Swimming - front crawl

[ipanemagirl]

I've just started trying to do front crawl again (used to be happy with this stroke as a fish like 10 yr old)
But it's impossible! How can it be done without swallowing pints of water!!! Am I just too unfit?

breath out when head in water and reaching forward with one arm, then in when reaching forward with other arm, laying head sideways along the water. Sorry really hard with no way of demonstrating!! for goodness sake don't do it with your head and neck sticking upwards like a poker or you'll screw your neck and back.

oh, as for the legs, don't flap from the knee but move up and down from the hips/waist.

i think goggles are pretty necessary to do proper front crawl

three strokes head under water, on 3rd stroke breath to the side

or wahtever you like, some do alternative strokes some 4 or 5...

You really need goggles and I wear a nose clip too. My word, it looks so attractive!
Keep a steady calm rythmn rather than thrashing about. Don't raise your arms too high - almost brush head with your arm. Stretch your arm forward and keep fingers together.Keep practising - you'll be amazed at how you'll improve and how your fitness levels will increase.

thanks so much! I was so good at this 100 years ago when I was young it was a real shock to be fantastically crap today! Will I get better if I persist or should I just do sidestroke in some kind of bathing machine?

I have got goggles thanks although can barely see through them but am going to persist!

I started swimming crawl again after having SPD in pregnancy that made too much breaststroke difficult. I started with a fairly pitiful one in ten lengths in crawl, but have worked my way up to around a third of my lengths being crawl, so part of it I think is just systematically building up your stamina by increasing lengths. The other thing that helped me with breathing was a friend who used to do lots of swimming said turn my body sidewards when breathing in (I do on three or five lengths) and not just your head. HTH.

i agree with the three strokes with face down then turn head to breathe on the next one.

I do sympathise as I have really struggled to have time/money to swim regularly since ds was born and I am so incredibly bad now, can manage just a few lengths now and I used to swim a mile each time

Good on you for getting back to it!

Thanks Honoria and Amaris (very exotic names!) for the encouragement. We went again to day and I managed 18 lengths wearing goggles. I think it was tiny bit easier today but I'm just swallowing so much water it's pretty vile, it's because I'm so breathless though I think.
I'm going to try the turning sideways, I'm sure it's just practice. But crawl is really tiring isn't it? It's much more arms than breast stroke is I guess.

You should always breathe on alternate sides either every 3rd or 5th stroke. The longer the better as it takes up energy to move your head to breath. i do an advance swimming lesson once a week,
I can do breast stroke all day but front crawl is hard work