A lot goes into a fast sprint freestyle. Power (lots). Cranking up the tempo. Using the right amount of body roll (more stable hips hips, more shoulder roll velocity). And hitting the gym to build the raw materials for blistering speed in the water.
And then there’s pairing your full-throttle kick to your full-power pull.
Swimmers often struggle to master this timing (hint: the arms dictate the global rhythm), which can lead to some ankle crisscrossing, inefficient kick patterns, and lost propulsion.
This sprint set is designed to help you merge your sprint kick and sprint pull into one synergistic ball of chlorinated speed.
After all, a powerful kick is also essential for sprinters. In one study with swimmers, 29.7 to 33.4% of total force came from the legs when swimming against resistance (Morouco et al., 2015). That’s a lot of force, but only if you can connect it properly to the pull.
This set will do just that.
Start with some overkick drill to highlight stroke coordination, move into some high intensity kick transitioning into sprint swimming, and then finish it off with pure sprint swimming to put it all together.
Focus on a full, thundering kick and smooth arm coordination throughout.
Connecting the Kick and Pull for Sprint Freestyle
2-3 rounds:
- 12×25 Overkick drill – 30s rest per rep
- 100 easy
- 8×25 Freestyle blasters – 40s rest per rep
- 100 easy
- 4x25m freestyle all out – on 2 mins
- 200 easy
Workout notes:
- Overkick = Freestyle swim with a six-beat kick and “regular” effort pull
- Blasters = Fast kick in a streamline for 15m, then sprint swim the final 10m.
- Add resistance on the middle round to potentiate the third round. Swimmers can progress to doing three rounds and adding resistance via a drag chute or DragSox in the middle round.
- Slide the kick into the arm stroke. The arms are what dictate the overall rhythm of your stroke, and it’s why sprinters often have a hard time getting all of their kicks in. The increased stroke rate means swimmers have to kick their brains out to match the arm tempo.
More sprint sets for freestylers:
- A Swim Workout for Top End Freestyle Speed
- Try This 100 Goal Time Kick Set
- 6 Sprint Sets for Swimmers (Speed, Power, and Technique)
Happy sprinting!
ABOUT OLIVIER POIRIER-LEROY
Olivier Poirier-Leroy is a former national level swimmer, 2x Olympic Trials qualifier, and author of several books for swimmers, including YourSwimBook, Conquer the Pool, The Dolphin Kick Manual, and most recently, The 50 Freestyle Blueprint.
The book is a beastly 220+ pages of evidence-based insights and practical tips for improving freestyle sprint speed.
It details everything from how to master stroke rate, technique, build a thundering freestyle kick, improve your start and underwaters, and much more.
The 50 Freestyle Blueprint also includes 20 sprint sets to get you started and a bonus guide on how to master the 100 freestyle to complete your sprint preparation.
👉 Learn more about The 50 Freestyle Guide today.
