Way back when I bought the TI material. Dutifully kicked gently across
the pool concentrating hard on posture.
It all seems a bit silly in hindsight because I believe there is a far
better way to learn and swim as efficiently as possible. Simply show
up to stroke or I.M. day at your local group. I believe that will do
far more to induce efficient freestyle swimming than gentle kicking
across a pool while in a rested state. That's because the lactate haze
produced by stroke and IM sets concentrates the mind and body to a
degree which is simply not achievable with simple drilling.
As an example, today's set was 2x50 stroke, 100 freestyle, 100 I.M.,
repeat six times. Feeling like I was going to puke half way through
the thing, being a bit out of shape, and a non-age group swimmer. (i.e.
not a "has been", a "never was"😉 I got awfully efficient during that
100 freestyle in the middle of each set. Dropped my kick completely,
kept my lower lumbar arch taut to keep my hips at the surface, push
back at the end of each stroke to keep my momentum going, etc. I.M.
swimming will probably provoke different "defense mechanisms" during
freestyle lengths for each swimmer depending on their body type, style,
etc. I just mention the devices my mind and body naturally gravitated
towards to be able to complete the sets. The amazing thing is I wasn't
swimming much slower than when I'm expending a lot more energy and
swimming freestyle only. So if you want efficiency, drilling for it is
like making a suggestion to your body - swimming freestyle during IM
sets demands it.
Eric