Is YOUR Cross Connection RIGHT in Freestyle?
Recently our Stroke Technique Coach, Abbie Fish, traveled to Oregon to run a clinic with the Southwestern Oregon Community College’s Swim Team.
This was Abbie’s second chance to work with SWOCC and Head Coach, Sandra Bullock. Different from last year’s clinic, this year’s clinic included a week-long, technique and fundamentals “stroke school”. Plus, 3 video analysis sessions where Abbie worked with swimmers, 1:1 with their stroke technique. During these sessions, the main focus was improving each swimmer’s freestyle connection — the technical connection between their arms, legs, and body rotation.
Here’s a sneak peek into 1 of the Freestyle fundamentals from the “Stroke School”:
The Connection Drill – your go-to tool for understanding cross-body connection in Freestyle.
When a swimmer is swimming Freestyle, making sure they have the correct connection (or timing) between the arms and legs is super important. Just like when we walk or run, we have a certain gait—well, it’s the same for when we swim.
It’s important to note that when you are walking and running, you have a cross-connection happening within your body that allows your body to take a LONGER step (or a further stride) than without this cross-connection.
To avoid going into further detail what is good about this cross-connection from an anatomical and physiological connection—just know you fire more muscle fibers within a more correct firing pattern than without it.
So What Does This Cross Connection Have to Do with Swimming?
Basically, the cross connection ensures the same thing in water that you do on land. If a swimmer has correct timing between their arms/legs in the pool—they will have a more efficient stroke. Without this cross stroke swimming pattern, swimmers often look choppy, sink between strokes, or kick out of rhythm with their pull.
A clean cross-body connection in Freestyle helps you:
- Hold a longer line in the water.
- Transfer power from your kick into your pull.
- Keep your rotation even and controlled on both sides.
Recently on the Swim Like A. Fish blog, Abbie has been dissecting the Freestyle Rotation and the benefits of either rotating A LOT or A LITTLE. One of the major benefits of the correct cross-connection in Freestyle is the ability for a swimmer to DECIDE whether they want to rotate A LOT or A LITTLE. If you don’t have a good cross-connection, a swimmer will struggle in general with rotation and keeping it equal side-to-side. Read more on Freestyle Rotation HERE.
In other words: if your freestyle connection is off, your rotation options are limited. Fix the connection first — then you can choose the style that best fits your event and speed.
Not sure what the Connection Drill is? Watch it below!
Asides from group instruction, Abbie also worked swimmers 1:1 using video feedback and record sessions. Here’s a few snapshots of Abbie working with members of the team:
As always, it super important to look at a swimmer’s technique from all angles–here’s a few more pictures:
When all the angles were properly recorded for each swimmer, Abbie got all the swimmers out on land to educate and show them how to improve their mechanics. Seeing what you can improve on is one thing, but understanding and having a plan for putting it into action is MUCH better.
Traveling out to Oregon was definitely another great opportunity for Abbie to work with a group of talented swimmers and Swim Like A. Fish would like to personally thank Coach Sandra for creating this opportunity again for us.
Coach Sandra definitely said it best,”Having another coach on deck and a fresh set of eyes changes the tone of my workouts. My kids are more in tune–paying attention to detail and learning every session.”
If you’re interested in having a clinic with Coach Abbie, email her at [email protected].