Front Crawl Kick (Basics)

It's time to delve into the fastest stroke in swimming's kick!
Learn how to keep efficient whilst kicking in front crawl, and create that fast kick!

[@peterkung6793]

You are the first one to tell me that it is the down kick that produce propulsion. That means I should concentrate my energy in the down kicks. That helps me a lot. Thank you.

[@hgn2090]

*THIS IS THE BEST TUTORIAL EVER THAT I WATCHED FOR BEGINNERS IN SWIMMING* THANK YOU THANK YOU

[@latharna67]

Best video I've seen yet on this kick. Thankyou.

[@thibod07]

Awesome! Now I understand why while kicking I was moving backward. I have a lot of work to do on my ankles mobility. On the bright side I never twisted an ankle while running or walking. Swimming is such an nice active recovery sport for me as to do it for any other reasons would be so depressing. Thank you for the help. I sink like a rock so I have to really work on my position so I sink from every where at the same time, that helps reducing the water drag that is enormous in my case.

[@dharmapunk5]

I'm currently in training for my divemaster and there are some intense swimming requirements. I hit the pool recently and found out quickly that my technique is pretty crap. I'm going to keep this video in my library to refer back to later. Thank you so much for the great explanations. Side note, now I know why I was going backward at certain points. Cheers mate.

[@007jbw]

This has helped me tremendously. Now I understand how my faulty kicks actually slow me down, and would actually take me backwards. I'll do the exercises and figure on using my legs less, but just to be sure they're not dragging down.

[@Swimproving]

I'm glad to hear that this has helped. Yeah, the best way is just to try and relax your legs, even though this may sound counterintuitive. Let me know how it goes!

[@Henryteowm]

I've been running for many years and recently picking up swimming. You're right, my kicks felt like running in water and i bend my knees too much, usually causing them to sink more than expected after a much distance.. Thanks for sharing this and giving me the light bulb moment. :)

[@davidmitchell4092]

ONE OF THE BEST TUTORIALS ON KZbin 5 STARS

[@1houndgal]

This video has some great info on the kick used in the crawl. Thank you!

[@mohdrasidosman597]

Thanks for the tutorial.. will definitely try to follow those tips ..👍👍

[@stuarthartley6824]

Thanks for putting this one up, I’ve always struggled with the flutter kick and only move forward slowly with it. Fingers crossed the stretches will eventually help this to move on.

[@Swimproving]

I'm glad you enjoyed the video, yeah the stretches do definitely help, especially if you're used to running.

[@sushmasingh8482]

Swimproving I dont move forward with flutter kick board no matter how hard or soft i kick! Why its so?

[@robohippy]

Well, some what enlightening. I have for years tried to figure out why my kicking was so weak. Figured out it was more because of a flexed ankle rather than extended ankle on the down stroke, so I have been working on that. One thing I have noticed on many swimmers is the same thing, flexed rather than extended. So, at about 2 minutes, your kicker is on the wall. If you pay attention to the bubble plumes, at the end of the down stroke, the ankle follows through, to a flexed ankle, and the bubble plume goes backwards. Not a lot, but a little. This is much more noticeable when on the wall rather than when moving through the water because of forward movement. Seeing this ankle flex in the pool makes me think of the catch we do with our hands which is great for a pull, but lousy for a push. As near as I can tell, as soon as the top of your foot is about parallel to the top of the water, then you are generating no push as all the energy is going straight down. I do focus on the up kick as well. Mostly because the paddle/sole of your foot is at an optimum angle for pushing water away from you for better thrust. Watch the bubble plumes when your kicker is sitting on the edge of the pool. The bubble plumes push/go away from him much more so on the down/sole of the foot stroke, than on the top of the up/top of the foot stroke. Any one who has an ankle that hyper extends has a mechanical advantage with a more efficient oar angle.I figure that arms work as paddles to pull, and legs as oars to push. I figure another reason to put some effort into the up kick is an action/reaction thing, the two different actions compliment each other, similar to how the spiral action moves down the length of the body from arms to feet. I also have always wondered about flexing at the hip a tiny bit to get the knee a bit lower so your leg starts at a higher angle rather than parallel to the water. It seems that all strong kickers do this to some extent.... Funny side note, when kickers are doing the back stroke kick, none of them seem to flex their ankles when kicking towards the top of the water.... Oh, another point on the up kick, a much better swimmer than I told me I was using too much body wave in my butterfly kick and all of my kick energy was going straight down rather than pushing. Started focusing on that. I asked him now many kicks it took him to go one length of a 25 yard pool. It took him 50. It took me 40. I asked him if he put any effort into the up kick and he said 'practically none'. I had guesstimated that to be about the % of difference before I had learned to focus on the up kick. If I am out of my mind, you can tell me. Some things just aren't explained so that I can understand them....

