All swimmers have heard the words: “rotate more” during their Freestyle. As coaches, we can definitely see when a swimmer is swimming “flat” on top of the water. What is really interesting from a biomechanics perspective is some coaches opinions on rotating in Freestyle are changing. I was overseas in Australia and visiting with legendary coach, Michael Bohl. Michael (like many other coaches) is more of a proponent of swimming a flatter Freestyle.

This wasn’t the first time I’ve heard a coach say that the flatter the hips—the easier it is to increase tempo, so the point of this next series is to dissect WHY or WHY NOT rotating in Freestyle is necessary for swimmers.