9 Swimming Drills for Beginners That Build Real Technique

The best swimming drills for beginners isolate one skill at a time so your body can learn it without overload. Start with balance drills like the superman glide, add kicking with a kickboard, then layer in breathing and single-arm freestyle. Do 4 to 6 short reps of each, rest in between, and always practice in water shallow enough to stand up in.

Below are nine drills ranked from easiest to most demanding. Work down the list over several weeks rather than attempting all of them in one session. Each pairs naturally with the fundamentals in our complete swim technique guide, and if you are truly starting from zero, read how to swim for beginners first.

1. Superman Glide

The superman glide is the foundation of every stroke. Standing in chest-deep water, take a breath, put your face down, push gently off the bottom, and stretch both arms straight ahead with your ears squeezed between your biceps. Hold the streamline and glide until you slow, then place your feet down and stand.

• Aim for a straight line from fingertips to toes.
• Look at the bottom, not forward, to keep your hips high.
• Do 6 to 8 glides, trying to travel a little farther each time.

This drill teaches buoyancy and body line, the two things that make everything else possible.

2. Kickboard Flutter Kick

Grab a kickboard, extend your arms onto it, and flutter-kick across the shallow end. The kick comes from your hips, not your knees: keep your legs long, toes pointed, and let your ankles stay loose and floppy. Small, fast kicks beat big, splashy ones.

Keep your face down and blow bubbles, lifting to breathe only as needed. Complete 4 to 6 lengths with rest between each. Kickboard work builds the leg endurance you will lean on in freestyle technique, where a steady kick keeps your body flat.

3. Bubble Blowing (Rhythmic Breathing)

Holding the wall, take a breath, submerge your face, and hum out a steady stream of bubbles through your nose and mouth. Lift just enough to inhale, then go back down. Repeat 20 times in a smooth rhythm.

This looks trivial but fixes the number-one beginner problem: breath-holding and panic. Continuous exhalation underwater keeps you relaxed and prevents the gasp-and-swallow reflex. Master it here, then carry the exact same rhythm into the drills that follow and into breathing while you swim.

4. Side-Kicking Balance Drill

Push off on your side, bottom arm stretched forward, top arm resting on your hip, and flutter-kick down the lane while looking at the bottom. Keep your head still and your cheek resting in the water. Hold one side for a length, then switch.

The point is learning to balance on your side, which is the position freestyle rotates through with every stroke. If you feel yourself rolling flat or sinking, press your chest down slightly. Add a breath every 6 to 8 kicks by rotating your face up, a direct rehearsal for freestyle breathing technique.

5. Catch-Up Drill

This is the classic beginner freestyle drill. Start in a glide with both arms forward. Pull one arm all the way through to your hip and return it to the front before the other arm begins its stroke, so your hands briefly “catch up” and touch out front each cycle.

• One arm always stays extended and stable.
• Focus on a long reach and a full pull to the thigh.
• Do 4 lengths, breathing to your stronger side.

Catch-up slows freestyle down so you can feel each phase. It builds the patient, front-quadrant timing that separates smooth swimmers from thrashers.

6. Fingertip Drag Drill

Swim relaxed freestyle, but on every recovery drag your fingertips lightly across the surface of the water from your hip to your entry point. Your elbow stays high above your hand the whole way.

This trains a high-elbow recovery, which keeps your arm relaxed and sets up a clean, splash-free hand entry out in front of your shoulder. Keep the drag feather-light; if your whole hand plows the water, lift your elbow higher. Swim 4 lengths and notice how much calmer your stroke feels.

7. 6-Kick Switch Drill

Combine side-kicking with rotation. Kick on your side for 6 counts, take one full freestyle stroke, and arrive balanced on the opposite side for another 6 kicks. Keep going, alternating sides with a single stroke between each hold.

This drill wires in body rotation, the engine of efficient freestyle. Power comes from turning your hips and torso, not from yanking with your arms. Breathe each time you rotate up. It is more demanding than catch-up, so build up to it once your side balance from drill four feels stable.

8. Breaststroke Kick on the Wall

Hold the pool edge, float your legs behind you, then draw your heels toward your seat, turn your toes out, and sweep your feet out, around, and together in a smooth whip. Pause a beat in the streamlined glide position before the next kick.

Learning this movement while holding the wall lets you watch and correct it without sinking. Turning the feet out is what makes a breaststroke kick propel instead of flail. Once the shape feels natural, take it into open water and pair it with our breaststroke kick technique and full breaststroke technique guides.

9. Push-and-Glide With Stroke Count

Push off the wall in a tight streamline and swim one relaxed length while counting your strokes. Try to swim the same distance in fewer strokes next time by reaching longer and gliding more, not by pulling harder.

Counting strokes turns “swim better” into a number you can chase, and fewer strokes almost always means better technique. This efficiency mindset is exactly how you eventually learn to swim faster without simply exhausting yourself.

How to Sequence Your Drill Sessions

Do not attempt all nine at once. Progress through them as balance, then kicking, then breathing, then full-stroke drills. A simple beginner week looks like this:

Session	Warm-up	Main drills	Cool-down
1 (Balance)	4 glides	Superman glide, side-kick	2 easy lengths kick
2 (Kicking)	2 glides	Kickboard kick, bubble breathing	Side-kick x2
3 (Freestyle)	Side-kick x2	Catch-up, fingertip drag	1 relaxed swim

Keep every rep short and every rest honest. Fifteen focused minutes of good drills beats an hour of tired flailing that grooves in bad habits.

Common Beginner Mistakes These Drills Fix

• Lifting the head to breathe. The side-kick and catch-up drills teach you to turn, not lift, keeping your hips from sinking.
• Kicking from the knees. Kickboard work forces the motion up into your hips where the power actually lives.
• Holding your breath. Bubble blowing replaces the panic gasp with a calm, continuous exhale.
• Short, choppy strokes. Catch-up and stroke-counting stretch your reach and reward a longer, smoother pull.

Adults especially benefit from this patient, drill-first approach; if that is you, our guide to learning to swim as an adult walks through pacing your confidence alongside these exact drills. Practice two or three times a week, keep it safe and shallow, and within a couple of months these isolated skills will fuse into one continuous, relaxed stroke.