The front crawl stroke, often referred to as the freestyle stroke, is the fastest stroke of the four used in competitive swimming. The front crawl was first used in Europe in 1844 by swimmers from South America against their British counterparts using the breaststroke. The front crawl is a difficult stroke to master as swimmers breathe to the side, possibly disturbing the precarious body alignment, balance and momentum.
Taking a Breath
Learning to breathe properly is paramount when swimming the front crawl. There are two main elements -- inhalation and exhalation, both equally important. Poor breathing technique can influence overall technique, causing a variety of problems. Swimmers must learn to exhale the air in their lungs while their face is still in the water, so they need only to breathe in when they turn to inhale. When not going for air, keep your head still, you eyes looking down at the bottom of the pool. When going for air, be careful not to lift your head, as this will cause your legs to sink, creating resistance and scrubbing speed.
Body Rotation
In swimming freestyle, it is important your body rolls or rotates along the long axis or length -- your shoulders, torso and hips rolling simultaneously. Your head, however, should remain still when not taking a breath. Swimmers will want to avoid their body being flat in the water as this leads to resistance when the shoulders plow through the water, creating a bow wake. Rotating your body allows for full extension of your forward reach, and adds power to your catch and flutter kick. In addition, you are able to engage the large muscles in your back and core for a stable and powerful body position in the water.
Flutter Kick
The flutter kick adds propulsion, balance and rotation to the freestyle stroke. To perform the flutter kick correctly, it is important to keep your legs relatively straight with a slight bend at the knees. Focus on keeping your legs and feet streamline with your body line, holding them close together. The bottoms of your feet should slightly break the water's surface, bubbling rather than splashing the water. To reduce resistance, keep the kick small and quick, originating from your hips.
Timing and Rhythm
The goal of developing good timing and rhythm is to eliminate dead spots in your stroke when you decelerate. Instead, you want to be able to maintain continuous forward momentum through the water. To achieve this, equilibrium between stroke length, how far you travel per stroke, and stroke rate, the amount of strokes you take per minute, is critical. If you have a glide at the end of each stroke, you are slowing down and must expend additional energy to reaccelerate or regain the speed lost during the pause. Increasing your stroke count and reducing glide can correct this problem.
References
- Talk Swimming: Learn All the Swimming Strokes: Front Crawl
- Swim Smooth; Breathing Technique in the Freestyle Stroke: Freestyle Breathing Technique; 2009
- Swim Smooth; Rotation: Rotation and Body Roll in Freestyle Swimming; 2009
- Go Swim; Drills: Freestyle-Flutter-Kick Basics: How to Do it; Glenn Mills; August 2009
- Swim Smooth; Stroke Rate: Rhythm, Timing and Stroke Rate in Swimming; 2009
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