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Freestyle - Front Crawl |
| Whether you're looking to compete in triathlons or to increase
your fitness through recreational swimming you should master
Front Crawl as your main stroke. For various reasons it's the
most continuous, streamlined and fastest of all the strokes, so
becoming proficient at it will mean you can swim further and
faster than with any other stroke.
With front crawl you're on your front with your face in
the water, so knowing you can easily turn to breathe
is important in making your stroke relaxed and flowing. Novice and
slower swimmers often fight to raise their heads out of the
water,
but this has the effect of making the legs
drop, which in turn makes them less aerodynamic and efficient, which in turn
slows them down ... etc..etc..etc.
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| So let's take a look at how the great Ian Thorpe times his
stroke, firstly from above and then from below the surface: |
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| The sequence of shots above shows for just
how much of his stroke Ian Thorpe maintains almost full
extension with his leading arm. Starting at the end of the left arm stroke, with the hand about to
leave the water, the right hand stays in a fairly constant and
extended position until the recovering hand of his left
arm has passed his head. There is enough speed
generated with the push through of his left arm not to
need to stroke with his right arm until he can maximise
his hold on the water. His head is about 50% above the
surface with his face pointing forward and down and his
body, including his legs are kept very close to and
aligned with the surface of the water. |
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| In this sequence of 3 snaps you
can see Ians left arm enter the water as his right arm
catches and holds the water, ready to drive the swimmer
forward. Note that, as the left hand enters the water in
the third snap, the right hand hasn't yet passed the
elbow (of either hand). |
From that point the right arm accelerates
swiftly as the left arm fully extends. As Ian primarily
breathes to the right his body and head rotate to the
right as he finishes his stroke close to his thigh. |
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| Taking a look at this from below the surface: |
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| This sequence shows how a front crawler
should get hold of the water with both the hand and the
forearm by keeping the elbow very high in the water. A
common cause of power loss for less competent swimmers is
dropping the elbow at the start of the stroke, meaning you
shorten the stroke and only have the hand available to
drive water backwards. If you want to prove the power of
using your forearm try holding your hands in fists while
you swim and only use your forearms to propel yourself.
It's surprising the speed you maintain if you grab the
water with your forearms propperly. |
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| These two snaps show that the
upper and lower arms should stay at about a 90o angle
during the drive phase of the stroke. It also illustrates
that Ians body is rotating from facing the left to no
facing the right. |
The body continues to rotate to
let the right arm push water backwards along the body. If
it doesn't rotate sufficiently the arm can't push water
backwards, it would have to push sideways to get from
under the body, which in turn would push the swimmer
sideways and not forward. . |
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| The aim of any swimmer should be to maintain the longest
stroke possible while keeping good stroke mechanics and the
final clip shows Ian extending his shoulder to maximise the
reach of his left arm, while keeping his body aligned along the
spine. Although Ian shows almost a perfect stroke for a long
distance swimmer it's easier to illustrate the finer points of
front crawl using TriMan. For each element of the stroke we can
show both the frontal and side views: |
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| The first two slides illustrate
the end of the right arm stroke and the beginning of the
recovery. As the arm recovers the hand always remains
below the elbow of the recovering arm. All the extended
hand does is simply drop slightly while keeping the elbow
high. |
As the arm comes forward the
leading forearm and hand drop but the elbow stays high. By
the time the hand passes the shoulder the swimmers has
rotated his body so his shoulders are in line with the
water.The track of the hand is slightly rounded,. where it
moves out slightly at the beginning of the stroke but then
moves back towards the centre of the body. Note (below)
that the stroking hand has not passed the head when the
recovering arm enters the water. |
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| The stroking arm accelerates
swiftly to the rear and the angle between the upper and
lower arms is approximately 90o. The whole of
the lower arm and hand is used to push water backwards and
the body rotates so that the primary directive force can
be backwards. The hand passes quite close to the body but
never crosses the centre line of the body. The leading
hand and shoulder extends as the body rotates to maximise
stroke length. |
At the end of the stroke the
hand turns towards the body to release it's hold on the
water and the elbow lifts to lead the arms recovery. At
this point the head should turn to breathe (if it is your
breathing side) but should be moved back into a
streamlined position before the hand passes the elbow. |
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Training Abroad |
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Great Beaches |
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Deserted Roads |
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Dreamy Sunsets |
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Oceanfront Villas |
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New Experiences |
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