Reach forward with your alternate arm whilst pushing with the other two-thirds of the stroke. Your forward arm must reach as far as possible then catch in a continuous motion. Leverage your push moment as you're reaching for the next pull. Sounds easy but practicing drills in reach, the catch and feeling the water pressure help a lot.
Front crawl is the stroke you see in this video, freestyle is a term that encompasses all four main strokes, any are permitted, and indeed front crawl is the fastest and most efficient. In fact one time when I was young I chose to do backstroke in a 200m freestyle event out of exhaustion from previous events.
@ernesttubb In fact, what he's doing could be defined as a "4 beat kick". As you can see, sometimes he uses a classic 6 beat pattern, other times he uses 3 beats for the stroke when he breathes and one only stroke for the following stroke, when his face is underwater. So we have 3+1 beats for every cycle (2 arm strokes). It's mostly suitable for unilateral breathing and basically allows you to save some energy on long distances, keeping the same timing of the classical 6 beat kick.
Exactly. Sun Young is using 4 beat kick too, BUT he kicks 3 times, when face is underwater. Then he kicks ones on the stroke, when he is breathing. Cheers!
chinesep1mp - the kick in frontcrawl is primarily to "balance" the arm stroke (at best it provides only 10% of power of the stroke). A poor (shallow/unbalanced) kick can have serious adverse affect on the stroke (efficiency/speed/comfort wise). Very simple rule of thumb - the further the race distance the less the kick i.e. two beats per full stroke for longer distrances when shoulder power will prove essential. This can be cranked up for the last 100 or so metres.
@chinesep1mp because it's a long distance event and swimming provides very little propulsion for the amount of energy it uses up. That's why you'll see the long distance swimmers and triathletes use little to no kicking until the final laps
Funny I heard that causes your feet to drop thus, increasing your hydrodynamic drag. In practice the difference between swimming as you described (which was considered proper technique at one time) is noticeably slower and more difficult in the same heart rate intensity zone as swimming with your head down and focusing on the tiles or whatever is below you.
No dude, freestyle is the event, meaning that they can use any type of style they want (butterfly, breast, crawl, whatever). They use the front crawl because it's the fastest but, in theory, they could be doing breast, back, or whatever stroke
they're right about the entry point, at the moment your hand enters the water, your elbow is supposed to be at almost a 90 degree angle (the hand's position should just be in front of your head), then you follow through and extend your arm, slicing the water while gliding, then you "pull". It just looks like they're not bending their elbows as much because the camera's under water and their entry is so fast and smooth you can't see it.
@jabbamom I'm a fan of long distance swimming and you're absolutely right. :) This is a beautiful video. It's not only great to swim but to watch other people do it. One can always learn something especially when watching pros. :P
I don't see his wrist flex after his hand enters water... and so he has a large "paddle"... all the way from his elbow to end of fingertips. I love how he glides into a position where he then folds his HighElbow. awesome.
@Trevorthekid I teach swimming . For more advance swimmers but naturally we all do it without realising or should do it there is an elongated s shape . So there is entry hand goes into water at a certain angle , Catch , pull and recovery during the pull ( which comes into the center of the body ) the hand gets ready to go into the recovery ( elbow bending to come out of the water then stretch ) in between that transition the hand slides down in an "s " like shape down the side of the body .
I'm a beginner swimmer and am wondering which is the best way to execute the front crawl (I'll get to other styles as I progress) but is this the most effective way to do it and should your head be in the water at all times?
ive been wondering the best swimming technique, im in the high school swimming team, and ive just found this one! it looks much different than what the coach tells us to do! It looks good. I'll go try it out and PRACTICE!
swftypro - ideally you breath every three pulls (minimum), as breathing bilaterally helps balance the stroke, but 1500 m is quite a way - you get tired - so breathing every stroke is OK but only if you are way in front! Technique has to be allied to distance (and effort)
I am new to learning the two-beat kick. Hackett's technique seems so strange to me - it's like he's mixing two beat kick and six-beat kick alternately. Perhaps someone more experienced than me could explain?
Amazing swimmer! As I study the video, it appears that his right arm (breathing side) is breaking at the highest point with his high elbow. The break for the left arm though seems to happen a little lower after he pulls his arm down. Maybe it's just the video angle, but I'm curious as I'm learning freestyle now and am trying to observe great swimmers to help with my stroke. Any comments from those who are knowledgeable about swimming would be appreciated.
