6.1. How to Put It All Together: 5 Steps

When I teach swimming, during one private lesson I typically rotate through around 10 different exercises from various areas – breathing, arms, legs, gliding, rotation – at different levels of difficulty.

I try to adapt to each client’s ability to move up and down the difficulty ladder outlined in the Swimbook, which is now available. If something is easy, we move on quickly. If it’s harder, we spend more time on it.

The most common mistake self-taught swimmers make is avoiding what they find difficult – and not training it. We see the same thing in the gym: a guy with huge biceps and chest who can’t do a proper squat. Avoiding what’s hard is the biggest trap – and the only way to avoid it is to train it. If you have a coach, you’re less likely to fall into this trap because your sessions are balanced.

So even if something feels harder or easier, try to climb all levels evenly. The moment you give up on one area because “you can’t do it,” your whole crawl will start to fall apart.

You need to complete every one of the chapters we’ve gone through together – otherwise you won’t be able to put it all together.

You won’t be able to swim crawl properly if you don’t know how to breathe, if you don’t maintain a good body position, if you don’t know how to pull, kick, and rotate your body.

That’s why you don’t need to spend the same amount of time on every chapter. No – focus on climbing all levels evenly, because your swimming will always be only as strong as its weakest link.

As you repeat the exercises we’ve shown in the practical sections and improve at them, you’ll naturally start developing movement patterns for the full crawl. Suddenly, a lot of things you used to have to consciously think about will begin to happen automatically and naturally. Once you reach this level, you’ll know you’re ready for full crawl.

At first it may feel a bit awkward, but if you’re patient and repeat exercises from all the categories, your crawl will start to feel more stable and natural.

Once you’re ready to put all the exercises together and try full crawl, I recommend breaking it down into 5 steps – from the easiest version with a kickboard to full crawl without any tools.

• Catch-up crawl with a kickboard
• Crawl with snorkel and pull buoy
• Freestyle catch-up drill without a kickboard
• Crawl with a snorkel
• Full crawl

You’ve probably already encountered some of the exercises in the practical sections at various levels. If you’ve made it to level 8, 9, or 10, there’s no problem starting to try full crawl.

We’ll go through each of the exercises theoretically and practically in the following videos.