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Is Your Cross Connection Right in Freestyle?

By Abbie Fish, Ritter Sports Performance, 02/26/19, 12:00PM PST

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The cross connection ensures the same thing in water that you do on land. If a swimmer has correct timing between their arms/legs in the pool—they will have a more efficient stroke

The Connection Drill!

When a swimmer is swimming Freestyle, making sure they have the correct connection (or timing) between the arms and legs is super important. Just like when we walk or run, we have a certain gait—well, it’s the same for when we swim.

It’s important to note that when you are walking and running, you have a cross-connection happening within your body that allows your body to take a LONGER step (or a further stride) than without this cross-connection. To avoid going into further detail what is good about this cross-connection from an anatomical and physiological connection—just know you fire more muscle fibers within a more correct firing pattern than without it.