If your front crawl stroke feels a bit ropy after a Christmas break then here are some quick and simple tips to help you get back to easy swimming.
Check balance and posture
Do you stay in horizontal balance throughout your swim and on every stroke? If not can you notice when you lose it and what causes it.
Re-visit fundamental balance and posture drills and check in that your head stays in neutral even when taking a breath.
Think about being long and tall while you swim and see what effect that how you feel.
Simple things to check are what do you see when you take a breath. If you see the ceiling or the person behind you then this is a good indication your head is not in neutral.
What can you hear?
How much noise do you make when you swim? How much splash do you make? Is it consistent and the same on each arm or each leg?
Splash is usually a sign of drag so simply thinking about swimming quietly might change your stroke.
Are you rotating?
If you don’t rotate it will be hard to turn your head enough to get a breath. Also if you don’t rotate your body will be flat so they’ll be a lot of drag and making it hard work.
Think about your belly button rotating slightly off centre on each side – eg to 5 O’clock and 7 O’clock.
Timing of arms
Check in with the timing of your arms.
To have a long streamlined and efficient stroke one arm needs to stay out in a streamlined position until the other one is about to enter.
This is usually harder on a breathing stroke so if you’re struggling with your breathing it’s worth checking in with this skills.
More Tips
- Is your front crawl out of puff
- Front crawl breathing tips
- Five things to improve your swimming today
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