Swim Easy Front Crawl: How Better Glide Creates a Longer, More Efficient Stroke, with less effort

Glide more, fight less — sounds easy, right?

Yet for many swimmers, front crawl feels like a constant battle with the water, leaving you exhausted far sooner than expected. I'm going to talk you through how mastering the glide might be exactly what you need to jump this stubborn hurdle. Whether you’re trying to swim further for fitness or competition, improve your technique, or simply make your first few lengths feel less demanding, this can completely change how your swimming feels, regardless of your current fitness level. 

It starts with reaching…

One of my favourite cues to help clients understand this concept is to reach forward at the end of each arm pull in front crawl. Imagine you are reaching your fingertips forward, allowing your shoulders to follow, as if you’re being gently pulled through the water by a rope. This should feel like a smooth swap-over between arms, rather than a rushed transition, with power on the pull, and recovery over and out the water.

I like to describe it as ‘dancing with the water’ — allowing yourself to flow and reach for a few moments between each arm pull. The aim here is to keep your body as streamlined as possible, minimising drag. While this is largely down to technique, you also need the strength and control to keep your arms high and maintain this position. This relies on core stability, scapular endurance, and the ability to lengthen the body from top to tail to achieve an effortless reach-and-glide stroke.

How complementary land exercises can enhance your glide

Starting with the core — the foundation of body balance. Without getting too scientific, the core includes the transverse abdominals, obliques, and rectus abdominis (the ‘six-pack’). You could train leg raises endlessly, but a visible six-pack alone doesn’t guarantee effective movement control. These muscles need to work together as a system, supporting functional, coordinated movement - so focusing on every level of the abdomen will benefit you the most. 

One of the most effective ways to train this is by shifting balance from one side of the body to the other, using contralateral movements that challenge opposite arm and leg coordination. This translates directly to swimming, mirroring the relationship between your kick and alternating arm pulls.

You may already be training this without realising — Pilates is excellent for developing deep core control and mind-body connection, running naturally shifts weight from side to side, single-arm exercises in the gym challenge stability, and slow, controlled movements in yoga all reinforce balance and coordination.

I’d also recommend working on scapular control and shoulder mobility. Improved mobility here reduces tension in the upper body, making it easier to reach forward through the fingertips while the opposite arm pulls through the water.

A simple drill to try in the pool is swimming a length using the fewest possible arm strokes, encouraging you to glide after each pull rather than rushing into the next one.

Making it stick

Over time, this will naturally adjust your swimming rhythm. It takes roughly 300–1,000 repetitions to begin forming a new habit, meaning that with consistent focus, this change could start to feel more natural in as little as five 30-minute swims.

So from this article, I encourage you to reach, lengthen through the water, and hold that glide after each arm pull. Notice how this affects your stroke length, efficiency, and how far you can swim before fatigue sets in.

Hopefully, see you in the water to help you swim easy Front Crawl!

CreateFit Swim Coach: Phoebe Salt

BOOK A SESSION

CreateFit Swim Coaching Front Crawl Playlist