The Wonderful Benefits of Front Crawl's Reach and Rotation
- Mark Durnford
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Anyone that has been on the receiving end of my front crawl swim coaching will no doubt be rolling their eyes after only reading the title of this article!
They will know how much I like to reinforce the reasons why it is essential to have fully extended arms on the reach while performing a good body rotation in order to swim with a strong, fluid, and effortless front crawl. But can everyone remember the reasons why this is encouraged? Unless regularly revisited, it’s likely we’ll forget, and when we forget, there’s also more chance that our front crawl swimming won’t be firing on all cylinders, affecting the effectiveness, efficiency, and most of all, the pleasure obtained from delivering great movement through the water.
So whether this serves as a refresher or becomes my chance to introduce all the wonderful benefits of Front Crawl’s reach and rotation for the very first time, let’s run through what they are.
Greater breathing opportunity. Of course, this also requires us to be in the correct head position at the correct time; however, without reach and rotation, there simply isn’t any breathing space to be had, or at the very least, you’ve created a very restricted breathing space. Allow your head to follow your shoulders’ lead, turn your chest and hips into it, and create your breathing window. For more insight to breathing, please refer to our Front Crawl breathing article.
More range of movement in the pull. When reaching, stretching, or extending the arm all the way forwards at the start of the pull before finishing all the way back at the end of the pull, this naturally gives a greater range of movement than we would otherwise achieve. Think of a rower moving all the way forwards to start the pull stroke before moving all the way back to complete it. Now consider the same rower delivering only half of this move and reducing the range of movement for each pull. They would obviously be required to complete more strokes in order to cover the same distance. This greater range of movement leads us nicely into two more sub-benefits:
2a With a greater range of movement, we are also able to achieve a greater distance per stroke. Much like throwing a tennis ball, if you were to deliver a short movement with the arm before releasing the ball, then you wouldn’t expect it to travel very far through the air before landing.
2b Stronger pulling / underwater phase. Because the greater range of movement is supported with a twist through the core. Again, using the tennis ball throw scenario; Try doing this without moving the body at all - performing the throw only by moving the arm. It becomes a restricted range of movement as well as a poorly powered throw. The twist of the body’s core is what stabilises and underpins the power from any movement of our limbs. Strong core with a twist through the move equals lots of strength and purchase on the water driving our forward propulsion. You may also wish to read our article on why the shoulders deserve more credit.
Allows for the high elbow / flexed elbow recovery phase technique to take place. Freedom of movement through the shoulder joint as the chest has been opened from the rotation is what allows for a comfortable and efficient over-water arm recovery phase. Many swimmers experience a struggle to obtain the high elbow, low forearm recovery phase position because they can be too focused on the arm while forgetting to focus on the body position first.
More efficiency with the enter and reach return into the water from the recovering arm. Because we’re able to attain the high elbow recovery position described in the previous point, it then perfectly sets up an efficient (less drag as the fingers enter first for the arm to follow) re-entry of the arm before performing its next underwater pull.
Effective catch phase at the beginning of the underwater pull. Once the arm is back in the water, we require an extension of this arm along with the body rotation in order to get into the correct anatomical position required to perform the first part of the underwater phase - the catch.
More power in the kick as you kick down through the twist to the other side. For very much the same reasons described in point 2b, we’re getting a stronger kick potential due to twisting through the core and applying more propulsive force.
Assists the timing of the arms working together. When moving the arms using an enter and reach intention, we end up holding this arm out in front while the other arm begins its over-water recovery phase. This helps to avoid what you will often see swimmers doing, which is to enter and pull/push down instantly, skipping the catch phase and going too early with the pull. It’s what some people might describe as being like a windmill.
It strengthens the core! All this work that’s transferring through your core will demand more from it, which in turn will activate your core more so. Using this will help improve and maintain its strength, and so the positive cycle continues.
As you can see, there are just far too many positive reasons as to why we should ensure we have reach and rotation present in the front crawl swimming stroke.
Some of these benefits can be quite challenging to picture, so please refer to the videos below to see these points in action.
In my experience, the concerns surrounding overreaching and over-rotating seem to grab more attention than the benefits listed above. So much so that it seems to discourage swimmers from finding the perfect balance. Like with most things, too much or too little can sometimes not be beneficial, but allowing the disadvantages to stop you from finding that middle ground and enjoying all the positive ramifications would create a greater disadvantage to your stroke. So think positively, have a go, make plenty of mistakes in order to find the zone that’s right for you, and remember, if you’d like some support, guidance, and feedback to help you along the way, we’d love to see you.
CreateFit Swim Coach: Mark Durnford
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