If your freestyle feels hard, flat, or rushed, drills can help you fix the specific skill that is getting in the way. This guide organizes 15 beginner-friendly freestyle drills by common problems: balance, body position, catch, rotation, kick, and breathing. Use it as a drill library you can return to whenever your stroke starts to feel off, whether you are learning front crawl for fitness, building a lap swimming habit, or trying to make each length feel smoother and less tiring.
Overview
Many new swimmers think they need to swim more laps to improve freestyle. More volume can help fitness, but technique usually improves faster when you spend part of each session on one clear skill. Good freestyle is not one big motion. It is a set of smaller parts working together: a long body line, steady rotation, a useful catch, relaxed recovery, and calm breathing.
That is why freestyle drills for beginners work best when they are matched to a problem you can feel in the water. If your legs sink, you need balance drills. If you slip through the pull without grabbing water, you need catch drills. If every breath throws off your whole stroke, you need freestyle breathing drills.
Before the drill list, keep three simple rules in mind:
- Pick one focus per 25 or 50. Do not try to fix five things at once.
- Alternate drill and swim. A drill teaches the feeling; regular swimming teaches you to keep it.
- Stop when form falls apart. Short, high-quality repeats are better than long, sloppy ones.
A simple format is 4 x 25 drill, then 4 x 25 swim using the same focus. If you are new to lap swimming, that is enough technique work for one session. If you want a broader fitness structure around it, see this Beginner Lap Swimming Workout Plan: 4 Weeks to Build Endurance.
Core framework
Use this framework to choose the right drill. Ask yourself: What is the main problem I feel when swimming freestyle? Then pick one drill from that category and repeat it for two to four rounds.
1. Balance and body position drills
These are the best swimming drills for balance when your hips drop, your head lifts, or your stroke feels heavy.
1) Superman Glide
Purpose: Learn a long, straight body line.
How to do it: Push off gently with both arms extended in front, face in the water, and glide as far as you can without kicking hard.
Focus: Head neutral, eyes down, ribs tucked, legs long.
Common fix: If your legs sink quickly, press the chest slightly and relax the neck.
2) Side Kick
Purpose: Build balance on one side and improve rotation control.
How to do it: One arm extended in front, one arm resting at your side. Kick on your side with one goggle in and one goggle out of the water.
Focus: Long body line, stable lead arm, hips near the surface.
Why it helps: Freestyle is not flat. Learning to balance on your side makes the stroke calmer and more efficient.
3) 6-1-6 Drill
Purpose: Connect side balance to full-stroke timing.
How to do it: Kick six beats on one side, take one stroke to switch sides, then kick six beats on the other side.
Focus: Smooth rotation driven from the core, not a rushed arm swing.
Best for: Swimmers who feel wobbly during each arm entry.
4) Kick on Back with Arms at Sides
Purpose: Teach horizontal posture without worrying about breathing.
How to do it: Float on your back, arms relaxed at your sides, and kick lightly across the pool.
Focus: Ears in the water, hips high, small kick from the hips.
Translation to freestyle: It gives you a clear feel for what “high hips” should feel like.
2. Catch and pull drills
These front crawl drills help if your stroke feels like spinning your arms without moving forward.
5) Sculling in Front
Purpose: Improve feel for the water at the start of the catch.
How to do it: With arms extended slightly in front of the shoulders, make small in-and-out sweeping motions with the hands and forearms.
Focus: Light pressure on the palms and forearms, wrists relaxed.
Best cue: Feel the water, do not slap at it.
6) Dog Paddle Freestyle
Purpose: Learn an early catch without the distraction of overwater recovery.
How to do it: Swim forward with short underwater arm recoveries while keeping the elbows higher than the hands during the pull setup.
Focus: Forearm angled back, water pressure from fingertips to elbow.
Common mistake: Pulling straight down instead of back.
7) Fist Drill
Purpose: Teach forearm engagement during the pull.
How to do it: Swim easy freestyle with closed fists for 25 meters, then open your hands on the next 25.
