Try This Swim Workout for a Silky-Smooth Freestyle

Ready to build a smoother freestyle? Here’s a workout that will help you swim smoother than ever.

The following swim workout is designed to help swimmers develop a smoother and stronger freestyle.

We are going to use a fair amount of swim gear for this workout, including everyone’s favorite, swim fins, as well as a snorkel and paddles.

The goal is long, smooth, controlled, and powerful freestyle swimming.

There’s a lot of jumping around between drills and swimming and different types of equipment.

The goal is to accelerate skill and technique development by maximizing transfer:

• The increased feel for the water when sculling transfers to catching more water when swimming.
• The better hand placement during long dog drill transfers to a cleaner hand entry when swimming.
• The longer stroke and increased muscle activation when using paddles transfer to a more powerful pull when swimming.

And so on.

Your mission: to integrate the emphasis placed during focused drills with what you are doing when swimming.

Let’s dive in and get our smooth on!

The Smooth Freestyle Swimming Workout

Here is a full breakdown of the swim workout, including distance, repetitions, interval recommendations, gear you’ll need, and what to focus on:

Warm-Up

800 choice with swim fins

• Alternate 100 swim and 100 kick.
• Build the final 25 of each 100 to around 75% effort.

8×25 freestyle – 30 seconds rest between 25s

• Odds: Choice drill
• Evens: Swim build to 85% effort

The Main Set

The main set is a series of 25s broken into three rounds of 16×25.

Each round of the set you will be tasked with increasing intensity without sacrificing a clean hand entry and smooth pulling motion.

Pick an interval that gives you an average of 20s rest to keep the heart rate at a respectable rate.

The magic of this set lies in the front sculling and long dog drill, which strengthen the high elbow catch, and the increasing effort tests your ability to maintain smooth freestyle under stress.

After all, everyone can swim smoothly when going easy; the challenge is doing so under speed and stress!

Here we go:

48×25 freestyle

Round 1: 16×25 with fins and swim snorkel

4 rounds:

• 25 – Front scull
• 25 – Swim smooth at 60% effort
• 25 – Long dog drill
• 25 – Swim smooth at 70% effort

Round 2: 16×25 with fins, paddles, swim snorkel

4 rounds:

• 25 – Front scull
• 25 – Swim smooth at 65% effort
• 25 – Long dog drill
• 25 – Swim smooth at 75% effort

Round 3: 16×25 with fins and paddles

4 rounds:

• 25 – Front scull
• 25 – Swim smooth at 70% effort
• 25 – Long dog drill
• 25 – Swim smooth at 80% effort

The Warm-Down

6×50 freestyle swim long and smooth – take 30s rest between each 50 and do 5 deep water bobs and shake out the arms

Workout Summary:

• Time elapsed: ~75 minutes
• Distance: 2,500m
• Smoothness: Unlocked

Set Notes and Tips

Here are some notes and tips for getting the most out of the workout:

The difficulty level:

• The workout isn’t particularly soul-breaking. We aren’t trying to shatter you, but rather, learn to swim with smooth, efficient, and excellent technique and steadily crank up the resistance.

When to use it:

• Use this swim workout, and variations of it, early in the season when trying to get your stroke back after a long break, or as a recovery session to “reset” your stroke after demanding bouts of training.

Front sculling

• Front sculling–and sculling in general–is an excellent tool for strengthening your feel for the water and improving your ability to “catch” water at the top of the pulling motion.

Long Dog Drill

• This is hands-down my favorite freestyle drill for swimmers, as it allows them to focus on correct hand placement at the top of the catch, settle into a powerful high elbow catch, and pull through with force. Also great for building stroke rhythm!
• The drill is a variation of dog paddle, with swimmers completing a full pull under the surface while recovering the arms under the water.

How to make the set more challenging:

• Advanced swimmers can level up to 50s instead of 25s. The upgraded set is perfect for long course pools, as the Olympic-size length gives you more swimming time compared to a short course pool.
• Add resisted swimming as you get better. As the season progresses, and if your swimming ability corresponds with it, add light resistance with a drag chute or DragSox during the first round to further enhance body awareness when swimming.

Swim gear considerations:

• The swim workout is heavy on the use of swim fins. For swimmers unaccustomed to using fins for this long, sub out fins for 1-2 rounds of the main set to prevent cramping.
• A swim snorkel helps you focus on clean hand entry, a quiet stroke, and a balanced, rhythmic pull. Breathing often disrupts body alignment, making smooth swimming harder. Using a snorkel shows you what’s possible—your task is to apply that to regular swimming.

The Gear You Will Need for this Swim Workout

Here are the specific types of swim gear needed for this swim workout:

• Swim snorkel—A swimmer’s snorkel is an essential type of gear for swimmers and is excellent for increasing focus on technique without worrying about the need to turn the head to breathe.
• Fins – Swim training fins, preferably with short blades that better mimic kicking tempo, increase awareness of body position and develop kick strength.
• Paddles – Swim paddles encourage a more forceful pulling motion and the case of today’s set, can be used to promote a cleaner hand entry.

The Final Lap

Just about every swimmer wants a smoother, more controlled freestyle.

Give the above swim workout a shot at the pool this week, focus on executing a powerful, crisp, and clean freestyle stroke, and get your smooth on!

More Freestyle Resources

How to Develop an Unstoppable Freestyle Kick. The top athletes in the pool are not only fast swimmers, they are fast kickers. Here is your guide to a faster freestyle kick.

8 Tips for Improving Your Freestyle Stroke. Unlock a faster and more efficient freestyle stroke with this list of eight proven tips for killer freestyle technique.

6 Freestyle Swim Sets and Workouts. Get your freestyle on with this collection of my favorite freestyle sets and practices.

How to Improve Your Freestyle Pull (Plus Sample Swimming Workouts). Ready to level up your freestyle? Here’s how to improve and strengthen your freestyle pull and catch, and a couple of my favorite pull workouts.