All world records were set by athletes who used the front crawl in freestyle swims: the freestyle swimming technique is the crawl swimming technique.
It is laborious to master, but in this article, you will learn how to swim it correctly and make sure that this task is easy — you just need to follow all the recommendations.
Front crawl is a method of movement in the water in which the limbs work perpendicular to the surface. It allows you to minimize the resistance of molecules, as well as to develop a high speed.
This technique can be described as follows:
Let's consider the question about freestyle swimming step by step — hands, feet, breathing.
Arms almost continuously perform strokes, which are the main “engine” — due to them, the athlete gets a precise acceleration.
While one hand makes a stroke, the other moves over the water surface.
The whole process can be divided into five phases:
1. Water grab. The arm bends slightly as if you want to catch on the water.
2. Freestyle swim stroke. The arm makes a stroke, passes under the body. Then it is brought to the pelvis. The closer to the end of the movement – the more the elbow rises.
3. Important: the shoulders do the most work, then the forearms and palms.
4. The hand exits the water. First, we take out the elbow, then the brush. The hand itself is relaxed.
4. Passing through. We move the relaxed hand to immerse it in water.
5. Diving. We slightly bend the arm at the elbow and immerse it, and try to slip after it. At the same time, the hand itself follows a zigzag trajectory.
Their function is body balancing.
The legs' movement occurs alternately and continuously: when one goes up, the other goes down.
The ideal starting position: a straight line with the lower part of the body slightly more lowered into the water (keeping the whole body afloat requires a lot of energy, 20 centimeters is the average depth for comfortable swimming).
It is significant to understand that the movements are carried out with almost straight legs: at the beginning of the cycle, the knee of the working leg bends slightly, and then abruptly straightens, as when kicking, after which it returns to its original position.
-The movement comes from the hip and not by bending the knees.
-The bend angle is in the range of 140-160 degrees.
-The feet are stretched out.
-The legs move close to each other — the thumbs touch.
The main thing is to keep the rhythm and leave your breathing constant.
Some typical problems can greatly slow down the learning process and cause discomfort:
Long-distance freestyle swimming with maintaining high speed both in the pool and in open water has the following features:
- Breathing during every second stroke. At long distances, the body needs more energy. To ensure that the muscles receive enough energy and oxygen, it is recommended to breathe every second time. If you are in good shape, you can breathe for every third stroke.
- The movements should be less intense compared to sprint distances. Pay more attention to sliding.
- Try to distribute your forces so that the second half of the distance is not slower than the first. You do not need to burn all your strength at the very beginning.
- Use different freestyle swimming drills to improve your abilities.
Have fun and be healthy!
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