The front drag, also known as the Australian crawl, is a fast and efficient swimming style used in competitive swimming. It involves lying on the breast with extended arms and legs, using alternate arm and leg movements, and breathing by turning the head to the side.
The front drag is a swimming stroke that is considered by many to be the fastest and most efficient swimming style. Also known as the Australian crawl, the front crawl is often performed in competitive swimming. The technique requires a swimmer to lie on their breast with both arms and legs extended. A swimmer then uses alternate arm and leg movements.
During the front drag, most of the power comes from forward arm movement. The movement of the arm consists of pulling, pushing and recovering. In the starting position, the arm is slowly lowered into the water with the hand at an angle of 45 degrees. This move is known as the catch, which helps prepare for the pull.
With the jerk, a semicircle motion is used. The elbow is over the hand, which points towards the torso of the body. The semicircle movement concludes in front of the chest near the top of the ribcage.
The push motion completes the pull. During the push, the palm extends back into the water below the side of the body. The movement is fastest just before the end of the push.
During the recovery phase, the elbow achieves a semicircle motion in the direction the swimmer is moving. The lower arm and hand are comfortable, hanging down at the elbow. The recovering hand moves slightly forward, slightly above the surface of the water. The shoulder moves in the air turning towards the torso. The recovery movement requires the swimmer to keep the hand on the elbow for balance.
The front crawl also requires kicking the legs alternately, known as the flutter kick. As one leg kicks down, the other leg kicks up. The kicking movement helps to stabilize the position of the body. From the starting position, the leg is slightly bent at the knees. During a typical sequence, there are six kicks.
During the front drag, the face resides in the water, and a swimmer breathes by moving the head to the side of the recovering arm at the beginning of the recovery. The head turns back toward the water at the end of the retrieve. A swimmer breathes through the mouth and nose until another breath is needed. A swimmer can breathe in each cycle, which allows him to constantly breathe from the same side. Another breathing technique is to breathe from alternate sides during the recovery of every third arm.
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