I’ve been watching the drills in the Easy Freestyle DVD. So far the drills seem more straightforward than the ones in the book, and it actually looks like swimming the crawl stroke. I’ve tried a few drills and they feel really good. Can’t wait until I am swimming.
Freestyle vs. Crawl Stroke
A word on terminology. I keep hearing the terms Freestyle and Crawl Stroke thrown around and I wasn’t really sure what they meant. After some quick research, here is what I’ve found. Crawl stroke is the name of the actual stroke. Apparently the crawl stroke is the fastest and most efficient stroke in swimming.
The term Freestyle is actually an event, or a segment of an event, in which there is no required stroke, like the breast stroke or the butterfly. Swimmers can choose any of a number of strokes. Since the crawl stroke is the fastest and most efficient, it is almost exclusively what is used in the freestyle event. As a result the two terms have become synonymous in common conversation.