Focus: Hold water with the forearm, not just the hand.
Why beginners like it: The contrast is immediate. Open-hand swimming often feels more connected after one round.
8) Single-Arm Freestyle
Purpose: Isolate one side of the catch and pull.
How to do it: Keep one arm at your side and swim with the other arm only, switching lengths or halfway through a repeat.
Focus: Clean hand entry, patient extension, catch before pull.
Tip: Use fins if the drill feels too slow or unstable at first.
3. Rotation and timing drills
These drills are useful when your stroke feels rushed, choppy, or disconnected from the body.
9) Catch-Up Drill
Purpose: Improve front-end timing and stroke length.
How to do it: One hand stays extended in front until the recovering hand “catches up” to it, then the next stroke begins.
Focus: Full extension without pausing too long, body rotation with each stroke.
Watch out: Do not let this turn into a dead stop in front. Keep gentle forward momentum.
10) Finger Drag Drill
Purpose: Encourage a relaxed, compact recovery.
How to do it: During recovery, lightly drag your fingertips across the surface from hip to hand entry.
Focus: Elbow leading, shoulder relaxed, hand close to the body.
Best for: Beginners whose arms swing wide or tense over the water.
11) Zipper Drill
Purpose: Reinforce high-elbow recovery and body alignment.
How to do it: As the arm recovers, pretend you are zipping up the side of your torso from hip to armpit.
Focus: Controlled elbow path, stable head position.
Result: A neater recovery often makes the next hand entry cleaner.
4. Breathing drills
For many beginners, breathing is the skill that disrupts everything else. These breathing drills for swimming reduce panic, over-rotation, and late breaths.
12) Bubble-Bubble-Breathe
Purpose: Build an exhale rhythm so you are not holding your breath.
How to do it: Swim easy freestyle and think “bubble-bubble-breathe,” exhaling continuously while your face is in the water and inhaling only when you turn.
Focus: Gentle, steady exhale through nose or mouth.
Why it matters: Many breathing problems come from trying to exhale and inhale at the same time during the breath.
13) Side Kick with Breath
Purpose: Practice breathing from a balanced side position.
How to do it: Start in side-kick position. After a few kicks, roll the head just enough to inhale, then return the face down.
Focus: Turn the head with the body, not separately from it.
Key cue: One goggle stays in the water during the breath.
14) 3-3-3 Drill
Purpose: Blend single-arm control with breathing rhythm.
How to do it: Take three strokes with the right arm only, three with the left arm only, then three full freestyle strokes.
Focus: Stable lead arm, smooth rotation, calm inhale.
Best for: Swimmers who lose form every time they turn to breathe.
15) Bilateral Breathing Practice
Purpose: Improve symmetry and comfort breathing to both sides.
How to do it: Swim easy freestyle and breathe every three strokes, or alternate lengths breathing to the left and right.
Focus: Even rotation to both sides, relaxed neck.
Important note: You do not need to race or train all the time with bilateral breathing, but practicing both sides can expose imbalances and improve control.
How to choose the right drill
If you are wondering how to improve freestyle swimming without getting lost in too many options, start here:
- Legs sinking: Superman Glide, Side Kick, Kick on Back
- Stroke feels rushed: Catch-Up, 6-1-6, Zipper Drill
- No power in the pull: Sculling, Dog Paddle, Fist Drill
- Breathing causes panic: Bubble-Bubble-Breathe, Side Kick with Breath, 3-3-3
- Uneven stroke side to side: Single-Arm Freestyle, Bilateral Breathing Practice
A useful session for beginners is 300 to 600 total meters of drill work inside a normal swim. If you are training for fitness or building endurance, add your drill set before the main part of your workout. Swimmers who also follow structured masters swimming training can use one or two of these drills as part of the warm-up instead of trying to do all 15 in one week.
Practical examples
Below are three simple ways to use this drill library in real sessions.
