Front Crawl Instructions

The front crawl is regarded as the fastest of all swimming strokes. This stroke is often referred to as the forward crawl, freestyle, and also as the American crawl or the Australian crawl. The front crawl is swum in nearly all major swimming competitions including the Olympics, though this is the only stroke not regulated by FINA, the International Swimming Federation. Learning the front crawl can be accomplished with little difficulty, though mastering this technique for speed and performance takes time-intensive practice and conditioning.

Instructions

    • 1

      Get into the water and lay on your stomach. Begin flutter-kicking your feet. Flutter-kicking is done by keeping your legs together, toes pointed behind you and rapidly kicking your feet up and down. The feet do not come out of the water when kicking in order to create optimal rear propulsion. The idea here is to imagine that your knees are pinned together, and only using your legs and feet below the knee to kick.

    • 2

      Form a paddle with your hands keeping all fingers side-by-side. Move your arms in a windmill motion. Stroke into the water keeping your arm extended and straight. Push down to your hip in one fluid motion, and then withdraw your arm. In this technique, one arm is in the water pushing while the opposite arm is out of the water preparing to enter the water when the opposite arm exits.

    • 3

      Rock your body back and forth while flutter-kicking with your feet as you roll your body back and forth keep in sequence with your arm motion. When the right arm is out of the water, you need to be rocking back toward the right. Keep your face down and take a breath to the side as you need to, when your arm comes out of the water. Typically, when the right arm is out of the water and coming down for the next stroke, the head is turned to the right to take a quick breath.