The Pull - How To Swim Front Crawl | Freestyle Swimming Technique

The pull phase of the front crawl stroke is the propulsive phase - when the hand and arm are pulling against the water. Get this part of the stroke right, and you can considerably transform your technique; making it both easier and quicker.

After entering our hand into the water first, we should aim to catch by applying pressure down onto the water. This maintains our body position in the water and begins to load the arms ready for the pull phase.

With a perfect catch, you should see the elbow above the hand as the hands presses down and through the water. As the hand starts to come underneath your head, then this is the start of the PULL PHASE.

There are different teachings on this pull phase, but the one that I recommend for symmetry, balance and efficiency - is a direct pull straight underneath the body. This prevents any movement or snaking from side-to-side.

To do this effectively, you should have a slight bend in the elbow. Somewhere between 90-120 degrees. As demonstrated earlier, this really allows maximum force production.

If you’re in a pool with a line on the bottom, as I am now...and you are fortunate enough to have a lane to yourself, or you’re in a squad session...then you can use this line to help teach this movement. Imagine the line is a ladder, and you have to pull yourself up this ladder. Each hand entry and pull should track over this line.

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What is your favourite drill to work on the pull phase? Let us know in the comments below 👇

[stationstation]

"Thumb by thigh, elbow high." Also, I'm glad you really focused on rotation. In all my years swimming in college and now Masters, I've never seen anyone over-rotate when swimming although you hear the term bantered about. Rotation saves the shoulder sockets from wear and greatly increases pull power and speed. Additionally, the faster you can transition your rotation from one side to the other, the less time you spend with both shoulders flat and plowing water. Stay on the knife edge. Thanks for the excellent video.

[SmittyWarben]

Swimming has been so incredibly frustrating no matter how much I practice. This is one of the most helpful videos I've seen.

[jimrichardson]

Great illustration of power with the ‘getting out of the pool demonstration’

[phillwhitlam]

Another great video, simple to understand. This series has certainly helped me. Before following your tips I could only really swim breast stroke and back stroke. With your help have managed to go from 50m to 1, 500m freestyle in about three months. Thanks guys.

[gorgeouslycaked]

Thank you so much for this. I recently started swimming open water. But I’m an absolute amateur. I noticed that I seem to roll my hips naturally and wasn’t sure whether this was right. So I was actually looking for this information specifically and you answered it for me.

[tmsztrsz]

I have just tried it, and the improvent both in speed and efficiency is incredible!

[lonelytraveler]

Excellent explanation on the right use of power

[annevanhoutven]

I was taught the s-shape pull as well when I first learned to swim. As my technique watered down over the years I also adopted a generous amount of cross over. To get rid of that, I had to think I was entering the water in a 'w' shape as this would lead to a proper catch position.
My favorite drills of all time are scull drills as they learn you to 'feel' the water. They have helped me with dropping elbows as well. I also like to use a pull buoy because it enables me to focus on my arms. PS. For a second there, I thought Mark had pink nails. That would be cute.

[Jenesis]

I can’t recommend paddles enough. At first I couldn’t use them because I didn’t have the necessary muscle. Gradually paddling became easier. Now it is a part of what I do daily in the pool. It strengthens my lats, gives me good sense of water moving, and helps to fine tune free style breathing.

[slawomirzawislak]

One of the best channels ab swimming... finally I know what I been doing wrong - Rotation!! Thank You!

[josipmarketanovic]

Thank you for this instructions, it's very helpful.

[kenjones]

Good video. Appreciate the drill suggestions at the end.

[firstnoel]

Thanks I'm starting high school and I'm going to do swim team for the first time and I'm so scared. So I'm going to start working out to get ready. This really helped.

[ericschorger]

You GTN folks do wonderfully helpful videos. Thank you!
Two newbie questions about the pull: Do you accelerate through it, or is it a relatively even motion? And should there there be some element of a glide between pulls?

[kylelane]

Thanks! I’m finding the paddles also help to get the hand entry angle correct. It emphasises angle errors that creep in from time to time.

[P-in]

The straight pull is actually approximately S shaped relative to the body due to longitudinal rotation. It’s straight in relation to eg the bottom of the pool . The S shaped pull may be useful to some learners for feel of the water/catching still water, and if they tend not to rotate their body.

[aceleryful]

You guys are the best, I watched this video, put it into practice and dropped a significant amount of my 100m pace! Keep them coming!

[cainehenderson]

This has been one of the best videos I’m seen so far for breaking down the stroke, for a newb like me.

[BobBob-uvfq]

Good analogy at the start, hits the nail on the head