[@pault477]

Thanks so much - this really helps. My kicking really sucks.

[@Swimproving]

That's okay, glad this has helped you! Hopefully your kick will start to progress now

[@dinakekana6371]

Thanks so much. This seems so simple. I am still a struggling adult learner.

[@janemasamba6298]

Hi. This video is so helpful. I started swimming lessons and have had 10 lessons and been struggling with my kick. I move backwards and my right leg seems to move sideways. Will try and point my legs downwards and see if they will be a difference.

[@Hopeful887]

How is your swimming understanding going ?

[@ms3528]

Thorough and useful. Thanks.

[@paulnichol2578]

Very useful thanks. Especially the bit about exercises to improve ankle flexibility.

[@nicholaskiungna1123]

Very helpful tutorial! Thank you!

[@hgn2090]

6:56 is the best method learn lower body part ,Minds is always sinking and get tireds easily

[@easy8325]

When I kick its seems like I stay in the same place without moving just getting tired?

[@easyflowing]

A very informative and practical video. Good job 👍

[@globaltradelinks6796]

Also please teach what is 1 beat kick . 2 beat kick . 4 beat kick . 6 beat kick . Hybrid kick etc for bigginers . It will be very helpful.

[@krishradhakrishnan9900]

my kicking is terrible and will be following the techniques shown on this video

[@hangluahhatneizou3433]

Thanks so much. Still learning but hopefully this will help 😀

[@mrandmrswheels1142]

Great video. Thanks 👍

[@freepluralism6652]

1:00 bro looking like he didn't breath for a whole day

[@haidernaqvi87]

In freestyle we should focus on the down beat. Does it mean we should focus on the up beat in backstroke?

[@elmutasimidris8742]

thank u that what I was looking for.

[@sunelsnn]

I've been trying for past two days to front crawl with kickboard. I don't seem to move forward at all. On the other hand I move backward if i flex foot to dorsal position. I had my toes pointed in extreme plantar position with my body in flat position and extending horizontal as much as possible. I can feel the bubbles, but there is no forward motion what so ever. For the ankle flexbility, do you suggest that in downward kick, to let it relax from plantar position instead of stiff extension ? I tried to kick with my hips as much as possible but that didn't help. how do you get forward propulsion when kicking/flapping in vertical? I understand when you kick breaststroke, the foot is pushing water backwards and you get a opposite reaction. The butterfly kick (or free style kick)atleast in my case , it doesn't give any forward motion at best it's giving upward thrust to stay lower body afloat. what am I doing wrong ?

[@MysteriousSims2011]

Hi, i will try to answer your question from what i no about why you might not be moving across the pool. It could be from a weak kick or an over kick, a week kick might cause you to kick faster but still no movement. An over kick where the kick is to wide will alter the body position. This can cause drag, resulting in slow movement. Both legs should be together and the kick should be equal on both sides. And kick should not be to wide. The foot and ankle should be flexible, no bending of the knee and kick from the hip. The head position is important, to stay flat on top of the water by looking down at the pool floor, lifting your head will cause your legs to sink causing drag ie slow movement through the water. The foot facing down will give forward propulsion. Hope this has helped with some of your questions.

[@macalad1972]

Great vid

[@krishradhakrishnan9900]

very helpful video

[@beizhang9706]

This is a really good video. I have 2 problems. 1: when I kick, I don’t move forward. I tried to kick from my hips, and straight my legs. Still not move forward. 2: when I start kicking, my legs immediately sink. Not sure why. Then I felt I was sinking and kicks were not gonna work. Can you help me with those ?? Thank you!!

[@wyslaneprzez3272]

I've just started front crawl swimming course for beginners at my local pool. I keep on kicking like crazy in the water, get so damn tired and won't really move. But I still enjoy it :)

[@ananyabaruah4241]

I am new to swimming and am learning the kick and haven’t reached the hand movement yet. My upper body moves left and right a lot while kicking. Is it normal or am I wrong somewhere?

[@WinterlyHeights]

Nice music 😊

[@DouglasHPlumb]

I do a 25 in about 20 sec on the board. My legs and feet remain straight and my foot bends a bit. This is very hard but it's really good for core and legs. I do ten of these in a typical workout every second day. I just started a month ago after leaving it sinnce 2001. I'm 54 and 6. Ft 2 in.

