Common Problems with front crawl stroke
/Sea Swim Cornwall’s Golden Rules
We’ve been swim coaching in the pool for around 5 years. The bulk of our clientele are triathletes, people that want to push-on and improve their swimming, a few people new to pool swimming, open water swimmers… The following are very common problems with people that generally only swim on the odd occasion, took to swimming late, have come back to swimming after a long break etc.
1. Poor Hip Position – If your hips are too low in the water, your legs are too low in the water and you end up dragging your legs through the water, rather than having a nice streamlined position on top of it. As well as having a poor leg kick, they also consumer energy and Oxygen, as well as creating drag. Engaging your core and raising your hips is quite a tricky thing to coach. Have a look at the following video :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQbjMjneBH0
2. Poor Leg Kick – closely related to the above issue. Quite often you’ll find that it people have a poor leg kick they’ll avoid doing any leg work in a session! You want your leg kick to improve you have to work on them. Common problems are kicking too low in the water, having too greater distance between your feet, bent knees, stiff ankles (all you runners)…
Whilst you have additional buoyancy in salt water (& wearing a wetsuit) you don’t in the pool. If you primarily swim because you enjoy open water and aren’t bothered about the pool one of the things you can do is to simply not kick. It really depends on your personal circumstances however.
Some dry land work - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4gXjneFXuI
The basics - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iirZS3oQ-Q&t=2s
3. Catch. This can be a problem for newcomers and even the most experienced of swimmers. One of the most important parts of your stroke is your catch. It’s getting your hand into a position where your palm is facing your feet nice and early. The longer your palm is facing the bottom of the pool/sea bed, the more your missing out on efficient pull. It’s really important your hand enters the water, you reach your full extension and then you focus on getting your hand into a position where your palm is facing your feet. The quicker, the better.
Check out this slow motion video of Ian Thorpe. Watch how early he drops his wrists and gets in an early catch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b1Fiw9uekM