Tips for getting front crawl right

13/07/2016

Getting front crawl right isn’t easy. Learning all the main swimming strokes comes after you have mastered the basic skills of swimming. This is during Stage 3 of the Learn to Swim Pathway for adults learning to swim. But the strokes can take a lifetime to master.

If you feel you have reached a point with breaststroke where you are ready to develop then we have collated some tips for you below. There is also a short video to help you get it right. If you are not there yet, head over to the swimming.org Learn section.

Tips for getting front crawl right

Float on your front with your face in the water, stretching your body as long as possible.
Keep your legs long with toes pointed. Kick your legs up and down (alternating) making your ankles as floppy as possible, using your feet like flippers. Kick your legs fast and continuously.
Start with your arms stretched out long in front of your head. Pull one arm under your body all the way to the thigh. Bring your arm out of the water and sweep it over the water stretching it ready to enter the water in front of your head. Keep pulling your arms in a continuous movement so that as one arm enters, the other is ready to exit at the thigh.
Turn your head to the side to breathe in. Turn as one arm is stretched in front and one at the thigh. Try to keep one ear in the water as you turn your head. As the arm sweeps over the water return your face back into the water and breathe out.