Front Crawl Only - Advice Needed

bystarlight

Is it bad to only do the front-crawl when swimming? As in, does it only work one muscle group, while abandoning other muscle groups?

I don't do any other excerise that would work other muscle groups. The breast stroke hurts my back and I'm no good at the back crawl.

Could I be doing any long-term damage by only doing the front crawl?

Also, is the front crawl good for keeping the beer belly at bay?

Thanks

AngryHippie

Doing FC all the time may lead to an imbalance in the long term, what I would suggest is getting a small pair of training fins, and use them swimming backstroke, this takes the load off the arms for BC, while you'll still get enough of a workout to balance it out, you won't be driven mad by the frustration of being really slow and sh1tty at backstroke. Its a decent enough compromise, and one I've used myself for a good while.
As for keeping the beer gut away, nothing works like butterfly, but if your back is dodgy, then thats out. Was it a major back injury or is it just an ongoing niggly problem ?
If its not injury based, check out with a physio, you may just need some extra stretching and static excercises to balance out some already strained muscles.
I've been there too, had major lumbar aches after sessions for months, eventually my whole back went into spasm, and my physio asked me what training I'd been doing, it had left my quads too tight and was tilting my hips forward all the time, compressing my back and forcing some muscles to spasm. Its just an example, but I was doing nearly all FC and Fly, I wasn't going to a fixed pre-planned set, just swimming the strokes I enjoy. After a few sessions with physio and a massage every 3 months or so, its all good.
Enjoy

Tinder

Yea I would defffo recomend getting some fins for the feet, like small flippers then get going with the backstroke and try a bit of butterfly, I was never any good at butterfly but with the help of fins I am improving all the time, also use the fins when doing catch up drills etc, they really let you know what your feet are supposed to be doing when swimming. Use the tools available to you and don't be too worried about what you look like in the pool. – Good luck and let us know how you get on.
T

okane1

How often do you swim and what distance you doing?
If its only short swims, I would imagine there be no problem. If your still unsure, you could do some light weight training on your upper back, as this is the only muscle group your not working.

Tropheus

Would advise some upper back training if you're only doing FC. I've been swimming for about 3 years and for the last 18 months, I've been doing a swim fit course which is predominantly FC.

Unfortunatley, this resulted in a muscle imbalance where my chest muscles strenghted, but my upper back didn't. Therefore, over time, my shoulders were pulled forward causing serious tendon problems.

I ended up with a serious shoulder tendon injury that has taken over 4 months to heal and I'm still not 100%. It is best practice to vary the strokes you do and do some upper body strenghtening and stretching.

You'll find some good advice if you search on the interweb.

Clseeper

Like any sport, any repeated repetitive movement can cause injuries and issues but this all depends on level and quantity. Competitive swimmers can have problems after years of training i.e. breaststrokers on the knees, backcrawlers on the shoulders etc.

As suggested, and good practice for all exercise, is a well rounded program. Swimming in general works more muscle groups than other sports but normally to a lesser extent due to the help of the buoyancy of the water. Obviously this will depend on stroke and exertion level. Also included in this should be some sort of regular stretching which should help maintain/improve flexibility and reduce chance of injury.

Ksimpson: Where are you doing your swim fit course and what type of program have they? (distance, regularity, land vs pool etc). It's very seldom that I've heard of that happening - it's normally repetitive strain injuries in swimming. Have you got a land based stretching in your program?

In regard to the beer belly - that's a tough one. The correct answer is no; as you cannot target weight loss. However a good cardio program (of which swimming is a good one) should aid weight loss. From professional experience: the largest factor in weight loss is diet. Improve that and you'll get there, the swimming will only help.

Burkatron

bystarlight wrote: »

Is it bad to only do the front-crawl when swimming? As in, does it only work one muscle group, while abandoning other muscle groups?

I don't do any other excerise that would work other muscle groups. The breast stroke hurts my back and I'm no good at the back crawl.

Could I be doing any long-term damage by only doing the front crawl?

Also, is the front crawl good for keeping the beer belly at bay?

Thanks

All the advice so far above has been good, just wanted to throw my 2 cents in!

As stated before doing front crawl all the time will lead to muscle imbalance causing a whole range of problems if not addressed! You can do other upper back excercises easily enough to counter this but that might not be convenient if you want to do all your excercise in your pool sessions! If this is the case then just persevere with back stroke, it's a great way to warm down & balance out your muscle groups. Also a weak core &/or bad posture can be factors in this, if you do separate back sessions you can add in extra core work!
Over the years Ive found that a 1:6 ratio (was 1:2 when I wasnt lazy!!) of backstroke to Front crawl leaves me feeling alot better following my swim then if I dont do any backstroke at all. So for every 6 Front crawl I do 1 length of backstroke. Its really not that much,considering I swim roughly 60 lengths Front crawl 3 times a week thats only 10 lengths back stroke a session. This stops me from been stiff & also helps with nerve problems I have in my forearms (another kettle of fish :eek:)

Beer belly's can be caused by so many different things a calorie defecit diet & excercise alone might not fix it.
1st thing I'd recommend doing is cleaning up your diet (if its bad! maybe post up a diet sheet if you can as what some people think is healthy others would disagree). Beer belly in itself has a big contributor in its name, so maybe cut back on the booze if your drinking excessively, your not going to lose it quickly if at all(Im not implying your an alco btw). Even once a week when trying to lose weight is too regular!
Try & stick to eating healthy for 6 weeks & regular excercise & see if that makes any difference. If it doesn't then you can look into specific diets for hormonal balance as hormones can be a key factor in where you store body fat.
Thats enough babbling for now, good luck & keep us informed

Tropheus

I'm doing the swimfit class in Jackie Skelly's in swords. It's all pool based and is mainly front crawl. We cover about 50 lenghts of a 25m pool in 45 mins.

I did have a stretching routine, but I now realise I wasn't doing the right type of stretching. I've seen a physiotherapist and she gave me a stretching and strengtening routine.

I also have artritis which compounds the problem, but thankfully it is improving even if it's slow.

I'm still swimming but only cover around 300m three times per week. I won't be going back to swim fit for a few weeks yet.

bystarlight

Thanks for the advice everyone...it's very helpful. Looks like I'll be investing in a pair of training fins, I'll let ye know how I get on with them.

Regarding the breast-stroke...I have mild arthritis in my lower back, and the breast-stroke always seems to aggravate it.

I don't have a beer belly at the moment, just want to make sure I don't get one. In my late twenties and drink about every 3 weeks or so. So it's probably my diet I need to concentrate on more than drink.

Thanks again!