6-1-6 is a progession of the Kick On Side drill. Develop your alignment, posture and hand set up position before moving on to 6-1-6 and then 6-3-6.
6-1-6 involves kicking on the side in the same manner as side kicking for around six kicks. Use this time to tune into your posture and alignment again and then perform one stroke to swap onto the other side. Continue on this side for six more kicks before swapping sides again.
As you perform the arm stroke recover the back hand over the top of the water first and keep the lead hand in position. Let your hands nearly catch-up in front of your head before starting the underwater stroke to rotate onto your other side. In your full stroke you would not fully catch-up in front of your head in this manner but this is good technique for 6-1-6.
If you are a Bambino or an Arnie Swim Type you may find that you have a strong tendency for the lead hand to collapse down before the recovering arm reaches it. That’s fine and perfectly normal.
If you struggle to keep it in front, try using something as a relay baton, in Perth we use Berrocca vitamin tubes. Keep this tube held between the thumb and first finger of your lead hand and when the top hand comes over, transfer it into your other hand. This will help you coordinate the catch up action.
The timing of the breathing is important in 6-1-6: take the breath immediately after the stroke, not before! So the drill is really 6-1-breathe-6.
This makes the breathing timing as close as possible to full stroke freestyle.
6-1-6 challenges you to maintain your hand positions and posture during the arm stroke. It’s common to see swimmers crossover or drop their elbow as the new hand enters the water and then immediately correct themselves. Instead of doing this, aim to enter straight into the correct position by maintaining your posture during the stroke. A good indication that you are doing this right is in how straight you are able to track down the pool.
Over-Rotation
With side-kicking drills you may feel unstable on your side as if you are going to topple onto your back. If your lead hand is not crossing over in front of your head then the cause is likely to be that you are slightly over-rotated beyond 90°. To improve this, bring your resting hand towards the front of the thigh as if it is in a jeans pocket. That should help you regain your balance.
It’s worth highlighting that whilst these drills bring you to 90° of rotation, in your normal stroke we are looking for 45–60°. The drills emphasise the rotataion with the view that you will transfer some of it into your full stroke.
