NSV - Swimming Front Crawl :D

IHateThinkingOfAUsername · September 2014

Seems like a day for fitness related NSVs in MFP-land. Here's mine:

I am a strong swimmer, well I say that, I'm a strong breast stroke swimmer. I can easily swim a mile+ of that, not necessarily with any great speed but my body is very happy doing that stroke*. In the summer I decided I wanted to be able to do front crawl. In my head I knew how to do it, but putting in all into practice was just not happening. I could do the different elements individually (well all apart from left arm breathing lol) but when putting arms, legs, and breathing all together I could barely make it across half a length of my gym pool (which is only 14m long). So... I practised, and practised and practised. On Friday just gone I had a 'stroke development' lesson.

Which leads me on to my NSV. At the start of this journey I said I wanted to be able to swim 2 lengths (28m in total) of front crawl and not feel a) I was going to die and b) so uncoordinated and splashy that I would die from embarrassment.... today I managed.... 3, yep you read that THREE lengths of proper front crawl without a or b!!

(I did manage more lengths in total, but these 3 were touch-the-side-and-gos rather than putting-my-feet-down-for-a-breather.) I am literally buzzing!

I haven't finished. I will keep refining my stroke. The next step is to develop my left arm (My right-handed-ness is very apparent); and I want to develop my breathing technique so I'm breathing every 3rd stroke instead of my current every 2 stroke on my right side only. Once I've done both of those things I will go for that mile of front crawl. Very excited!

*I will get faster at my breast stroke as my swimming teacher demonstrated how my pull and kick were slightly out of time. I'm now practising proper pull,kick... glide, pull,kick... glide. So my pull water isn't getting pushed against my legs kicking.

snowflake954 · September 2014

Congratulations! There's nothing like a sucess to keep you going. I love swimming too. Best.

FitFroglet · September 2014

Awesome! Great work! I love the fact that you're gaining skill, confidence and fitness all in one NSV!
I'm proud to have you on my friend list :flowerforyou:

flumi_f · September 2014

Cool! I remember that feeling! I started crawling about 13yrs ago. Couldn't finish one breathing cycle when I started. 6mths later I was swimming 3.5km without a break. ;-) What helped me alot at the beginning was the pull boy to keep my legs up. That allowed me to concentrate on arms and breathing without the extra leg stroke.

Once you find your breathing / stroke rhythm, there will be no holding you back! Keep up the good work!

IHateThinkingOfAUsername · September 2014

Thank you snowflake! I am such a water baby. I love being in water.

Awww Froggie

That is such a lovely thing to say.

Flumi - now I've got this little bit of confidence I'm going to keep on practising. I have a pull/kick. (Lol it's basically a kick board with contouring so it can go between my legs too). The swimming teacher showed me a couple of drills I can do and pointers to be mindful of as I practise.

I can't wait to get back in the pool tomorrow to keep trying.

Snip8241 · September 2014

Congratulations!! That's such an accomplishment. Practice practice practice!
I too am working on swimming freestyle without stopping. Breast stroke I can do til the cows come home.
The breathing side to side is very important. Keep at it. You'll be a master soon!

One thing I did and still do sometimes is swim one lap free, one lap breast. Then I did two laps free, one lap breast. Breast being your resting stroke. This can help build your endurance.

Very good luck to you!
:flowerforyou:

Danielle_Style · September 2014

Awesome job! I am also much better at breaststroke than front crawl. I can swim two 25 yd lengths of front crawl, but I am very out of breath at the end. I can swim up to a half mile of breaststroke - I could do even more probably but I generally stop to stretch my shoulders because I have some shoulder / back issues.

It's a process for sure. One thing that is encouraging is that breaststroke is actually just as good of a workout (at least from a 'calories burned' standpoint) as front crawl.

Personally, my reasons for wanting to improve my crawl are more pride related than anything, though.

Just keep swimming! :-D

blackcoffeeandcherrypie · September 2014

That's great! Well done :-)

I actually learned something from your post. I do mile swims front crawl but I'm not very fast. I didn't realise there was a proper order to pulling and kicking but I will definitely try to pull - kick - glide out next time I am in the pool.

Thanks! And keep up the great work :-)

8Nuya8 · September 2014

Great!! You can really be proud of yourself! And good luck with your next goal. I am sure with your dedication you will manage the mile in no time

And i am really happy to hear that you lesson worked out so well.

IHateThinkingOfAUsername · September 2014

Snip - thanks - that's given me an idea for tomorrow's swim, I might try ladders, 1 length front crawl, 1 breast stroke, 2 front crawl, 2 breast stroke, 3 FC, 3BS, 4FC, 4BS and then back down

And I totally agree about the breathing, I think that's what helps my breast stroke - I know when to breath lol.

Danielle - ha I know what you mean about it being a pride thing. I'm happy in terms of weight loss and "resistance training" with what I'm currently doing (Breast stroke laps plus aquacise and aqua-gym type of classes) but I want to be a 'real swimmer' lol.