[@mikemeachem3445]

thanks I like what you are saying but that kick thing is hard for me and I am a sinker and afraid both

[@globaltradelinks6796]

Hello !! Congrats for your good coaching methodology. Highly appreciate!! Keep the good work in progress.. your good work will create more phelps and katie ledecky. I am from india a swimming bigginer please can you teach how to do front crawl front breathing as this meathod suits the bigginers at first . It would be great if you share your wats app number where i would like to share my flutter kick vedios to you for you to acess if its right . As many have their own opions like to follow yours and correct it . Please. Thanks . Good day .

[@umaidbilal2313]

It really helped me now I am able to swim but I am problem keeping my head below the water is there any method of keeping head above the water

[@Swimproving]

there is but this puts stress on the back so it is best to swim with your face under water.

[@bitang2276]

Thanks

[@Oz4rmEg]

Yep!!! I do get cramps 🤪

[@janetgroves2220]

Good video. But what does it mean to engage your Core? 🙂

[@rz8753]

Use your stomach ab muscles

[@tamyboy1]

Sorry, how can propulsion come from down beat and not from upbeat ? from observation, down beat is actually moving the water towards your face side. Which according to newton's third law of motion will cause the body to move back. Its the upbeat that moves the water back (and some of it up) that pushes the body forward. No ?

[@Swimproving]

Hi, thank you for your comment! Okay so... the downbeat of your kick will cause the propulsion due to a few things; Firstly, your stronger leg muscles are your quads so we want to use these the most during the kick. therefore to engage these muscles you kick downwards like if you're kicking a football, you can kick harder forwards than you can backwards. Secondly, the downbeat allows the water to propel you forward due to the shape of the leg, where the leg will travel in a wave motion starting from the hips and finishing at the toes, the water will be pressed backwards throughout the downbeat of the kick. In contrast when kicking upwards, due to the shape of the leg, if you kick hard the water will propel you backwards. In backstroke, this is reversed due to the body position. I have found some short articles that will back this up if you wanted to read: www.enjoy-swimming.com/flutter-kick.html www.swimnow.co.uk/tag/front-crawl-technique/ So to recap the downbeat presses the water backwards, and the upbeat presses the water slightly forwards (face side) so your propulsion comes from the downbeat of the kick not the upbeat. Finally, you can try this in the water by not kicking down or not kicking up and see what happens. I hope that this helps!

[@ceciliakamau2300]

What about the deepest end of the pool someone may sink

[@erictong8257]

Hi, when i swim with fins on, I can move forward without issue. But as soon as I take them off and kick, I am not moving. What could be the issue? Also do my feet need to kick above the water on the upkick?

[@Swimproving]

Hey Eric, the issue is probably the downbeat of the kick not being strong enough or not consistent enough, try and ensure that you are driving from your hip with the downbeat and then flicking with your toes at the end, you want to try and aim for 4 kicks per stroke. Your feet will slightly protrude the water on the upbeat but you should aim to keep your feet under the water as when they come out they aren't propelling you forwards. I hope that this helps, Lee

[@j.m839]

I have a problem with my kicks plus I don’t go in a straight line... hahahaha... any advice

[@yanassi]

Thanks. I’ll practice the foot flexing exercises. I like the video, move backwards

[@zms9603]

I got sore front thighs after practicing kicking, us that because I’m not kicking using the hips?

[@Swimproving]

It's hard to know without seeing your kick, however, if you aren't used to kicking from your hips then this may be the cause as you will be using muscles that you aren't used to using, it should get easier and be less of a strain on your thighs the more you practice it, remember to keep it slow so the technique is right for now. Hope that this helps

[@zms9603]

Swimproving thanks for the pointers, I will practice the way you instructed!

[@udayanmustafi3963]

🏊🏼‍♂️🏊🏻‍♀️

[@sambhav87]

Not able to perform kicking with ankle pointed,legs sink don't come up,knee bending

[@aoutsky]

The movement comes from the hips. They rock gently from side to side. Bend the knee ever so slightly. Do the drills. Try kicking while you are vertical in the pool keeping your head up. If your leg muscles are too week, start strength training with weights. Weighted squats, deadlifts, lunges will increase your strength dramatically and you will be able to swim without your legs sinking.

[@hosam7609]

Great video, thanks! but the music is annoying and loud, I hope you release future videos without it

[@ponymoore6140]

Why do people have to play music whilst talking? It is just annoying. Otherwise, great video

[@klickklack_pron9504]

What's the song?

[@Swimproving]

My mate just made it for me, original piece

[@Othermails08]

My coach told me the zoomers would help with the kicks.

[@davidfaubion1720]

too much technical jargon