect with the water, you can see the muscles just below the armpit pop out just a bit.  These are the big muscles you want to start using to swim freestyle.  Not the top of the shoulder, but the side and your back.

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EVF dog paddle