@chinesep1mp the legs are also the largest muscle in your body and therefore burn the most energy to 'use' out of any muscle. Hence you reserve kicking over long distances. This ofcourse is dependent on the swimmers style. E.g. Ian thorpe has strong legs so he uses them more
Hackett is a long distance swimmer so he needs to conserve energy. The way to do this is to maximise your glide in terms of duration and speed. It makes swimming a lot less tiring and MUCH more enjoyable.
Awesome evf! Sun Yang does it EXACTLY the same, thanks to Dennis Cotterell(Hacketts' coach). The world record still belongs to Australia, since Yangster trained there with Dennis and his club. Sun, upon your next visit, please deposit one gold medal for entry visa. Sorry, went off topic there.
@SwiftyPro these days swimmers like grant hackett and other long distance swimmers have developed this breathing pattern in order to gain more oxygen. you should notice the arms are not moving at even speeds and the stroke looks slightly uneven in the water. it is very difficult to master this while maintaining good balence and streamline. i reccomend you only try it if you are already very confident breathing bilaterally and dont try it in a race until you are sure you have the hang of it.
@chinesep1mp If you think about the largest oxygen-using muscles in the body, the legs are close to the top of the list. Like @jabbamom said, "very little propulsion for the amount of energy it uses up." Kicking is necessary to 'get on top' of your stroke, but over kicking leads to oxygen deprivation. It's a good question.
i have a question. how come when do the front crawl kick, my feet are pointed inwards for some reason and so i'm going REALLY slow when i just do the front crawl kicks. is there any way to fix that because i think my feet should be straight when i'm kicking. (i've been swimming for a few years now. i've learned with a few bullshit teachers therefore wasting some time. but i'm pretty good at it. i'm done all the levels, and i can be a lifeguard but i'm only 14 right now.
I don't, but I know swimmers who do and do so without problems of any sort. There is no universal "right" or "wrong," is my point; it's all relative to your body type and what works for you.
Because he's swimming 1.5km long :) he is saving his energy by doing that. if it was a short distance race, his feet would be moving like hell constantly :)
no he is not overreaching abit cos he is long distance swimmer unlike other guys who were sprint swimmer so distance and sprint front crawl technique r bit different
Looks like he's doing a 4 beat kick. For other long distance swims 2 kick beats are used, depending on distance. He's just kicking enough to keep posture in correct form
No need for jabs on comment. Feet move slower for long distance I think to conserve energy. The idea of 80% stretch is maybe little high but NOT rubbish...gliding to get maximum stroke length without losing too much speed is very true long distance.
no definitely not. do not keep your head down. To reduce water resistance you should try to have the waterline perhaps a centimetre or two below your hairline.
those pro triathletes guys are incredible! They perform olympic timings in each 3 sports, even though the 3 sports follow up each other. (15-17 min for 1,5k swim / 57-59 min for 40k bike / 27-30min for 10k run) go figure!
hours and hours in the pool since a young boy training for the olympics....i'd like to know how much money she has contributed to the purchase of their assets......now she lives in the apartment with the furniture as always happens after a split-up. you got to feel sorry for people like grant in this type of situation....everything he has worked and trained for over the years was slipping away. and he had to sell his ferrari. am i totally out of line here? i dont know.....does anybody disagree?
Maybe is just how he got used to keep it, anyway i noticed that most of the speed comes from the legs, and having a big foot helps to, like Phelps has :)
@andrewwebber66 "Utter rubbish"? He is a triple Olympic Gold medalist (plus 3 silvers and 2 bronze), and was world champion in 17 events. Not bad for a rubbish swimmer.
@gnarkillkicksass Not bad at all. But the idea it's 80% stretching is utter rubbish. Reaching out as far as possible in front of you is also up for debate....
am i the only one who thinks the villification of grant is going way over the top. am i misssing something? he trashed his apartment and for that he is sorry and yes it was the wrong thing to do.....but is he the only guy who has done this in a fit of temper. i bet you many women have done it as well. his marriage was falling apart and nobody really knows the circumstances. i bet you he bought the apartment he lives in and the furniture and everything else from the money he earned from spending
figbat, are you really confused about the 'vilification' of someone who went on a drunk rampage, destroying (and he admitted targeting) the most precious possessions of a person half his size? You really don't see what was wrong with that picture? In a 'fit of temper' you do not systematically and selectively destroy like he did. For fuck's sake, have you seen the door? what about the piano tossing? And his kids were home. seriously. Sorry, but no medal or swimming technique makes that ok.
best video for Crawl i ever seen ,thx for sharing.
looks so majestic
very nice video for technique
Reach forward with your alternate arm whilst pushing with the other two-thirds of the stroke. Your forward arm must reach as far as possible then catch in a continuous motion.
