Crawl Stroke

[Music] e for today the crawl stroke is recognized as one of the best Strokes for both speed and distance the crawl is not a difficult stroke anybody can do it one of the most important knacks is to relax don't fight the water let the water play you in fact relaxing your muscles taking it easy never being in a hurry is the real secret of all swimming the crawl stroke has three basic parts the kick the arm stroke and breathing first let's see in slow motion and underwater just how to kick the legs keep your legs nearly straight with the knee close together kick them up and down in a regular even motion don't try to push yourself forward with your kick just move your legs up and down keep your ankles relaxed the kick is just an easy up and down motion kick you'll notice is under the water the feet don't break the surface much there's not much splash get an easy Rhythm some swimmers kick three times to each arm stroke others kick four times the number of times isn't important just find the right Rhythm for you and stick to it now let's look at the arm movement First underwater and in slow motion the arms stroke itself isn't complicated or difficult just move the arms in an easy smooth Circle one after the other notice that the hands go all the way around down through the water up out of the water and back to make a complete circle by stopping the motion we can see how to bend the hand and fingers this makes a scoop to grip the water push the arm down as you push down keep your elbows relaxed notice that the elbow is bent slightly so that the hand is directly under the body now push the hand all the way back you use the entire stroke of the arm and hand in the water to drive you forward this push at the very end of the stroke gives you extra drive and speed now turn your hand and bring your arm and hand out of the water up and over see how the arm continues that smooth Circle even out of the water make your arm motions in a regular rhythm take it easy don't pull the hands too fast and don't hurry when you bring them back keep your elbow bows relaxed it's all done easily without any motions that would disturb the smooth Circle in the crawl stroke breathing usually takes the most practice let's watch it in slow motion and see how it's done breathing is done from the side the side that feels easiest for you when your arm gets to the end of the stroke get your mouth out of the water and breathe in breathe out through your nose when your face is in the water you'll find it's natural to turn your face out of the water because the arm has been pulling to that side this man breathes from the left if you find it easier to breathe from the right side do so but don't change back and forth always breathe from the same side breathe e each time you take a stroke with this arm now let's see the breathing at normal speed remember breathe in through the mouth breathe out through the nose underwater let's look at the crawl stroke and watch the kick arm stroke and breathing in relation to each other notice the kick straight up and down in a regular even motion ankles relaxed now the arm stroke arm straightforward but don't stretch too far and don't cross them over in front of your head pull back in an easy Circle all the way back to get the most out of the stroke and the breathing turn your head out and breathe in through your mouth then when your face is in the water breathe out through your nose you've seen the fundamentals of the crawl stroke now get plenty of practice practice each part of the stroke separately then put it all together swim every chance you get until the crawl stroke gets to be second nature and always remember to relax don't fight the water let the water play you endurance in the water is mostly a matter of knowing how to relax swimming the first 100 yards will be the hardest but when you get over this hump it'll be easy for you from then on keep trying until you can swim that 100 yards don't give up when you've learned the crawl stroke you've learned a good stroke for longdistance swimming as well as for Speed and you always go a lot farther and get there faster if you take it easy e e e e e e