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it takes thousands of hours to master
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all four competitive Strokes butterfly
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backstroke breaststroke and freestyle
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when swum all together they're known as
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the individual medley and they're a test
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of your speed endurance strength and
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skill and to be a true swimming Master
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you need to know how to swim every
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stroke in this video I'm going to show
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you how to swim every stroke with
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perfect technique by the end of the
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video you'll be able to go and crush or
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at least attempt every stroke like a pro
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let me know what your favorite stroke is
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down in the comments and let's get into
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it first you've got to understand why
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you should know all The Strokes in the
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first place when you swim all four
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strokes you challenge your muscles in
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different ways and yes you'll work every
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single muscle in your body I don't think
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there's any other workout that's truly
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full body like swimming is swimmers who
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train every stroke end up building
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strong resilient bodies that are less
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prone to injury plus they just end up
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way more fit in general that swimmer
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body is no joke if you want one keep
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watching swimming different Strokes also
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helps keep things interesting if you
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want to swim endless laps of freestyle
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without stopping be my guest but that's
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pretty boring and before you say well I
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only race freestyle so I don't need to
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know the other Strokes I hate to break
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it to you but if you're ignoring the
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other Strokes you're doing yourself a
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huge disservice just trust me on this
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and think about adding other Strokes to
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your workouts okay all right now that
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we've gotten through why you should stop
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swimming freestyle all the time I'm
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going to explain how to swim every
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stroke with absolutely perfect technique
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let's get the toughest stroke over with
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First butterfly I think I'm speaking for
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the majority of swimmers when I say that
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fly is not the most popular stroke at
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practice it's challenging it's tiring
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and it's a great way to add some spice
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to your workouts so what makes good
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butterfly it comes down to proper timing
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and a powerful stroke let's start with
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your body position and this applies to
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most Strokes you want your hips to be
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high in the water and your head to be in
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a neutral position this creates the best
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Baseline for your stroke to start with
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now let's look get the butterfly pull
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you want your hands to move at the same
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time they should enter the water
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relatively flat with minimal Splash
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right in line with your shoulders then
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you'll start pulling keeping your elbows
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nice and High the whole time this is
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called early vertical forearm and it
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essentially turns your hand wrist and
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forearm into one giant paddle that can
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pull a ton of water try to pull straight
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back instead of using the old school s
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pull it's not as efficient after
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finishing the underwater part of your
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palm it's time for the Out of Water
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recovery sweep your arms out wide and
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return to your starting point keep your
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hands and arms relatively relaxed and
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close to the surface of the water next
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up is the kick I see so many swimmers
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struggle to get their kick timing right
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in butterfly so listen up when you kick
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and Butterfly keep your legs together
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and toes pointed to get the most out of
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your kick and create the best rhythm in
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your stroke I recommend thinking about
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butterfly as having two key kicks the
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first kick helps Propel your arms out of
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the water during your recovery and the
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second kick keeps you moving as your
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hands dive forward word to start your
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poll focus on kicking both up and down
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here a lot of swimmers Focus only on the
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down kick so engage those hamstrings and
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kick up too now let's put it all
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together and add in breathing to take a
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breath lift your head up right after
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your catch as your arms come forward
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drop your head back down try not to lift
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your head too high when you breathe your
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chin should be just grazing the surface
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of the water lift just enough to grab a
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quick breath then get your head back
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into that neutral position I recommend
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picking a breathing pattern and sticking
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with it to make sure your body gets a
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steady flow of air and doesn't fatigue
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extra quickly try breathing every two or
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three strokes and see what works for you
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alright first stroke done before we move
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on you should know butterfly requires a
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baseline of strength that most beginners
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don't have so if you're struggling with
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fly just keep at it over time you'll
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build strength and it'll get a little
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easier for more butterfly tips check out
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our video on five common butterfly
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mistakes and how to fix them next up is
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backstroke it's the only stroke that
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require you to be entirely on your back
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which raises the question how the heck
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are you supposed to swim straight I
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promise we'll get to that but first
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let's build a perfect stroke to start
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make sure your body position is correct
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avoid looking at your toes keep that
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neck neutral and look at the sky your
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hips should float up close to the
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surface of the water think about keeping
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your belly button dry the backstroke
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pull is a little different your arm will
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exit the water thumb first as you lift
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your arm rotate your body away from that
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lifted arm then make sure your hand
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re-enters the water pinky first and
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rotate toward that arm to reduce the
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drag your shoulders create pinky first
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is key this hand position sets you up
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for a strong early vertical forearm
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catch backstroke kick is a flutter kick
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just like Freestyle don't kick too big
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here The Wider your kick the more drag
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you create try to keep your kick no more
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than about 18 inches wide think small
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and fast instead of big and slow your
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kick should be driven from your hips
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rather than from your knees keep your
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toes pointed and your legs relatively
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straight with just a light Bend at the
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knee if your knees are popping out of
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the water like crazy you need to work on
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that knee Bend now some notes on
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rotation if you have a really strong
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kick you'll probably be able to drive
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your back stroke rotation with your hips
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if not don't worry try driving your
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rotation with your shoulders instead but
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know this whichever rotation philosophy
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works for you make sure you don't over
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rotate it's not about totally rotating
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from one side to the other it's about
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reducing drag okay one last thing if you
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struggle to swim straight in backstroke
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I recommend working on a few things
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first find something overhead to focus
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on like a seam in the ceiling if you
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swim outside good luck try to find a
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cloud or something to keep you on track
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next up make sure you're pulling with
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equal strength in both arms and even
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pull will keep you going straight and