Blackcoffee - when I did some BS 'catch my breath' laps in my swimming lesson she told me that as I pull my arms back, my knees are up so the water doesn't have anywhere to go halting the movement through the water. Since she explained that I'm more conscious of making sure when I move my arms the water has somewhere to go, the way she spoke it was in a rhythm with the kick starting as the pull is finishing... pull,kick... glide. So while the glide is finishing and I'm beginning to pull my legs are still straight out and not in the way. (Not sure if I explained that very well.)

Nuya - Thank you

Elsie_Brownraisin · September 2014

Congratulations!

I'm in your situation, strong breaststroke, lousy crawl. And I do open water swimming too, I really want to get the hang of crawl.

I'm ok with a pull buoy between my legs, arms and breathing aren't perfect, but ok. I did 45 mins of that this afternoon. However, when I try to put it all togther my legs are just godawful. I'm on a waiting list for one to one lessons. I've watched plenty of videos and read books, but still not getting the hang of it. I really want to!

mandymack14 · September 2014

Fantastic NSV! :flowerforyou:

I LOVE swimming but am very, VERY out of practice. I'm about to get back in the water myself. It just needs to be a little bit warmer for me. (Aussie spring).

I've never heard the term "front crawl" though. In Oz we call the "crawl" strokes freestyle and backstroke. (& the others are breaststroke, butterfly and sidestroke)

ETA: If you can get that bilateral breathing sorted it's much better for your back, hips and shoulders. Good luck!

cw106 · September 2014

That's great! Well done :-)

I actually learned something from your post. I do mile swims front crawl but I'm not very fast. I didn't realise there was a proper order to pulling and kicking but I will definitely try to pull - kick - glide out next time I am in the pool.

Thanks! And keep up the great work :-)

pretty sure pull kick glide is for breastroke only.OP can confirm.

congrats on the development, i too have stronger bs than crawl.
i do ladders constantly now, down from 3bs/1 crawl to 1/1.
i swim crawl at 2x the speed of breast,hence wanting to build up my endurance to achieve longer distances in allotted time.
ps there is an excellent swimming sub forum on here too where you can get lots of advice,tips etc.
certainly be a better home for your get wet challenge too maybe?

g luck.

cw now 88kg. after 3 months daily swimming.

primal7 · September 2014

Awesome job!

I was the same as you when I first started. I could not do a lap with out thinking I was going to die and my technique was diffidently not the greatest.

I stumbled across the immersion technique and it helped me become a better swimmer.
http://totalimmersion.net/

I was so proud when a fellow swimmer commented on how little I splashed and seemed to glide across the water!

IHateThinkingOfAUsername · September 2014

Elsie - yep my legs were awful too - no endurance in them whatsoever. (lol it's far easier to kick when you have a pair of fins on!) so before my lesson and since the summer I've been doing the odd drill of just kicks by using my pull-kick as a float, holding it out in front of me. It's certainly helped. What amazes me though is 'proper swimmers' seem like they hardly kick so I'm sure once I get the arms thing cracked it'll be much easier.

Mandymack - lol yea Front Crawl = Freestyle. Lol I cannot get used to Freestyle because to me that word means 'do whatever you like' not FC.

I definitely want to get the breathing sorted. Again before the lesson I've begun to do rotating drills so not really worrying about what my arms are doing, just making sure my body turns fully to the left. I'll keep these up. I am determined to crack this

CW - (And Blackcoffee) yep the pull, kick,... glide is referencing to Breaststroke. Lol there is no let up in Front crawl. I cannot wait till I can do FC twice the speed of my BS!! Then I could aim to do 2 miles in an hour!! Wow! I am a member of the swimming sub forum

Primal - what a compliment - I bet you were beaming!! Yep that is definitely my aim, have good form and no splashing - I like how streamlined FC is, and that if it's done right it can be done in a tight spot in the pool without annoying anyone around me!

mandymack14 · September 2014

I stumbled across the immersion technique and it helped me become a better swimmer.
http://totalimmersion.net/

Thanks for that link. I've been looking into TIS - it's very interesting. I'm a natural swimmer and I think I have developed a style that is quite like TIS but I am going to carefully check next time I go swimming and see if I can use the principles to improve. It makes such sense.

snowflake954 · September 2014

How nice to see all these swimmers! I've been swimming for 19 yrs---3 times a week plus doing acquagym. I don't know how old you are OP, but since some on here might be older (I'm 59), something that has helped me alot with my front crawl is neck rolling exercises. As many have mentioned, breathing is crucial, and to do that you need to turn your head properly. As you age you lose flexibility, and these stretching exercises have helped me alot---I hope it will be useful for someone on here. Remember air is your fuel in the water. Best.

Macstraw · September 2014

What a great NSV!!!! Great job, you'll find that your distance will start to grow quickly - it won't be 1 length at a time. It may be 1 length added, then 1 1/2, then 3, then 5 1/2, etc. You'll find that, like most physical endeavors, the more you do the quicker the improvements will come. Please keep us all posted on the swimmers' forum, watching the improvements helps keep us all motivated....

For breaststroke, I was taught to think kick, glide, pull to find the right rhythm. Basically any order you think that gives you the proper rhythm is good.......

NSV - Swimming Front Crawl :D

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