Freestyle swimming is a style used in swimming competitions, although it usually refers to the front crawl stroke because it is often the fastest mode of swimming. As with any athletic task, changes can always be made to swimming technique which will improve performance. Being aware of your freestyle faults and correcting them can improve your efficiency in the water and lower your times. Some swimming faults are more common than others.
Freestyle Swimming
Freestyle swimming competitors have a choice of various unregulated strokes such as front crawl and sidestroke, or officially regulated strokes such as breaststroke, butterfly and backstroke. Freestyle medley competitions, however, only allow unregulated strokes, and most swimmers choose the front crawl because it produces the greatest speed. The modern front crawl was developed in Australia in the late 1800s and is used as the preferred stroke almost exclusively in freestyle distances at the summer Olympic Games, according to the book “Swimming: Technique, Training, Competition Strategy.”
Regulations
Freestyle literally means any swimming style for individual distances and any unregulated style for medley competitions. In freestyle swimming competitions, the wall must be touched at every turn and at the finish, and some part of the swimmer must be above water at all times, excepting the initial dive-in and during turns. There are eight common distances swum in freestyle, ranging from 50 meters to 1,500 meters, including various lengths of relays consisting of up to four swimmers.
Common Faults
Perhaps the most common fault in freestyle swimming, especially while using the front crawl stroke, is poor breathing technique, according to Steven Shaw, author of the book “Master the Art of Swimming.” When you are swimming the front crawl, it is important to completely exhale when your face is in the water so you are able to take a full breath when you roll to your side. Other common faults include crossing your body's mid-line when your hand enters the water with each stroke, not fully extending your shoulder during the pull phase of the stroke, straightening your elbow too much through the pull phase and forgetting to kick consistently with your legs, which all significantly reduce your speed through the water.
Less Common Faults
Some less common faults with the front crawl include dropping your elbows too low as your hand is making contact with the water, slapping the water upon contact instead of cutting through it, not using enough long-axis torso rotation from side to side, entering your hand too early into the water without fully extending your arm and not keeping your legs close enough together while kicking, according to Alan Lynn, author of “Swimming: Technique, Training, Competition Strategy.” These five flaws do not reduce your speed as much as the more common five faults, but in competitive swimming, winning is often determined by fractions of seconds.
Posted in: Swimming