Freestyle tips

1) Whenever your face is in the water you should be exhaling into it. So after you roll to breathe, return to face straight down and immediately exhale with a long steady stream of bubbles. We often suggest swimmers make a horse "brrrrrrr" sound into the water to emphasise this. Seems a bit silly but it works and no-one can hear you under the water!

2) Body roll is the rotation of your body along your spine as you swim. This is a good thing! Most beginner swimmers do not rotate nearly enough. You should rotate on every stroke - even when you're not breathing. As you enter the water with your hand at the front of your stroke, extend forwards by rolling your shoulders and hips onto that side. You body acts a bit like meat on a kebab stick - twizzling from one side to the other. 

3) Despite having good body roll you should keep your head still and not let it roll with your body unless you are going to breathe. Rolling your head on every stroke would make you dizzy! Keep your head still and it's much easier to co-ordinate your movements. 

4) When you push off from the wall at the start of the length you're moving faster than any other time when you're swimming. That's true for Olympic champions too! Make the most of that free speed by keeping in a nice torpedo tuck for as long as possible. If you have flags at your pool they're 5m from the wall - challenge yourself and try and take your first stroke after the flags!