Front crawl help please

[actiongirl1978]

Hi all,

I've just started adult swimming lessons to ideally take me from swimming like a labrador with my nose out of the water, to sleek fast lane swimmer.

With the help of my teacher I have nailed breast stroke as it's meant to be done, plus I can just about do the breathing without a nose plug.

But when I swim crawl, I find I'm running out of breath after one or two strokes. As if the stroke is more phyically draining of oxygen (probably is as its harder) and after about half a length I have to pop up and take an absolutely massive proper breath.

Does anyone better at swimming have any tips please? I really want to nail it before my next swimming lesson. Ideally I'd like to get quite proficient as soon as possible!

@seperatedmum that video makes a lot of sense thank you. He's also quite funny.

Interesting I told my instructor that I'd been watching YouTube vids in an effort to teach myself crawl and he said they are great but they rarely teach you about the breathing.

I totally gulp air in which I don't do when I swim breast.

You definitely need to kick to some extent as it helps you stay afloat & horizontal. But it’s a balancing act, as kicking hard uses way more energy, so you may be tiring yourself out quicker. If you watch really good swimmers they often don’t kick much if they’re just going at a steady pace, rather than sprinting, just enough to maintain the body position & assist with the rotation.

So I’d suggest trying to have a steady kick, but not going hell-for-leather as hard as you can.

I often add a bit of backstroke in to help with the shoulder rotation, and sometimes I over-exaggerate the 'dip' with my hips to remind me about the motion needed for rotation.

And, do watch what other swimmers do, I love a bit of breaststroke to concentrate on this!

I teach swimming to kids and adults.

Front crawl breathing in should always be a small breath, we tell the kids to "snatch a breath" because you can take as many small breaths as you need.

With regards to exhaling, both trickle and explosive are acceptable, just whatever feels natural.

Remember to keep kicking while you breathe.

For me, that feeling was totally about not breathing out enough, and a great tip I got was to hum while breathing out so that you keep a constant stream going out. When I was relearning to swim (after acquiring a disability) my instructor had a private pool and was able to use snorkels, fins and paddles so I could concentrate hard on one element at a time. Eight years later I'm still having a few coaching sessions a year, plus my coach comes and watches me at the lake after his swim and then tells me what I need to think about more. And I do look like the effortless swimmer now but its taken many hundreds of hours to get that consistently - and now I enter scary swim events!

Kicking hard is unnecessary and will take too much oxygen. The freestyle leg kick is usually six kicks to two arm pulls but on a long distance swim, this drops down,

Practice your breathing whilst holding onto the poolside and kicking, face in the water, blow out, turn your head breathe in. You can also practice with a float. Practising like this stops you from thinking about too much at once and you can concentrate on your breathing.

Everyone finds a breathing pattern that suits them. Breathing every two strokes is way too much for me and so is bilateral breathing. I tend to breath four strokes.

[quote actiongirl1978]@seperatedmum that video makes a lot of sense thank you. He's also quite funny.

Interesting I told my instructor that I'd been watching YouTube vids in an effort to teach myself crawl and he said they are great but they rarely teach you about the breathing.

I totally gulp air in which I don't do when I swim breast.[/quote]
I'm so glad you love him, I do too! i actually try to silent/v.quiet inhale around others and it really helps. I recently got my hair done and as it's off- season haven't been pool swimming (river only) but I'm going to bloody go tomorrow coz I'm all excited about swimming again! enjoy everyone!

Make sure you are rotating your body as you go through the strokes.

Freestyle you should rotate more than you think. Also relax this will help the stroke come together if you crack this then the breathing will be easier

Video on rotation

@Theyweretheworstoftimes thank you for the tips.

Relax.. I shall try that too!! The breastroke breathing came so easy once I figured it out, so I'm hoping this will click ASAP!

@profpoopsnagle I am super nosy watching other swimmers when I'm doing breast stroke! There are some shockingly bad techniques out there too!

