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Apr 2012
10:55am, 11 Apr 2012
21,405 posts
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JenL
Don't fall into the trap of thinking you always have to go as fast as you can. Slowing down and improving the stroke (and the breathing) first works wonders.
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Apr 2012
11:50am, 11 Apr 2012
8,547 posts
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Nick Cook
Agree with JenL. The first thing the coach said to me when I went to a tri club was to slow down.
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Apr 2012
12:43pm, 11 Apr 2012
720 posts
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Fat Lazy Elephant
Like MudMeanderer I had a "lightbulb moment" when I came across Totoal Immersion book when I was a beginner. I only read half of it and never got to the drills bit but the general principles talked about in the book made me understand what front crawl is all about.
-it's not about pulling and kicking at all
-concentrate on water in front of you and not behind you (reach out in front of you as far as possible instead on concentrating on pushing the water backwards)
-hand should never travel faster than the body, no backwards movement
-kicking is not for propulsion and legs act as an extension of the body to maintain streamlined position ( "longer boats travel faster" )
- the body is dragging the legs rather than legs pushing the body
- rotation rotation rotation
Hope that helps! It certaintly helped me, I couldn't swim more than 25m without getting totally out of breath last June and after reading the book I completed a 10 km event in September easily 
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Apr 2012
12:48pm, 11 Apr 2012
721 posts
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Fat Lazy Elephant
Talking of lessons, I've never taken any or been in any club but it baffles me when I see manyl of the club swimmers swimming with such a bad technique and nobody (the teachers) pointing out to them!!! E.g 90 degrees at the ankles - acting like brakes! Scissor kick, lower body sinking etc. Id feel cheated if I paid for the lessons and nobody told me what Im doing wrong!
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Apr 2012
1:01pm, 11 Apr 2012
529 posts
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MudMeanderer
FLE: I was in a club as a youngster, and there was little if any focus on technique, which is bizarre for such a technical discipline. It was simply a case of get in, swim up and down as fast as you can as a group, change stroke, repeat, get out.
More by chance than anything I had a reasonable backstroke and breaststroke, but as soon as we were required to try crawl or (shudder) butterfly I would crumble half a length in. When I returned swimming as an adult, I tried in a similar fashion and stuggled to get beyond 3-4 lengths without being exhausted, and realised I'd struggle in a pool sprint tri, let alone anything open water if I swam like that. That was when I looked for advice and found TI, and within a couple of months managed an effortless c1km swim of front crawl.
By applying similar techniques I've even managed to do a reasonable couple of lengths of butterfly since, though as a stroke it seems to require quite a lot more core strength.
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Apr 2012
1:28pm, 11 Apr 2012
374 posts
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GerryO
I've found the total immersion book useful too. It is a touch verbose in style, but readable enough, and the comments about the general principles in the first part of the book I would certainly agree with. The author is also a fan of chi running which has some adherents among those in fetch-land.
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Apr 2012
1:31pm, 11 Apr 2012
722 posts
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Fat Lazy Elephant
It is very surprising to read MM! I wonder then, how on earth are all those kids so incredibly fast as they are
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Apr 2012
4:03pm, 14 Apr 2012
4,155 posts
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Bez-head
Thanks. I managed 3 lengths of front crawling the other day with proper breathing by slowing it all down.
My thinking now is if can do 3 I can do more!
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Apr 2021
1:02pm, 26 Apr 2021
539 posts
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The Pin Lady
Just found this thread - I have had swimming lessons recently and can now manage 50 metres front crawl 4 times out of 5 but how do I get to go further? I am out of breath at the end but not gasping now. Is it just a case of making myself try another length? Thinking that I may just be stopping myself doing it by lack of confidence?
I am working on slowing down ( thinking about how I learnt to run further). Have you got any suggestions on drills which would help?
I have the TI book so will get bacl to reading that again as well.
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Apr 2021
1:10pm, 26 Apr 2021
3,655 posts
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Mr. K.
When I was a kid I used to be pretty good esp at backcrawl....but when I restarted swimming for a half ironman I asked around for advice.
Best advice was to use a float which stopped me thrashing me legs around in front crawl. Now I hardly use my legs - just to stability & direction. I am much more efficient now. (Still a shame you cannot use backcrawl in tri events).
Enjoy.
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