What it is
A breathing progression in which the head turns with the hip — the same-side hip rotates up to the surface as the head turns to breathe. Body rotation connected to the arms, hips, and face is the primary focus for new Front Crawl breathing learners.
Essentials
- Head turns with the hip; the head does not turn alone.
- The same-side hip rotates with the chin and face (head turns right → right hip rises; same-side arm recovers over the water).
- The breath is finished by the time the recovering arm reaches the face.
- The face rotates back underwater as the recovering arm crosses the head and returns to Position 11.
- Limit breaths during short swims: 3–5 strokes, about 10 yards max. Aim for good breaths.
- Breathe on stroke 2, 3, or 4; no breathing on stroke 1 or 5.
Progression
- Build habits: practice turning the head; turn the head and turn the hips with it; practice putting the face in the water, then turning the head to the side so half the face exits.
- Sneak in a single breath during a short swim (3×SL + 5 FR + 1 breath on stroke #2, 3, or 4). Repeat extensively.
- Long-distance swims with support (kickboards, etc.); many short-distance drills (Position 1, Position 11 + arm).
- Standing breaths to the side: face in water, turn and breathe to the side with a ½ step back; keep ear, eye, and lip touching the water.
- Position 1 with a breath: Streamline first, do 10 kicks in Position 1. Continue kicking and do 1 breath to the side. After the breath, return to Position 1 with the face down. (SL + Position 1 + side breath + look down.)
- Side kicking with a breath: Streamline first. Do 10 kicks in side glide (Position 1 laying on your side) with the learner's nose inside their stinky armpit. Take a breath to the sky (exaggerate the head turn) while continuing to kick. Keep kicking and look down again. (SL + lay on side + breath to sky + look down.)
What goes wrong
- Head turns alone → the same-side hip must rotate with the chin and face; the hip on the side the learner is turning to should rotate up to the surface.
- Hip does not rotate up → cue the learner to feel the same-side hip rise as the head turns; the rotation is one unit, not two separate actions.
- Breath not finished in time → the breath must be complete before the recovering arm reaches the face; if it isn't, the arm timing is too fast or the head turn started too late.
- Face does not return underwater → the face rotates back as the recovering arm crosses the head and the body returns to Position 11; the face is not left in the air.
- Too many breaths or too long a distance → cap at 3–5 strokes / ~10 yards; prioritize quality of each breath over quantity.
How you know it worked
The learner completes a side breath with the same-side hip visibly rotating up, the breath finished before the recovering arm reaches the face, and the face back underwater as the arm crosses to Position 11 — all while the kick continues uninterrupted.
How you teach it
The governing principle is short distance for skills, distance for endurance. Remove fear and struggle by keeping every set at 10 yards or less; the goal is to build a reliable breathing habit before the learner is asked to swim longer. The standing-breath step (ear, eye, and lip touching the water) isolates the head-and-hip rotation out of the water so the learner can feel the unit without the variable of kicking or arm recovery. The "stinky armpit" cue in side glide gives a concrete, memorable target for where the nose goes, which keeps the head from over-rotating. The "breath to the sky" exaggeration is deliberate: it builds the full range of the head turn before the learner tucks it back in for a normal stroke, so the eventual in-water breath is a reduction rather than a new skill. The 3×SL + 5 FR + 1 breath format specifies breathing on stroke 2, 3, or 4 and explicitly forbids breathing on stroke 1 or 5; this prevents the common default of breathing on the first stroke, which tends to break the body line. When a learner struggles, drop back a step in the progression (e.g., from side kicking with a breath back to Position 1 with a breath, or back to standing breaths) rather than adding more distance. Repeat each step extensively before advancing; the source is explicit that this step should be repeated extensively.