Why you fishtail and struggle in freestyle: the five most common faults – crossover, head too high, scissor kick – and the concrete fixes for each.
If your freestyle feels sluggish even though you're working hard, it's almost always down to one or two typical faults – not a lack of strength. The two biggest brakes are crossover (the hand enters over the midline) and head too high (you look forward instead of down).
Both have the same effect: they make you wider and slow you down. In water, drag dominates – a fishtailing or angled body eats your propulsion right back up. The good news: clearing faults often gives you more speed than any strength training.
This guide is your fault checklist. We go through the five most common freestyle faults, you spot yours – and get a concrete fix for each that you can try straight away.
### 1. Fault: Crossover Your hand enters over the midline in front of your head – the body responds by fishtailing to keep balance. Fix: let the hand enter in front of your own shoulder, imagine two rails on which the arms run straight forward.
### 2. Fault: Head too high You look forward, the chin comes out – and the hips and legs promptly sink. Fix: eyes straight down, waterline across the crown. Head and hips are a seesaw: head down, legs up.
### 3. Fault: Dropped elbow (elbow sinks in the pull) The elbow drops first at the catch, and you press with the edge of the hand into nothing. Fix: let the fingertips sink, keep the elbow high (see the high-elbow catch), ideally catching from the rotation.
### 4. Fault: Scissor kick when breathing Every time you breathe, one leg splays out to the side (scissor) to stabilise you – a sign you're lifting the head instead of turning it. Fix: breathe from the rotation, keep the head low, guide the legs close together.
### 5. Fault: Dead spot / gliding too long You reach out front and wait too long before the pull begins – propulsion collapses on every cycle. Fix: move briskly from a short reach into the catch; stroke length yes, standstill no.
Crossover and a dropped elbow load the shoulder, because the joint is pushed into unfavourable angles – two of the faults here are also risk factors for swimmer's shoulder. Fixing them protects not only your speed but also your joint.
Correct in small doses and never into pain. If a "fix" hurts, the execution is still wrong – back to slow motion or have a professional take a look.
Use a single cue per length. Instead of thinking about five things, pick just one keyword for a length – for example "eyes down" – and repeat it internally on every stroke. The next length, a different one.
Technique is grooved through one focus per repetition, not through a list of defects in your head. One cue, one length, one step forward.
### Why do I fishtail from side to side in freestyle? The most common reason is crossover: your hand enters over the midline in front of your head, and your body fishtails to keep balance. Instead, let the hand enter in front of your own shoulder – imagine two parallel rails on which your arms run straight forward. That removes the fishtailing almost immediately.
### How do I spot my main fault without a coach? Best with a short video from above and below water, filmed by a companion – you see most faults rather than feel them. Otherwise, match by symptom: fishtailing points to crossover, sinking legs to a head held too high, breathlessness often to a lack of exhaling.
### Why does one leg always splay to the side when I breathe? That's the scissor kick, a compensation. It almost always arises because you lift the head to breathe instead of turning it from the rotation – the body seeks stability with the leg. Breathe from the body rotation, keep the head low, and guide the legs deliberately close together.
### How many faults should I tackle at once? Only one. Motor learning works through focus: take one fault and a single cue per session, and only move to the next once the first feels stable. Trying to correct everything at once ends up improving nothing properly.
### Why does my old fault keep coming back under speed? Because a new movement pattern first becomes stable under low load before it can withstand speed. Under effort, your body reflexively reverts to the old, familiar pattern. So practise the fix slowly and deliberately first, keep the cue in mind, and only raise the pace step by step once the clean execution holds at moderate intensity too.
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