Progression of 4 Kick on Side (KOS) Swim Drills

Here are 4 of my favorite freestyle drills to facilitate trunk rotation and neck rotation for breathing. When learning to swim freestyle, it is important to emphasize the rotation of the trunk and hips in alignment together. We do this by using a good kick to stabilize the body in a side-lying position and then keeping a good kick motion as the body starts to turn. This is why we start with the most basic movement of kicking on the side to develop trunk and hip alignment with a strong and supportive kick. Let’s break down the biomechanics of each drill below.

Kick on side (KOS) with breathing:

If you can master this swim drill, you can progress to the other 3 drills below and it will carryover well to your freestyle stroke. In the water, kick on your side with your arm extended overhead and one arm at the side (shoulder facing the sky) with your head rotated to look up at the sky as well. Pay attention to your head position because you want your nose to be in alignment with the shoulder keeping your head in a neutral position. If your chin is pointing down at the shoulder, you have too much cervical flexion (neck flexion) and it will dip your hips back into the pool, sinking your legs. If your chin is pointing up at the sky excessively, you have too much cervical extension and it will bridge your hips up to high. Your kick will be inefficient, and you will expend too much energy. When one arm is extended overhead, rotate your arm so the thumb is pointing up to the sky and your palm is facing anatomically forward (anterior). This keeps your shoulder in a neutral position. If you rotate thumb down so the palm is facing the bottom of the pool, you cause internal rotation of your shoulder which can cause impingement and injury. Having the arm fully extended can assist with the roll and glide portion of the freestyle stroke and set you up for greater success with the catch phase. Now that you have the starting position and understand why, you can start rotating the neck to allow for breathing. Kick on your side for 5 seconds, then turn your head from looking up at the sky to looking down at the pool, then kick for 5 seconds and repeat. This will help improve rolling to breathe so you don’t waste excessive energy just to breathe.

KOS with one stroke:

Once you are confident with KOS with breathing, you can add 1 full stroke into the mix. Kick on your side with your head up and then rotate your head down. As your arm is extended and your head down, start to pull the extended hand down with a high elbow and hitch the shoulder up with scapular protraction to promote a good catch and pull down to your side. Simultaneously, with the arm that was at your side, drag your fingers along the side of your body to promote high elbow and focus on a soft hand as you enter the water just in front of your head with a slight downward angle. As the hand enters the water, that arm will now become the fully extended arm while you glide and roll onto your side. During this process, you incorporate one full stroke then end fully on your side again as you kick for another 5 seconds. This promotes attention to detail your one stroke each rotation while slowing down your stroke.

KOS with high elbow:

This slows down your stroke even more with attention to the high elbow in the recovery phase of freestyle. As you KOS with 1 stroke, drag the fingers from the arm at your side from the hips up to the underarm, then back down to the hips, then up again and over to hand entry. This is one of my favorites because it incorporates a good kick, neck rotation for breathing, trunk and hip rotation, and a full stroke while performing multiple reps of the high elbow recovery.

KOS with 3 strokes:

The last progression of the KOS series is kicking on your side for 5 seconds then taking 3 strokes. Kicking on your side for 5 seconds will still slow the stroke down enough to focus on form but will help you implement the prior drills into a more fluid stroke movement. Try to keep your head down and not breathe during the 3 strokes and only breathe when you are kicking. This will create a smooth rotational movement for breathing in your normal freestyle stroke.

Next time you head to the pool, try to add these drills to your warm up and focus on your rolling during your swim sets.