Leverage your push moment as you're reaching for the next pull. Sounds easy but practicing drills in reach, the catch and feeling the water pressure help a lot.
This is beautiful to watch.
Front crawl is the stroke you see in this video, freestyle is a term that encompasses all four main strokes, any are permitted, and indeed front crawl is the fastest and most efficient. In fact one time when I was young I chose to do backstroke in a 200m freestyle event out of exhaustion from previous events.
@ernesttubb In fact, what he's doing could be defined as a "4 beat kick". As you can see, sometimes he uses a classic 6 beat pattern, other times he uses 3 beats for the stroke when he breathes and one only stroke for the following stroke, when his face is underwater. So we have 3+1 beats for every cycle (2 arm strokes). It's mostly suitable for unilateral breathing and basically allows you to save some energy on long distances, keeping the same timing of the classical 6 beat kick.
Exactly. Sun Young is using 4 beat kick too, BUT he kicks 3 times, when face is underwater. Then he kicks ones on the stroke, when he is breathing. Cheers!
Duuuude! His shoulder doesn't budge, excellent technique.
chinesep1mp - the kick in frontcrawl is primarily to "balance" the arm stroke (at best it provides only 10% of power of the stroke). A poor (shallow/unbalanced) kick can have serious adverse affect on the stroke (efficiency/speed/comfort wise). Very simple rule of thumb - the further the race distance the less the kick i.e. two beats per full stroke for longer distrances when shoulder power will prove essential. This can be cranked up for the last 100 or so metres.
@chinesep1mp because it's a long distance event and swimming provides very little propulsion for the amount of energy it uses up. That's why you'll see the long distance swimmers and triathletes use little to no kicking until the final laps
Funny I heard that causes your feet to drop thus, increasing your hydrodynamic drag. In practice the difference between swimming as you described (which was considered proper technique at one time) is noticeably slower and more difficult in the same heart rate intensity zone as swimming with your head down and focusing on the tiles or whatever is below you.
No dude, freestyle is the event, meaning that they can use any type of style they want (butterfly, breast, crawl, whatever). They use the front crawl because it's the fastest but, in theory, they could be doing breast, back, or whatever stroke
@humby123 yes. It allows a swimmer to favor their strong arm. In this case, the strong arm is his left.
they're right about the entry point, at the moment your hand enters the water, your elbow is supposed to be at almost a 90 degree angle (the hand's position should just be in front of your head), then you follow through and extend your arm, slicing the water while gliding, then you "pull". It just looks like they're not bending their elbows as much because the camera's under water and their entry is so fast and smooth you can't see it.
@jabbamom I'm a fan of long distance swimming and you're absolutely right. :)
This is a beautiful video. It's not only great to swim but to watch other people do it. One can always learn something especially when watching pros. :P
beautiful
I don't see his wrist flex after his hand enters water... and so he has a large "paddle"... all the way from his elbow to end of fingertips. I love how he glides into a position where he then folds his HighElbow. awesome.
Hackett is LEGEND!!
what race is this? has the full race been posted elsewhere?
Useless commentating if you don't understand French ...Most Excellent front quadrant swimming, could watch for hours!
@Trevorthekid I teach swimming . For more advance swimmers but naturally we all do it without realising or should do it there is an elongated s shape . So there is entry hand goes into water at a certain angle , Catch , pull and recovery during the pull ( which comes into the center of the body ) the hand gets ready to go into the recovery ( elbow bending to come out of the water then stretch ) in between that transition the hand slides down in an "s " like shape down the side of the body .
I'm a beginner swimmer and am wondering which is the best way to execute the front crawl (I'll get to other styles as I progress) but is this the most effective way to do it and should your head be in the water at all times?
ive been wondering the best swimming technique, im in the high school swimming team, and ive just found this one! it looks much different than what the coach tells us to do! It looks good. I'll go try it out and PRACTICE!
