The crawl is the most efficient way of swimming if you want to swim fast and for a long time. That’s why the crawl is the stroke chosen when doing freestyle swimming. In the crawl, the arms and legs are moved continuously to move through the water. New to swimming? It’s more than just arm rotation. Learn coordinated techniques to improve efficiency in crawl swimming. In this article, we will go through step by step what you should and shouldn’t do when crawl swimming to be as efficient as possible.
Contents
Arm movements
The arm movements in the front crawl are divided into 3 phases:
– the pull from hand entry into the water to shoulder height
– the propulsion from shoulder height to thigh height
– the airy return from the thigh to the outside of the water until the hand is back in the water.
The pull phase aims to shift the weight backwards in preparation for the propulsion phase. To do this, you need to keep your elbow high, almost at the surface of the water, and bring your hand and forearm up to shoulder height. To get a feel for the movement, try climbing up the pool wall in the water and you will see that you tend to slow down your elbow when you hold it up. You will see that you are more likely to break your elbow if you hold it at the top. However, it will be very difficult to climb up the wall if you tense or spread your arms too much or if you keep them tense. Keep your hand in line with your body during this phase and do not let it move inwards or outwards.
In the propulsion phase, you then try to propel the water behind you by holding your hand steady and reaching back as far as you can until your arm is almost straight. You also need to push off as far as you can until the bars are taut and keep your hand away from your hip, otherwise you will cut off half of your propulsion phase. In this phase, your hand should continue to follow your body and not move inwards or away from your body.
Finally, in the backward movement phase, after looking far back in the propulsion phase, you should keep your hand back on the axis. Don’t move it too close or too far away from your body, otherwise you will lose your balance. To keep your hand in line, lift your elbow upwards and keep your hand and forearm relaxed underneath. Then bring your hand into the water with your arm almost straight and, most importantly, without crossing your hands inwards, and try to extend your movement as far as possible by pulling your shoulder forward to prepare for a new pull/propulsion phase.
The legs
The legs not only help with propulsion, but also play an important role in body alignment and balance in the crawl stroke. For an effective kick, the legs should be almost straight and level with the surface of the water. It is important to perform the stroke from the hips without bending the knee. The foot and ankle should be relaxed and pointed like a ballerina. Do not try to synchronize the leg strokes with the arm movements – on the contrary, keep the two separate.
Positioning of the head
The head acts like a kind of windshield in the water. A sports car has a streamlined windshield, while a semi-trailer truck has an almost straight windshield. It’s the same with swimming: To get faster, you have to be as hydrodynamic as possible. This means that you don’t look forwards, but instead pull your head in so that as little surface area as possible is in the opposite direction to the swimming direction. To help you, you can look at the bottom of the pool and pull your head in as if you wanted to reach your chest with your chin.
Breathing
In the swimming crawl, you breathe on the side opposite the front arm, i.e. on the side of the arm that you bring forward. When breathing, you must not try to turn your head too much, otherwise you will become completely off-center. The aim is to pull your head outwards as little as possible and try to keep part of the goggles underwater to maintain alignment as much as possible.
Also try to breathe on both sides by swimming 3 strokes, i.e. you make 3 movements before you breathe. This will allow you to use both arms and shoulders equally and prevent you from injuring yourself if you always lean on the same side when breathing. It helps you to maintain your posture for as long as possible. You lose a little speed with each breath. So if you breathe every 2 breaths, you will inevitably slow down a bit.
Last tips
The last piece of advice we can give you is not to panic by moving your arms too quickly, but rather try to break down your stroke and break up the phases of the arm movement. You will be much more efficient if you focus on your technique than if you try to be fast by spinning your arms all the way through!
And if you’re just starting out, don’t hesitate to seek out a lifeguard at the side of the pool so they can watch and correct you as you swim.
If this article has helped you to better understand the basics of crawl swimming, don’t hesitate to integrate swimming sessions into your training schedule in your RunMotion app.