Broken Arrow

     The Broken Arrow drill is designed for swimmers with tight shoulders and upper backs to help them loosen off. It’s a derivative of the 6-1-6 drill and should always be performed wearing fins.

     As in 6-1-6, kick on the side but without delay take the top hand and raise it up vertically over your head and pause it there for two seconds. This is your ‘arrow’. After pausing for a second, break the arrow by bending at the elbow and then spear into the water in front of the head.
     Rotate on to the other side and breathe before returning your head to the water and lifting your arm on that side.
     The mantra of the drill is:

up - break - spear in - breathe - up - break - speak in - breathe.

     Whilst your arm is vertical, think about sinking your arm down into the shoulder socket for two seconds before breaking the arrow. This helps you to improve your swimming posture by engaging your scapular.
     When you have a feel for the rhythm of Broken Arrow, maintain a focus on your lead hand, keeping it straight and aligned by drawing your shoulders back and together.

Using Broken Arrow

     You can swim Broken Arrow at any time but as with Shoulder Tap, it’s a perfect drill to add to your warm-up to help you loosen off your shoulders.
     A good warm-up is:

200 m easy freestyle
300 m with fi ns as 3x: { 50 m Broken Arrow + 50 m freestyle }
100 m easy freestyle with pull buoy