Bobby shares his Crock Kick freestyle drill.

We'll be adding more description, we wanted to upload the video first.

You can purchase the paddles you see in the video here:
http://athleteapproved.com/product/forearm-paddles

You can purchase the fins you see in the video here:
http://athleteapproved.com/product/dmc-swim-fins

You can purchase the snorkel you see in the video here:
http://athleteapproved.com/product/ylon-snorkel

Crock Kick

Bobby shares his Kick & Dip Shoulder Driven Freestyle drill.

We'll be adding more description, we wanted to upload the video first.

You can purchase the paddles you see in the video here:
http://athleteapproved.com/product/forearm-paddles

You can purchase the fins you see in the video here:
http://athleteapproved.com/product/dmc-swim-fins

You can purchase the snorkel you see in the video here:
http://athleteapproved.com/product/ylon-snorkel

Kick & Dip Shoulder Driven Freestyle

Bobby shares his Set Up and Drive Freestyle drill.

We'll be adding more description here.  We wanted to upload the video first.

You can purchase the paddles you see in the video here:
http://athleteapproved.com/product/forearm-paddles

You can purchase the fins you see in the video here:
http://athleteapproved.com/product/dmc-swim-fins

You can purchase the snorkel you see in the video here:
http://athleteapproved.com/product/ylon-snorkel

Set Up and Drive Drill

Bobby's freestyle focusing on his legs and kick.

Freestyle - Legs

Bobby's freestyle with the focus on the hips and torso.

Freestyle - Hips

Bobby's freestyle focusing on his head position.

Freestyle - Head

Bobby swimming freestyle focusing the camera on his hands.

Freestyle - Hands

Bobby shows a body driven freestyle, which is a controlled throw of the body and arms in the recovery.  The camera focuses on his hands as he passes by.

Body Driven Freestyle - Focus on Hands

Bobby shows a shoulder driven freestyle with more throw coming from the shoulders on the recovery of the stroke.  The camera focuses on his hands as he passes by.

Shoulder Driven Freestyle - Focus on Hands

Bobby shows a longer, more rotation based stroke while the camera focuses mainly on the hands as he passes by.

Hip Driven Freestyle - Focus on Hands

While we build a full explanation of this tool, here are Bobby's [Style Sticks](http://athleteapproved.com/product/style-sticks).  

This is a great way to practice hip-driven and shoulder-driven freestyle.

Notice when the sticks rotate together, Bobby is practicing hip-driven freestyle.  When the back sticks stay horizontal and the front stick rotates, Bobby is practicing shouder-driven freestyle.

Style Sticks

Bobby throws in a couple very short sprints using body driven freestyle.  Further explanation to come, but for now, consider this is the type of stroke you'll see in the last 10 meters of a 50 or 100 sprint.

Freestyle - Body Driven

One of the clearest, strongest visual images that we can take from Roland’s stroke is this.  On every stroke…for one brief instant…Roland’s extends front to back with his hands.

Here it is again on the other side.  Roland’s hands are fully extended, front to back.  

In this above-water clip, focus JUST on Roland’s arms.  Notice how the lead arm remains fully extended until the exact moment when the trailing arm exits the water.

From under water, you can see how this front-to-back extension contributes to Roland’s world-class speed.

First, let’s look at how it affects Roland’s balance, or body line.  When the hands are extended front to back, notice the needle-like shape of Roland’s body.  

On every stroke, Roland’s front-to-back hand extension gives him a sleek, streamlined, and horizontal body position.  There’s no resistance.

For the brief moment that his hands are extended and his body is long, Roland travels forward with almost no drag – carrying all the speed generated from his kick and pull.

Even during the breath, Roland maintains full extension, front to back.  

Roland waits until the rear hand exits the water to initiate the catch with his lead hand and to begin the pull.   

By keeping the lead arm fully extended – and relatively high in the water -- Roland gets a better set-up position for his pull.   The extended hand encourages a high elbow at the catch… and throughout the rest of the pull.

On this next clip, watch how Roland’s hand accelerates through the pull.  

This acceleration is encouraged by the fact that the lead hand remains stable and out front until the rear hand finishes the pull.  

If the lead hand must wait to pull until the other hand finishes the pull, the pulling hand will accelerate naturally. 

Finally, extending front to back on every stroke encourages a low breath…which is the topic of our next focus point.

In these final clips, focus just on Roland’s hands, and how they are extended front to back on every stroke.  

This is a key element of Roland’s stroke…and it is the easiest element that you can add to your own stroke.  

Take these images to the pool with you when you practice.


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Extend Front to Back