Example 1: Beginner technique session for balance and breathing
- 4 x 25 Superman Glide or easy push-and-glide focus
- 4 x 25 Side Kick, alternating sides
- 4 x 25 Bubble-Bubble-Breathe
- 4 x 25 easy freestyle, keeping eyes down and breathing relaxed
Main goal: Feel more horizontal and less rushed when you breathe.
Example 2: Front crawl drill session for catch and connection
- 4 x 25 Sculling in Front
- 4 x 25 Dog Paddle Freestyle
- 4 x 25 Fist Drill
- 4 x 25 smooth freestyle, moderate effort
Main goal: Stop slipping through the water and start feeling pressure on the catch.
Example 3: Easy add-on before a fitness swim
- 2 x 25 6-1-6
- 2 x 25 Finger Drag
- 2 x 25 3-3-3
- Then begin your regular swim workout
Main goal: Wake up timing, recovery, and breathing without adding much fatigue.
If your larger goal is conditioning, weight management, or general swimming for fitness, drills fit best at the start of the session, when you are fresh enough to notice details. Later in the swim, switch to steady aerobic work or short intervals. If you track effort and pace, a reference like this Swimming Pace Chart can help you separate technique work from fitness work. If body composition is part of your goal, you may also find this Swimming Calories Burned Calculator useful, but remember that better technique often matters as much as harder effort when you want sessions to feel sustainable.
Common mistakes
The right drill can still lead nowhere if you practice it carelessly. These are the most common errors beginners make.
Doing drills too fast
Drills are for awareness. If you rush them, you recreate the same mistakes you already have. Slow the repeat down enough to feel what changed.
Using drills without transferring them to full stroke
A drill is not the end goal. After every two to four drill repeats, swim regular freestyle and keep one cue from the drill. That is where progress happens.
Lifting the head to breathe
This is one of the biggest reasons hips and legs sink. Think about rotating to air, not lifting to air. Keep one goggle in the water when possible.
Kicking too hard during technique work
A frantic kick can hide balance problems for a few seconds, but it does not fix them. Use a light, narrow kick unless the drill specifically calls for more propulsion.
Overreaching in front
Long freestyle is good. Overextending and pressing down is not. Enter cleanly, extend naturally, and begin the catch without collapsing the elbow.
Trying every drill in one session
That usually leads to shallow practice. Pick one category, then two or three drills that match it. Stay with them for at least a couple of sessions before changing course.
Ignoring discomfort signals
Technique work should not create sharp shoulder pain or neck strain. If a drill bothers your shoulder, reduce range of motion, slow down, or skip that drill and work on easier balance and breathing patterns first. If discomfort keeps returning, it may help to pair technique changes with simple dryland training for swimmers and swimmer mobility exercises outside the pool.
When to revisit
This drill library is meant to be reused. Come back to it whenever your freestyle changes, your training changes, or a familiar weakness returns.
Revisit these drills when:
- You start swimming longer distances. Breathing and balance issues often show up more clearly as fatigue builds.
- You increase training frequency. More sessions create more chances to reinforce good habits.
- You prepare for a new goal. A triathlon, masters meet, or fitness block may expose different technique limits. If open-water racing is your next step, this guide pairs well with Triathlon Swim Workouts by Distance.
- Your stroke feels harder at the same pace. That often signals a technique leak before it becomes a fitness problem.
- You return after time away from the pool. Balance and breathing usually need a quick reset after a break.
Here is a practical action plan:
- Identify one problem. For example: "I lose rhythm when I breathe to the left."
- Choose two drills. For example: Side Kick with Breath and 3-3-3.
- Use them for 2 to 3 sessions. Keep the volume short and focused.
- Retest in regular freestyle. Swim 4 x 50 easy to moderate and notice whether the stroke feels more stable.
- Adjust only if needed. If the issue improves, keep one drill as maintenance and move on to the next problem.
For most beginners, the best path is not searching for a perfect drill. It is learning to match a simple drill to the problem in front of you, then repeating it often enough for the feeling to carry into normal swimming. That is the real value of a freestyle drill library: it gives you a calm, repeatable way to keep improving your stroke over time.
