Saturday Swim Session: Natasha Van Der Merwe's Beginner Form Focus Session
Swimming, August 23, 2026
Natasha Van Der Merwe's Beginner Form Focus Session is a technique-focused swim workout designed to improve freestyle efficiency by immediately transferring drill movements into normal swimming. Using Catch Up, Finger Drag and One Arm drills, the session develops body position, coordination, recovery and stroke mechanics. Choose from three options of 1,950m, 2,850m or 3,400m, with the emphasis on purposeful, technically controlled swimming rather than simply chasing speed.
Good freestyle technique isn't something you develop once and then forget about. It needs to be regularly reinforced so that efficient movement becomes your natural way of swimming—even when you start to fatigue.
This week's Saturday Swim Session is inspired by a session from triathlon coach Natasha Van Der Merwe and puts technique firmly at the centre of the workout.
Rather than completing drills in isolation, you'll practise a particular movement and then immediately transfer it into your normal freestyle.
Three Drills, Three Areas Of Focus
The session uses three different freestyle drills:
Catch Up Drill encourages stroke length and coordination between your arms. The drill is immediately followed by normal freestyle, where the aim is to retain that length without introducing an exaggerated pause or glide.
Finger Drag Drill encourages a relaxed recovery and good elbow positioning. When you transition back into freestyle, concentrate on keeping that same relaxed feeling through your recovery.
One Arm Drill allows you to isolate one side at a time and concentrate on your catch, pull, body rotation and recovery. It's also a useful opportunity to identify differences between your left and right sides.
The important part isn't simply completing each drill correctly. It's whether you can carry what you've practised into the freestyle that immediately follows.
Choose Your Distance
There are three versions of the workout, allowing you to select the volume that best suits your current swimming fitness and training:
🏊 Option A – 1,950m
🏊 Option B – 2,850m
🏊 Option C – 3,400m
All three include warm-up, kick and Pull Buoy and Paddles work before progressing into the technique-focused sets.
Options B and C also include a short build set and another 300m of Pull Buoy and Paddles towards the end of the session.
Don't Just Go Through The Motions
One of the easiest mistakes to make with swim drills is completing them simply because they're written on the programme.
Every repetition should have a purpose.
Before starting each drill, know what you're concentrating on. Then, as you transition into normal freestyle, try to retain that movement without exaggerating it.
Don't worry about how quickly you complete the drill sets. This is a workout where quality of movement is far more important than chasing the clock.
By the end of the session, the goal is for your freestyle to feel smoother and more efficient than it did when you started.
Get The Complete Workout
In the full article, I've included all three versions of the session along with the complete distances and repetitions. I also explain why you're doing the workout, what you should focus on, common mistakes to avoid and my coaching tips for getting the most from each drill.
If you'd like to spend your next pool session working on better body position, coordination and freestyle efficiency, give this session a try.
👉 Read the full Saturday Swim Session here: