Dryland Exercises to Improve Your Freestyle

Dive into this dryland session focused on helping your freestyle. The technique areas targeted are lower-body power for your walls and kick, upper-body strength to help manage the pulling volume, and core work to maximize your body position in the water.

Warm-Up

The goal of a warm-up is to help gradually raise your heart rate, warm your musculature, and work through range of motion. Take your time and focus on the quality of each repetition.

Complete two rounds of the following exercises. Take minimal rest between exercises and rounds.

• Prone arm lifts x 10 of each type
• Hip circuit x 10 on each side
• Hip hinge greasing x 10
• Ankle drivers x 10 on each side

Lower-Body Power Development

The focus of this sequence is lower-body power, targeting your walls and kicking. The hamstring lift can be made to feel easier by moving your heel closer to your hip. It can be made more challenging by moving your heel farther from your hip at the start. For the single-leg box jump, keep in mind that the box height should be specific to your abilities. You can use a step, bench, or box to complete the movement. You can also complete a single-leg jump and land on the ground if you don’t have access to a box.

With both movements, focus on controlling your knee joint, minimizing the presence of any side-to-side shake in your knee.

Complete three rounds of the following exercises. Take minimal rest between exercises and two minutes of rest between rounds.

• Single leg hamstring lift x 12 on each side
• Single leg box jump x 6 on each side

Upper-Body Strength

This next sequence focuses on building strength in both a pressing and pulling motion. This balanced approach helps you manage the load of pulling in the water. As you complete these two movements, focus on your shoulder position. As life gets stressful or fatigue mounts in the water, it is easy to fall into the trap of holding a constant shoulder shrug. Aim to keep distance between your ears and shoulders as you complete both the pressing and pulling exercises in this sequence.

Complete four rounds of the following exercises. Take 30-seconds of rest between exercises and two minutes of rest between rounds.

• High elbow row + dumbbell x 10 on each side
• Single arm chest press + dumbbell x 10 on each side

Core Stability for Body Position

This sequence is geared toward how well you can hold your body in the water. The density of water exploits any weaknesses in body position, making a strong core a critical training component. In this sequence, focus on stopping rotation, starting rotation, and building strength all the way around your core.

Complete three rounds of the following exercises. Take minimal rest between exercises and two minutes of rest between rounds.

• Opposite plank x 10 on each side with a two-second pause during each repetition
• Superman x 10 on each side with a three-second pause during each repetition
• Kneeling woodchop + band x 10 on each side

Cool Down

With the hard work completed, slow down and focus on a few mobility exercises to release any tension you might be feeling. The goal is for you to leave this session feeling like you can move freely.

Complete two rounds of the following exercises. Take minimal rest between exercises and between rounds.

• Hip flexor stretch + bench x 30 seconds on each side
• Kneeling lat stretch x 60 seconds
• Glute pull x 30 seconds on each side
• QL floor stretch x 30 seconds on each side

Want to learn more about improving your freestyle? Check out our Freestyle guide featuring tips, drills, sets, dryland exercises, and videos.