Did it work out?
swftypro - ideally you breath every three pulls (minimum), as breathing bilaterally helps balance the stroke, but 1500 m is quite a way - you get tired - so breathing every stroke is OK but only if you are way in front! Technique has to be allied to distance (and effort)
I am new to learning the two-beat kick. Hackett's technique seems so strange to me - it's like he's mixing two beat kick and six-beat kick alternately. Perhaps someone more experienced than me could explain?
is it better to keep your arm perfectly straight the whole way in the water or bend so that it is perpendicular the the ground the whole time?
dUdE i just noticed he switches from 4 to 6 beat when going into walls/on his last laps. thats sick.
Amazing swimmer! As I study the video, it appears that his right arm (breathing side) is breaking at the highest point with his high elbow. The break for the left arm though seems to happen a little lower after he pulls his arm down. Maybe it's just the video angle, but I'm curious as I'm learning freestyle now and am trying to observe great swimmers to help with my stroke. Any comments from those who are knowledgeable about swimming would be appreciated.
@chinesep1mp the legs are also the largest muscle in your body and therefore burn the most energy to 'use' out of any muscle. Hence you reserve kicking over long distances. This ofcourse is dependent on the swimmers style. E.g. Ian thorpe has strong legs so he uses them more
@jewbinson you should bend so your elbow stays high, quite close to the surface as your forearm pulls below it
Hackett is a long distance swimmer so he needs to conserve energy. The way to do this is to maximise your glide in terms of duration and speed.
It makes swimming a lot less tiring and MUCH more enjoyable.
And a resistance that you will never had!
Awesome evf! Sun Yang does it EXACTLY the same, thanks to Dennis Cotterell(Hacketts' coach). The world record still belongs to Australia, since Yangster trained there with Dennis and his club. Sun, upon your next visit, please deposit one gold medal for entry visa. Sorry, went off topic there.
does he come up for a breath EVERY time he uses his right arm?
nice technique, i see the energy conservation, he breathes alot and uses more upper body and lower leg power which is probly more streamlined
@SwiftyPro these days swimmers like grant hackett and other long distance swimmers have developed this breathing pattern in order to gain more oxygen. you should notice the arms are not moving at even speeds and the stroke looks slightly uneven in the water. it is very difficult to master this while maintaining good balence and streamline. i reccomend you only try it if you are already very confident breathing bilaterally and dont try it in a race until you are sure you have the hang of it.
@chinesep1mp If you think about the largest oxygen-using muscles in the body, the legs are close to the top of the list. Like @jabbamom said, "very little propulsion for the amount of energy it uses up." Kicking is necessary to 'get on top' of your stroke, but over kicking leads to oxygen deprivation. It's a good question.
i have a question. how come when do the front crawl kick, my feet are pointed inwards for some reason and so i'm going REALLY slow when i just do the front crawl kicks. is there any way to fix that because i think my feet should be straight when i'm kicking. (i've been swimming for a few years now. i've learned with a few bullshit teachers therefore wasting some time. but i'm pretty good at it. i'm done all the levels, and i can be a lifeguard but i'm only 14 right now.
according to me your not actually stopping. your helping your body glide through the water for a bit. dont believe me just because. id look it up.
yeah, i get it now... never heard the term before though
awsome
I don't, but I know swimmers who do and do so without problems of any sort. There is no universal "right" or "wrong," is my point; it's all relative to your body type and what works for you.
very beautiful, I am 22, learning to swim, this looks like incredible technique
great
Because he's swimming 1.5km long :)
he is saving his energy by doing that.
if it was a short distance race, his feet would be moving like hell constantly :)
:o
he kinda does a butterfly kick when he breathes
what the catch mean in water?
lol you can see that his right arm is dominant, perfect EVF for right and a great EVF for left too tho.
XD
totally agree! i tried it already a few times and it's really only possible with a certain speed, too bad..
The should also have super slow motion of his swimming.
EVF Rocks!
What are you talking about?
I second that
he breathes on the first stroke
apart from when he got snowed in!
@stmcgarret , Yep, if it aint broke dont fix it.
that was in response to dimputhegreat
no he is not overreaching abit cos he is long distance swimmer unlike other guys who were sprint swimmer so distance and sprint front crawl technique r bit different
kicking is very tiring compared to the arm pull and contributes less than the arm pull so in long distance races like this less kicks and longer pulls
@jabbamom Yeah, I was alway told arms take you out, legs bring you home.
it happened alot if you swimm that distances. for everyone
i swim like this but not as fast lol
this looks so much like 'freestyle'
wow wot comment matey - good for u!
look at how far behind everyone else is
kinda like poetry
apart from the freestyle element of a IM race - you are required to swim front crawl
I never thought you should have your thumb "open". Maybe you focus more strenght to your hand by doing that?
conerve energy
Why does he, sometimes, stop kicking? Is it inefficient to constantly kick?
