Fix My Front Crawl Technique

I need some tips on how to fix my front crawl technique. My hips sway back and forth while I swim front crawl. How can I fix this?

There are two possible mistakes with front crawl technique that could cause your hips to sway.

Firstly your arm pulls could be too wide.

As your arm and hand pulls through the water, it must move down your side, slightly under your body and towards your hip. It should then recover over the surface and enter the water roughly in line with your shoulder.

If the arm pull is wide of your line of movement, it will disturb your body position by causing your hips to sway.

Imagine rowing a boat with one ore at a time. The wide sweep of the ore will cause the boat to change direction, and the opposite ore will cause the opposite direction. The result is the boat moves in a zigzag path through the water.

The same happens to your body if you pull too wide with your arms.

The second possible reason for swaying hips is excessive movement of the head.

Your body must move through the water in the most horizontal straight line possible. This gives front crawl its efficiency and is what makes it the fastest swimming stroke.

You need to move your head to take a breath, but this should be a clean roll to the side while the arm is back and down to its central position again.

Only when you need to breathe does your head move. The rest of the time, it should remain central and still with eyes looking down and slightly forward.

If your head rolls excessively or moves from side to side in rhythm with your arms, it will cause your body to snake through the water instead of swimming in an efficient straight line.

My best-selling book 'How To Swim Front Crawl' contains over 20 separate swimming exercises to help all parts of front crawl, including body position and arm technique. You can download it, print out the parts you need and take them to your pool to try out. Click the link below for more information.

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