Learn how to do the front crawl / freestyle stroke with this online swimming lesson. How to do the freestyle. There are a couple of elements that go into having a nice freestyle stroke, also known as the front crawl.First you start off in a ready position from the wall to push off into a streamline position, which helps you glide and then kick into the stroke.ne, two, three, breathe to the other side. Also when we're doing the freestyle we use the flutter kick. The flutter kick is done from the hips with a slight bend in the knee and the ankle should be nice and relaxed to help you propel through the water. That's how we do the front crawl.