Stroke Method In Front Crawl.

Green Hornet

Yet another swimming thread about improving at swimming!

Struggling to get over 30 lengths of front crawl in a 45 min session. From looking through a number of the threads I've tried to include some of the suggestions for myself. One that seems to make good sense to me recommended trying to glide more by changing the method in the stroke, hence using less energy.

I have always pulled my arm underneath my body i.e. hand underneath my body down to the belly button. Is this incorrect? I asked the lifeguard this evening and he said to keep my arm and hand out from the body before I try the S stroke. Is that correct? I don't want to train myself to do something more incorrect than what I'm already doing.

I know it's impossible for somebody to gauge me without seeing me swim but any feedback is most welcome.

Clseeper

I’m glad you understand that everyone’s stroke is different and we can only give you general advice but I’m glad you included the lifeguards’ comments. I don’t know their swimming backround but what I gather from your description of your stroke and their comments:

You may have a very tight (be pulling too close to your body) and also quite a short stroke. The thing I would encourage you to do first to lengthen your stroke would be to pull back further. A lot of people only pull back as far as their stomach, or belly button in your case. This can result in quite a short stroke. Ideally you should continue your stroke back past your hip, locking your elbow straight and using your triceps [muscles on the back of your arms] to follow through and give extra push and propulsion.

This works well as it’s a different muscle group giving the propulsion, triceps as opposed to the main muscle groups that you work on front crawl, chest [pecs] and mainly biceps [front of arms]. It takes a bit of work to get used to it as it will be quite tough on your arms. You will also have to get used to the slower stroke rate which can throw out your timing and breathing for a while.

In parallel with this try and roll more in your stroke and stretch as far forward [in a straight line] as possible. Really reach, nearly overextending so you force you shoulders and hip to roll. This reduces the amount of your body in the water and hence less resistence and drag but more importantly involves your core muscles [abs, upper & lower back etc] in the stroke.

Make sure that with all this rolling that it’s focused on your shoulders and hips around your spine. You don’t want your stroke to turn into a snaking movement down the pool, with your arms crossing your centre line and legs swinging side to side:rolleyes:.

There’s a lot there and will take a good bit of work to get right. Try some catch-up drills to work on your arms more and keep persevering.

Found a nice clip on youtube of Mark Fosters' stroke. Video isn't bad but has a good bit of slow motion which is very good for picking up tips and stroke analysis

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNqSpDDWdXs

Green Hornet

Thanks for the advice CLseeper.

My stroke is quite short and I will try to extend the stroke. I also was crossing the centre line. The lifeguard told me that my stroke "quantity" was good and slow so hopefully pushing the stroke away from my body a bit, extending forward more and pushing back further will help. I definitely did not roll very much so I'll try to include that as well. I guess I'm not doing too bad because I only learned to swim about 6 months ago but I need to break the bad habits that got me by at that time. Unfortunately, I still have them and need to break them.

It would probably make sense for me to not concentrate so much on the number of lengths but the quality of whatever lengths that I complete instead as well.

Thanks for the clip as well.:)

topper75

Good points above by CLseeper.

Can't emphasise the 'roll' enough.

When you look at someone doing the front crawl, it is easy to believe that they are driven by their arms stroking through the water. In fact, the roll of the torso is more important. Get one shoulder down and the other shoulder above it. Then switch them as you stroke, using the 'roll' to get your breath (every 2 or 3 strokes depending on what suits you). Make the hips follow your shoulders so your body glides through the water as a unit.

Meditate on the following mantra when you next experiment in the pool 'The roll of the torso is the engine, the hands are only the wheels.'

You should also find this to involve far less effort over a 45 mins session.

Sconsey

Hi....somewhat related question.

I learned my front crawl technique from one of the Total Immersion dvd's, learned to glide quite well and then got a few priveta lessons which helped with my breathing. My question is regarding where your hands enter the water on front crawl, TI seems to suggest that your hand should enter the water about level with your forehead and then skim horizontally just below the surface untill it is fully stretched. That's what I've been doing for ages but have always noticed that pro-swimmers or nearly anyone else, reaches their leading hand/arm out above the water (your video is a case in point). Any comments on 'my' technique versus the more common technique?

Note: I'm not racing or anything like that, I usually do about 30 lengths (20m pool) at my own pace.

Cheers

Green Hornet

I tried incorporating your tips tonight and although I ended up making a pigs dinner of trying to do them all together I can certainly see how they will help when I master each one.

I also noticed something else troubling in my stroke from looking at the video. My pull stroke with one arm has well started just as my other arm is beginning the recovery stage.

I'll definitely have to practice catch up!