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lastly try to keep your head from moving
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too much maintaining a neutral head
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position will help keep the rest of your
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body in line too all right two down two
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to go next up is breaststroke the short
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axis stroke is all about timing and
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power as with all other Strokes we'll
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begin with a nice streamlined body
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position in breaststroke every stroke
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starts and ends with a little time in
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streamline the more quickly you can get
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back into streamline the more efficient
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your stroke will be so high hips head
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looking down you know the drill by now
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we can break breaststroke down into four
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steps pull breathe kick and glide you
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want to build each stroke in that order
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and now let's get into the pull from
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streamline position you'll sweep your
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hands apart with the pinkies up when
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your arms are just wider than shoulder
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width start to pull back with that high
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elbow early vertical forearm catch at
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this point you'll lift your head to
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breathe when you drop your head back
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down your arm should explode forward
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this is the slowest part of the stroke
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so make sure to maximize your power here
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avoid diving down that's not as
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efficient let's get into the kick now
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breaststroke has a unique frog-like kick
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that can take some time to master at its
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core though breaststroke kit can be
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broken down into four steps up out
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around and together first pull your
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heels to your butt with with your feet
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flexed then start to kick out try to
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keep your knees no wider than your
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shoulders here next you'll start to
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sweep your legs around keeping those
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feet flexed and finally you'll squeeze
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your legs back together ending up back
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in that streamline position ideally
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you'll kick as you drive your hands
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forward to boost your momentum before
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you Glide it takes some time to perfect
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your breaststroke timing so keep working
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at it one last thing on breaststroke
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before we move on the pull out you'll do
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a pull out after every start and turn
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before you begin your actual stroke to
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do a pull out push off the wall and
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streamline hold it for a few seconds
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until you feel yourself start to slow
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down then do one dolphin kick just one
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follow that with one big pull down with
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both arms at the same time to get
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yourself up to the surface do one
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breaststroke kick and bring your arms
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back up into streamline position and
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you're ready to crush the competition
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okay now let's dive into freestyle or
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front crawl some of us learn freestyle
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first when we start swimming and for
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good reason of all the competitive
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Strokes it's probably the easiest but
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that doesn't mean it's easy if you've
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watched this far you know what's coming
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next good freestyle is going to start
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with proper body position we want our
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hips to be high in the water and our
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head neutral when the head is too high
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the hips are more likely to drop and
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drag you down and we don't want that it
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might be helpful to think about pressing
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your chest down in the water to keep
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those hips higher too when it comes to
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your freestyle pull it's all about
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finding balance between relaxed and
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Powerful your fingertips should enter
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the water about 18 inches in front of
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your shoulder at a 45 degree angle
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middle finger first try not to Cross
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Your Arms along the center of your body
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here it's inefficient and might cause
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you to zigzag around your lane a little
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bit follow up your hand entry with a
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long reaching extension through your
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shoulder and arm once your shoulder is
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fully extended your chest will open up
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to the side keep looking down after your
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arm is fully extended Bend at the elbow
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and point your fingertips down toward
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the bottom of the pool and start to pull
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straight back this is our early vertical
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forearm pull it's much easier on your
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shoulder person pulling with a straight
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arm try to keep your elbows above your
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hand for most of the pull eventually
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you'll extend your arms straight when
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your hand reaches your hips to start the
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recovery phase keep that elbow High
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during recovery too one last thing on
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the pull don't squeeze your fingers
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together instead keep them semi-relaxed
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with a few millimeters of space between
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them this can actually increase the
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power of your pull like backstroke
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freestyle requires some rotation instead
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of leading your Rotation by twisting
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your shoulders focus on engaging your
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core and initiating your rotation from
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the hips and your shoulders will follow
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are you taking notes I hope so now let's
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talk about breathing in freestyle you
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need to keep a neutral head position
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when you breathe I see so many swimmers
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lifting their heads forward or twisting
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aggressively to either side and that's
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just slowing them down as you take a
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stroke you'll notice your body rotating
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to one side if you want to breathe Now's
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the Time to turn your head to the
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opposite side to grab some air try to
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keep one eye in the water and one eye
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out of the water to maintain good
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alignment don't twist your head any
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further than that take a quick breath
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and get your head back into neutral for
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your next stroke exhale while your face
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is in the water and turn to take another
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breath when you're ready stick to a
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breathing pattern and freestyle so you
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don't deprive yourself of that precious
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precious air breathing every two or
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three Strokes works for most people
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usually you can breathe on both sides or
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just one side it's really up to you last
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but not least we've got your freestyle
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kick my one piece of advice is to keep
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your kick simple you don't need to kick
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like crazy or try to have the biggest
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kick in the pool focus on a hip driven
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kick that's small and fast try not to
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kick wider than about 18 inches and keep
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those knees from bending too much think
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of your kick as a tool to help you
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maintain proper body position and drive
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your rotation now for some advice
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chances are there's going to be one
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stroke that you struggle with and I know
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it's not fun working on things you
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aren't good at but trust me getting out
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of your comfort zone is actually a good
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thing and will make you a better swimmer
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I didn't talk about turns at all in this
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video but don't worry check out our
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video about how to do a flip turn for
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tips for freestyle and backstroke and
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watch our video on breaststroke and
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Butterfly turns to learn how to do an
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open turn in my expert coach's opinion I
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think you're ready to go try a 100 IM or
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maybe even a 400 IM in your next workout
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give it a shot and let me know how it
00:11:16
goes and for even more technique work
00:11:17
plus custom daily swim workouts and
00:11:20
training plans download the my swim Pro
00:11:21
app to start your very own personalized
00:11:24
swimming Journey if you like this video
00:11:26
you're going to love our video on how to
00:11:27
swim without getting tired thanks for
00:11:30
watching and happy swimming