Olympic competitors take a breath every 2nd stroke (is what I observe) -- it makes sense if you think you're running low on air, and they are working very hard.

I'm confused that OP said she's only had 2 lessons & already nailed breaststroke.

I'm self-taught crawler (learned as an adult, in my 20s, & still refining). Blowing out bubbles was the key for me, the one big thing I learned from DC's lessons.

I get random tips off of the good swimmers, like longer reach or scissor legs.

Thanks very much for the information here. I had to stop Breast Stroke because of my back. Advice from an experienced competition swimmer.
I must get back in the water and get my body flexible again. I will save these ideas you are all listing. Thanks

@lljkk sorry didn't mean to confuse.

Until October I'd never done more than swim like a sedate Victoria lady with head out of the water.

I then made myself put my face in the Water with goggles on and then I sort of swam underwater but I held my breath when I went under. So my first swimming lesson the teacher corrected my technique and helped me breathe out under water. The second lesson he started to teach me front crawl which I could do (sort of, very loosely) by the end of that session. I swim most days and I do a lot of practice.

I also learnt crawl recently and it's taken me months to get more comfortable with it and less out of breath, yet I could swim breast stroke forever and not be remotely out of breath. I can just about do consecutive lengths now with stopping for breath. I think for me it was remembering to breathe out under water and just relaxing more. At first I was thinking about so many things - arms, legs, breathing etc - that I was tensing up and almost panicking when i swam crawl. I've also figured it doesn't matter how often I breath really so I often do 2 breaths rather than 3.

@emmathedilemma well don't on nailing it!

So I can report back on this morning and I had all your advice ringing in my ears.

I slowed down, remembered to twist slightly as per the second video up thread, kept kicking and in general it was a more successful morning, I think I managed about 10 full lengths of crawl.

I think I realised that sometimes if a bit of water has gone into my lungs, I spend a couple of strokes trying to deal with that rather than breathing out properly which means I don't have room for a breath. So I need to work on not letting ant drips of water go in my lungs!

The lengths that felt easiest were where I remembered to twist to take my breath and where I slowed down.

Thanks so much everyone for all the advice

Well done, not well don't!!

Well done!

Well done

Brilliant! I think if you remember to turn your head to breathe, there is a wee gap under your arm so you shouldn't breathe water in then. Also if you do the trickle/ bubble breathing out under water, no water can get in. Someone else mentioned thinking ' bubble bubble breathe' and coaches at our club use that too for some folk to help get the idea into your head. I think for most people, slowing down and sorting out breathing is a huge part, then you can refine the arms and legs as you are not drowning/ expiring.

One thing I forgot to mention.

As you rotate you will almost be looking behind you as you breathe rather than to the side. This will mean it's harder to swallow the water.

I hope this helps

@Theyweretheworstoftimes yes my instructor told me that - look behind me, rather than up at him on the side of the pool!

@actiongirl1978

At least what I was trying to explain made sense!!!

You tube is full of videos these days on drills, techniques and all sorts of tips and hacks.

Best thing for me was someone videoing me and watching it back to see what was happening and where.

Drills will help your technique and eventually it just clicks. Enjoy your swimming!

If you are really serious about learning technique quickly, you could Google for triathlon swim analysis near you. Triathletes get swim videoing done to analyse every aspect of their stroke, position, breathing, catch etc. local to me it costs about 100£.

Thanks both, I had thought about taking my phone and asking the instructor to video me at some point, will give that some thought.

The swot in me wants to get in for my next lesson and ace it - with all of the advice I've received I'm sure I will! I can't wait to go swimming later this morning!

I second total immersion.

I breathe every 3 strokes, but I don’t exactly turn my head, I just put my belly button to the wall and look back a bit through my armpit.
What I mean is that when I take a breath, it’s not my head that turns, but my hips, and with them my whole body.
Imagine you flip a wood plank, if you turn it from one end comparing to if you flip it from the middle. Much easier from the middle.
HTH.