5 Advanced Tricks to Improve Your Crawl Technique
The front crawl or freestyle is the fastest swimming technique used in competition. For competitive swimmers, improving front crawl technique is crucial to increase speed and reduce fatigue. In this article, we will provide five advanced tips to improve front crawl technique for competitive swimmers.
1. Legwork
The kick is an essential part of the crawl technique. To improve it, it is important to strengthen the leg muscles. An exercise that can help is the "kickboard drill", which consists of using a kick board to exclusively work on kicking technique. Also, it is important to keep your legs straight and together while kicking, to minimize the resistance of the water.
2. Stroke Style
A good stroke technique is essential to improve speed in crawl. The arm should be fully extended forward, then enter the water and pull back smoothly and steadily. When doing the stroke, it's important to keep your elbows high and close to your body. A good way to practice this is to do the "fist drill", which involves making fists while swimming to force swimmers to use their forearms.
3. Rotation of the body
The rotation of the body is a fundamental aspect of the freestyle technique. By rotating the body, water resistance is reduced and efficiency is improved. The rotation should be fluid and controlled, starting from the hip and extending to the shoulders. To practice rotation, you can use the "torpedo drill", which consists of swimming with your arms extended forward while turning from one side to the other.
4. Breath control
Breathing technique is crucial to freestyle efficiency. Swimmers must breathe in a steady and controlled manner, avoiding inhalation of large amounts of air. A good way to practice breathing is by using the "one goggle drill", which consists of covering one of the eyes while swimming, forcing the swimmer to turn their head more to breathe.
5. Resistance training
To improve crawl technique, it is important to perform resistance exercises that allow the swimmer to maintain proper technique for long periods of time. Resistance exercises can include paddle swimming, resistance band training, and the use of wetsuits. Additionally, it is important for swimmers to incorporate high-intensity interval training to improve their endurance and aerobic capacity.
Conclusion
In summary, the improvement of the crawl technique is essential for competitive swimmers. By following these five advanced tips, swimmers can improve their kicking technique, stroke, body rotation, breathing, and endurance. It is important to remember that practice is the key to improving technique, so swimmers should spend time and effort incorporating these tips into their daily training.
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