Introduction

This course is a comprehensive guide to improving your front crawl technique, addressing all the necessary aspects of the stroke to make you fast and efficient. Whether you're a top-level swimmer making fine adjustments or a beginner gaining competence and confidence, we've got you covered.

We start with the critical themes of positioning and balancing your body in the water, breathing efficiency and gradually progress towards how to propel yourself effectively. 

This course is divided into six phases, each concentrating on one part of front crawl:

1. Head position and kick action
2. Breathing
3. Rotation
4. Arm recovery and hand entry
5. Arm extension
6. Catch and pull

We begin with the basics and work to the more technical elements. If you can nail the simple things first, it sets you up for working on the more complicated elements of the stroke down the line. Even if you are a higher-level swimmer, you must get all the fundamentals right and will benefit from giving them some attention - maybe they are not as well developed as they could be. So, everybody should start with phase one and progress through the course to phase six.

You might be surprised at what parts of your stroke you have to change and what you gives you the biggest performance boost. Every swimmer is unique, but some aspects of the front crawl technique are crucial. Improving them will help you swim faster, irrespective of whether you are a beginner or swimming at a really good level already.

FAQs

How long will it take?

There is no fixed time frame for going through each phase. It will take different people different amounts of time to complete, and as an individual, you will find you progress through some phases faster than others. The key is not to rush. Take your time, make sure you have made the changes in technique to a good standard before moving on. We want them to feel natural and be ingrained in your stroke without much conscious thought, so be patient.



How will I know when to move on to the next phase?

Executing what you are aiming to do without hyper-focus is a good indicator that you are ready to take on the next phase. If you stick to a set time period, you risk progressing and moving through the phases without making any lasting improvements.

The danger is that you rush the process, going onto the next technical focus point before you are ready. For example, you could get to phase 6, working on your catch and pull, but your head position and breathing could have regressed to where they were before you started the course. So, overall you are no better off. Making small changes and applying them consistently is the best way to improve your swimming. It’s not glamorous and quite repetitive, but for nearly every swimmer, that’s what it takes to get better.

What is in each phase?

Each phase has three levels of session: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Within these levels, there are ten sessions to work through. The difference between each level comes down to the session's volume of drills and of main set to be done.

The higher levels will have more volume, and ideally you should be able to complete most of the drills without any training aids to assist (for example fins). Depending on how long you feel you need for each, you can move up and down the levels as you go through the phases or return to the start and work through the sessions again. 



Fitness vs technical

The course's main objective is not to get you fitter but to make you a technically better and more efficient swimmer. However, if you swim more frequently than previously, you may get the secondary benefit of improving physiologically. Overall the course does not push the intensity because the harder you work, the more difficult it is to focus on technique and form.

That being said, later in the course there will be small doses of higher intensity. At this stage of the course, it will be beneficial to transfer your technique changes into faster swimming, and you should be capable of doing so. At the start, the goal is to make the changes at an easy pace, keeping the learning process simpler and increasing the likelihood of success. After the course, hopefully once you are happy with your technique, you can then go and aim to improve fitness and conditioning.

How will my front crawl improve?

The six phases cover all aspects of the front crawl stroke, starting with improving body position and balance in the water—reducing drag—and gradually working towards working on the catch and pull—increasing propulsion.

I suggest this way round because everything becomes easier once you develop a good body position in the water. Get this right, and you’ll be able to swim aerobically and efficiently without huge effort, and when you put effort in, you’ll move through the water effectively.

Compare it to running. You would not pick an uphill course to set a 5k personal best. Swimming with a poor body position is running uphill, so it makes sense to get you "swimming on the flat" first. Then, going fast will be a lot more sustainable.



What if I am short on time to complete a full session?

If you only have a small window of time to get in the pool is is still definitely worth while doing as much of a session as you can. Every time you get in the pool and start to swim your body will be learning. To get the most of this complete the Warm up & technique development block and then get as much of the Main set done as you can get done. That way you are still practicing the skill of the technical element you are working on.