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Lesson 6

Front Crawl

Ages 6+ 12 min Chest deep water

Front crawl combines everything from the earlier lessons: floating, kicking and pulling with the arms. This lesson starts with the arms out of the water, then moves into the pool with a push and glide, kicks and a few strokes, and finally adds breathing.

Step by step

1. Arms out of the water

1

Arm circles out of the water

  1. Start out of the water, standing on the deck and leaning forward slightly.
  2. Swing the arms in a big circle, one at a time, up and over like in the animation. This gets the swimmer used to the movement.
Each arm swings in a big circle. The elbow bends as the arm comes up and over.
  1. Now imagine the arm is coming out of the water. Bend the elbow as it comes up, so when the hand goes back in, the fingertips enter first instead of smacking the surface.
Like thisThe elbow stays high and the fingertips enter the water first.
Not like thisA straight arm and flat hand slap the water.

2. In the water

2

Push, glide and swim

  1. Start with the push and glide on the tummy, from the earlier lesson.
  2. As the swimmer breaks the surface, add kicks and a few arm strokes.
  3. Swim to someone waiting a few feet away.
The kick keeps going the whole time while the arms take turns.

3. Adding breathing

3

Side breathing

  1. Keep the face down and blow bubbles slowly while the arms and kick keep going.
  2. As one arm pulls through, turn the head to the side to breathe in, keeping one ear in the water.
  3. Turn the face back down as that arm reaches forward, and start blowing bubbles again.
  4. Once it feels steady, try breathing every two or three strokes.
Tip

Breathing is usually the hardest part to add. It is fine to practice the arms and the kick without side breathing at first, then add breathing once the stroke itself feels steady.

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