Freestyle technique

This is an excellent video of Michael Phelps swimming freestyle. I like it because it's shot from several useful angles. The last segment especially, where the camera is half underwater and half out of the water, shows the stroke mechanics very clearly.

Watch the video 5 times.
1. Watch his kick. It's consistent and powerful.
2. Watch his arms. Note the high elbows, both during the recovery (out of the water) and the catch. The catch refers to the very beginning of the stroke when a swimmer "catches" hold of the water in front, before the pull. See how he fully extends his arms to get the most distance out of every stroke.
3. Watch the shape his hands make during the pull. His hands do not cross over the center of his body. The first segment of the video is best for this.
4. Observe how the rotation of his body syncs up with his pull.
5. Watch and try to feel the rhythm of the stroke in your body and limbs.

There's a lot going on in this video. I've watched it at least a dozen times myself. This is also a fantastic video for observing near-perfect technique for the following things:

- his start. Notice how he goes fairly deep underwater and then ascends gradually to the surface. Do not try to go this deep on your start, however. Even among Olympic freestylers, Phelps has an extremely deep start. He can get away with it because his dolphin kick is so powerful.
- his exceptionally tight streamline off of EVERY start and off of his turn. This is something you should absolutely emulate in practice and in meets!
- his breakouts, which are the transitions between his streamline and his stroke. Pay attention to how shallow he is when he begins the breakout.
- his flip turn and his push off the wall. See how he takes an extra stroke to propel him into the flip.