+kimidam It's not "inefficient" per say, but it saves energy by gliding.
Looks like he's doing a 4 beat kick. For other long distance swims 2 kick beats are used, depending on distance. He's just kicking enough to keep posture in correct form
hes a long course swimmer.
as you see nearly all people swimming ´200m-1500m breath at every second stroke.
and in 50m some doesnt even breath once.
wow... look at those feet... i dont think he's wearing fins, this guy is like an alien
I've calculated that I can keep his pace (25m in 17.1 secs) for about 50m! :))
Hmm he swim faster than me :p
So the key is to roll your upper body and have a long stroke =). I'll try to do that.
Yeh very few elite tri men would be under 16 mins in a pool 1500.
my PB for 50 front is 32.45 sec and am 11 years old and my butterfly is crap my PB for 50 is 43 sec...
@jabbamom yep the legs must be straight..
Why doesn't he breathe bilaterally?
maybe if youd think outside the box, tu pourais me comprendre et peut etre que nous pourions communiquer, mais non!
No need for jabs on comment. Feet move slower for long distance I think to conserve energy. The idea of 80% stretch is maybe little high but NOT rubbish...gliding to get maximum stroke length without losing too much speed is very true long distance.
no definitely not. do not keep your head down. To reduce water resistance you should try to have the waterline perhaps a centimetre or two below your hairline.
no because he'll get eventually slow when he stops moving his legs and brethe alot and trust me I went there! :)
those pro triathletes guys are incredible! They perform olympic timings in each 3 sports, even though the 3 sports follow up each other. (15-17 min for 1,5k swim / 57-59 min for 40k bike / 27-30min for 10k run) go figure!
québec french!
@chinesep1mp if you were a long distance swimmer you would know why there feet is movin slow,ofviously you are not so why bother askin?
it is freestyle... crawl is the most effective freestyle technique.
he never hurt his family and the trashing wasnt done in front of his kids....im sorry i just dont get it.....maybe its me.
hours and hours in the pool since a young boy training for the olympics....i'd like to know how much money she has contributed to the purchase of their assets......now she lives in the apartment with the furniture as always happens after a split-up. you got to feel sorry for people like grant in this type of situation....everything he has worked and trained for over the years was slipping away. and he had to sell his ferrari. am i totally out of line here? i dont know.....does anybody disagree?
Maybe is just how he got used to keep it, anyway i noticed that most of the speed comes from the legs, and having a big foot helps to, like Phelps has :)
shush you lol learn some of my mumbling if you wanna know hah
thats my problem... i need bigger feet!
E io che pensavo che respirare ad ogni bracciata e ad un solo lato sia da scarsi/dilettanti :D invece vedo che anche i più grandi lo fanno.
@andrewwebber66 "Utter rubbish"? He is a triple Olympic Gold medalist (plus 3 silvers and 2 bronze), and was world champion in 17 events.
Not bad for a rubbish swimmer.
lol all australians swim the same technique
@gnarkillkicksass
Not bad at all. But the idea it's 80% stretching is utter rubbish.
Reaching out as far as possible in front of you is also up for debate....
am i the only one who thinks the villification of grant is going way over the top. am i misssing something? he trashed his apartment and for that he is sorry and yes it was the wrong thing to do.....but is he the only guy who has done this in a fit of temper. i bet you many women have done it as well. his marriage was falling apart and nobody really knows the circumstances. i bet you he bought the apartment he lives in and the furniture and everything else from the money he earned from spending
umm. english please.
figbat, are you really confused about the 'vilification' of someone who went on a drunk rampage, destroying (and he admitted targeting) the most precious possessions of a person half his size? You really don't see what was wrong with that picture? In a 'fit of temper' you do not systematically and selectively destroy like he did. For fuck's sake, have you seen the door? what about the piano tossing? And his kids were home. seriously.
Sorry, but no medal or swimming technique makes that ok.
can't we stick to his stroke technique ?
many bad things go on behind closed doors
and we don't hear about them
because not newsworthy
日本語になおすとき？
@nodgie1
This is utter rubbish.