Clseeper

Greenhornet: Yes, I know there was a lot of information in my above post and I wouldn’t expect you to get all of them in one go. The hardest thing for a lot of people in improving their stroke is the timing and coordination. Even if your kick is brilliant with a board and your pull is brilliant with a pull buoy, there’s still a good bit of work to integrate both of them seamlessly together.

On your arms starting early; the reaching forward [and full extension back] should hopefully fix that in time. Good luck and persevere.

Sconsey: I totally agree with you. I watch some of the professional races and think “My kids have better strokes than that!” And they do but they’re no where near as fast as the pros. Your method would be the most efficient way to get maximum propulsion for minimum effort and resistance. Whereas the pros just have to get through the water as quickly and powerfully as possible. A lot of the pro have so much power behind their strokes and nearly always have an extremely efficient catch and pull underneath the water. That’s what distinguishes a swimmer from someone who is very strong from just lifting weights. You have to be able to apply the power so the most important part is your catch and ‘feel’ in the water. The fact that you can feel some resistance when you pull, as opposed to just slipping and thrashing through.

It may be one step back for two steps forward but even for my competitive club, I would always proactive encourage the swimmers to have a very long smooth stroke with a strong kick. While this isn’t the best for sprinting, the slower stroke forces them to work on their feel and application of the power. Then, when I’m happy with it, we can work on increasing the stroke rate and even sacrifice some of that ‘feel’ and length in the stroke to physical get more strokes in each length, and make it faster.

Green Hornet

I tried swimming catch up this evening. Absolutely EXHAUSTED. I did the first 6 lengths that way and the first length or 2 were fine but after that I found myself struggling quite a bit. Is that normal?

I also found that my legs were not too far from cramping, perhaps using my legs more than normal? As I tired more I think I may have even ended up swimming catch up with more or less only one side (if that makes any sense).:rolleyes:

For the remainder of the session I tried to use my shoulders to stretch as far as I could (swimming normally) and I could see that I needed less strokes to complete a length. It will probably take a few sessions to get into a routine but I definitely can see how visuallising using my shoulders to go forward is more efficient than using my arms (if you know what I mean). Using my shoulders also seemed to help with the roll - I used to swim very flat using my arms to propel myself forward.

The lifeguard also told me that during recovery I need to let my arms further away from my body.

Hope I'm not bothering you but just thought I'd let you know how I found your tips. They are great and I can see they will definitely help me. Thanks.

topper75

Legs cramping?

Hmmm. Doing much other stuff outside the pool - like running/cycling etc. Could be it. Muscles can only do so much. Cramp is bodies way of saying they might be overloaded.

You can always drag legs behind you in front crawl and give them a break.

Clseeper

No you’re not bothering at all. It’s great to see improvement, that’s why I teach. And especially through the internet, I don’t get that immediate satisfaction from watching your stroke get better. So at least this way I know your benefiting. Thanks

Getting tired quicker when doing catch-up is totally normal. You are effectively halving the amount of arm strokes you are doing and your kick needs to compensate for this so they will end up doing a lot more work. For catch-up, try doing is in short sets to maintain good stroke and making sure you’re concentrating. Maybe limit to a few 50m at a time? Drills are not about how much you do, but how well you do them.

Just on toppers point: It’s fine to let your legs drag but just be sure this doesn’t mess up your body position too much. For a lot of people if they stop kicking, their legs drop [deeper] and then you’re massively increasing your frontal resistance and actually make things a lot harder. Also sometimes when people stop kicking, they relax their whole core and this can cause your hips to start swinging side to side. This effectively means you’ll be ‘snaking’ down the pool and end up swimming double the distance.

What I’m saying is, you can use your legs less when they’re tired but just remember to use them a small bit. Also using the muscles will help clear them of lactate acid [the stuff that makes them feel heavy after a hard set].

ozchick

Green Hornet wrote: »

Yet another swimming thread about improving at swimming!

Struggling to get over 30 lengths of front crawl in a 45 min session. From looking through a number of the threads I've tried to include some of the suggestions for myself. One that seems to make good sense to me recommended trying to glide more by changing the method in the stroke, hence using less energy.

I have always pulled my arm underneath my body i.e. hand underneath my body down to the belly button. Is this incorrect? I asked the lifeguard this evening and he said to keep my arm and hand out from the body before I try the S stroke. Is that correct? I don't want to train myself to do something more incorrect than what I'm already doing.

I know it's impossible for somebody to gauge me without seeing me swim but any feedback is most welcome.

yeah it's very much a visual thing, but we used to do drills in squad where we had to touch our thigh with our thumb as we finished the end of the stoke and then dragged our thumb up our thigh as bending our elbow getting ready to lift the hand out of the water. The s stroke thing is correct, just don't pull your hand to far into your middle. Also you will increase your glide if you reach forward (too many people chop their stoke short) and also the rotation of your body will increase your reach. So hard when I am trying to practice it on the lounge floor :D