Coordinating Front Crawl Arms and Legs

While doing front crawl I am unable to coordinate hand and leg movements properly. Can you suggest any simple tips for coordinating front crawl arms and legs?

The timing of the arm and leg actions for front crawl varies from person to person according to their coordination.

Some of us are able to swim front crawl using a 6 or 4 beat cycle. In other words kicking 6 or 4 leg kicks for every arm cycle (an arm cycle being 2 arm pulls).

Some of us find it easier to swim using a 1 beat cycle where the legs kick in the same time with the arm pulls. There is nothing wrong with this. In fact, most competitive long distance swimmers use this timing pattern because it uses less energy.

A simple exercise to try out is ‘catch up’ holding a float or kick board. Hold the float out in front with your hands at the bottom edge nearest you. Begin kicking your legs at your usual pace and then introduce one arm pull at a time, taking hold of the float after each arm action. One arm is not allowed to pull until the other has caught up, hence the term ‘catch up’.

This exercise will help you maintain leg kicking whilst using one arm at a time. The more advance version of catch up is to perform the exercise without hold the float, keeping your hands together out in front and pulling one arm at a time.

Our eBook 'The Complete Guide to Swimming Front Crawl' contains 22 separate exercises, including catch up, that help all aspects of front crawl technique and are very easy to follow. You can instantly download it, print out the exercises you need and take them to your swimming pool to try out. Click the link below for more information.

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