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Published: 7/5/2021🏊 Water sports
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Basic swimming styles for begginers – the theory of swimming
Swimming is our natural ability, which we lose very quickly after coming into the world. However, it is a practically essential skill if you want to fully enjoy your time off, vacation or leisure time at the pool. Swimming not only has many health benefits, it also makes you feel better! Learn the basic swimming styles and read how to swim freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly, and backstroke to try out new skills in the water as soon as possible.
In this article
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Swimming has many health benefits, including improving cardiovascular health, reducing stress, and promoting weight loss.
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There are four main swimming styles: freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly, and backstroke.
• Freestyle (front crawl) is the fastest swimming style and engages the entire body.
• Breaststroke (classic) is a good style for beginners and people with scoliosis.
• Butterfly (dolphin) is the most difficult swimming style and requires a lot of coordination.
• Backstroke is a good style for people with back pain.
Short summary
How swimming affects our health?
Swimming in the pool is not only fun, but it's also great for your overall health and body shape. Among its benefits, it is worth mentioning the improvement of your condition and strength, as it builds up all the large muscle groups. Properly used swimming techniques also correct postural defects by releasing the strain on the joints and spine. Regular swimming also helps to learn motor coordination and develops flexibility, and significantly lowers blood pressure and cholesterol levels. One of the benefits of such water activity is that it also increases lung capacity and stimulates the cardiovascular system – people who regularly swim are up to 60% more likely to avoid heart disease compared to people who do not regularly engage in any physical activity. Swimming reduces stress, improves mood and helps you lose weight. Learn all the benefits of swimming, which we've written about before on our blog.
What are the swimming styles?
There are a variety of swimming styles that can be used in the water that affect the pace of the workout, our fatigue level, muscle work and should be matched to the prevailing conditions. The most popular styles of swimming are:
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freestyle, also known as front crawl – the fastest swimming style, which consists of alternating movements of arms and legs synchronized with the breath. It engages the entire body to work and is recommended for advanced swimmers;
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classic style of swimming, or breaststroke – the most popular style of swimming, which consists in submerging the head underwater with simultaneous and symmetrical work of hands and legs. It is excellent for developing chest muscles and is recommended for people suffering from scoliosis;
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backstroke – one of the few styles of swimming that does not require submerging the head. It involves alternating arm and leg movements while lying on your back. This style puts minimal pressure on the back, strengthening the muscles responsible for proper spinal posture;
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butterfly style, or dolphin – one of the most difficult swimming styles, which consists of performing circular movements of the arms and imitating the movements of the swimming dolphin with the body. Due to the intensity of the effort, this stroke helps to reduce body fat and significantly improves your performance and condition.
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How to swim freestyle properly?
The technique of swimming freestyle is to make vertical scissors with your legs while working your arms properly. While lying on the water, the silhouette should be upright, the toes outstretched and the hands joined. The hands and feet are supposed to act like fins and oars. The work of the arms is primarily responsible for speed, while the legs help keep the body balanced.
How to swim freestyle properly? The arms alternate between straightening and bending – the movements are done alternately. One arm is stretched out over the water, then it is pushed under the water and returned to the initial position – the same thing is done with the other hand. Freestyle stroke requires you to move your legs like scissors at the same time.
Your head should be in the water with the exception of taking a breath – point it to the side along the line of the hand that is not currently in the water. On average, we perform this movement every second or third arm swing. How to swim freestyle properly? Breathing while swimming freestyle is one of the most difficult parts of learning and is referred to as the breathing sequence. It involves a quick inhale and a slow exhale, which should last twice as long. We breathe through our nose and mouth.
How to swim breaststroke correctly?
The classic style of swimming involves lying on your belly on the water and making corresponding movements with your legs and arms. Its other name, the frog kick, suggests that we do similar movements as a swimming reptile. As much as 70-80% of the speed when moving with this style of swimming is due to the work of the legs, which in the first phase are straightened and followed by their bending at the knees, then pushing away from the water with straightening.
Breaststroke requires the left and right sides of the body to work symmetrically – circles made with the arms and legs should be full, sweeping circles to swim faster and more efficiently. The toes and fingers must be outstretched – as you circle, your palms turn inward to push back more water. A technically correct breaststroke requires submerging the head each time along with completing a staggered circle with the hands. Then the body and head rise to breathe. Breathing is done every second time or every time, depending on your own comfort.
Coordination of all elements of classical swimming style will ensure fast and efficient movement in the water – the correct sequence should look like this: arm movement – inhale – leg movement – exhale.
Attention! Swimming a breaststroke with your head above water can cause serious damage to your upper spine.
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How to swim butterfly?
Butterfly swimming replicates the natural movement of dolphins. It involves the simultaneous, fluid movement of the entire body, resembling a wave motion – starting from the top of the head and ending at the feet. There are two leg bounces per movement of both hands (swinging). Begin the butterfly swim by lying on your belly on the water, raise your arms above your head to begin the “water grip” phase. Place your hands downwards and inwards, wider than your shoulders. You mustn't look up. The legs are used to perform the kicks, while the hips should be above the water.
Then deepen the bend of the arms to create a “high elbow effect”. In the next movement, you lower your shoulders down, lower your hips and bend your legs at the knees, then raise your head above the surface of the water. Next, it is time to swing the arms back to enter the push-off phase. Push yourself off with your hands underwater, raise your head above the water to take a breath, and perform a sweep with your arms – at the end of their movement, do a second leg kick. At this point, we also make an incline so that the head dives under the water.
Butterfly swimming is relatively difficult, so take a few lessons with an instructor at first to learn proper swimming technique.
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How to swim backstroke?
Backstroke swimming involves independent arm and leg movement while lying on your back in the water. The arms perform alternating backward circles, with the legs doing scissors. Swimming on your back requires you to join your fingers together and rotate your torso appropriately towards the hand, diving under the water. The submerging limb should be straight and the emerging limb should be slightly bent (bent also repels water).
The legs work scissor-like, quickly, just below the surface of the water. They are responsible for stabilizing the body, while the arms give speed. The toes should be outstretched, and the feet must work close together. The head should float freely on the water, not pulled upwards.
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Time for the pool
It is best to start learning different swimming styles at the swimming pool – there are safe conditions, in addition, we can use the services of an experienced instructor who will explain to us the basics of each swimming style and show us how to practice them. How to prepare for the lesson? It is necessary to wear dedicated clothing such as men's swimwear and women's swimsuit. For swimming classic and other styles, we recommend models with as few ornaments as possible, with a streamlined shape and fitted to the body. 4F swimsuits are made of quick-drying fabrics that do not lose color even after repeated immersion in water with chlorine. When learning different swimming techniques, sports towels and flip-flops or slides that are perfect for moving around the pool deck will also come in handy. Don't forget to bring a pool bag with a convenient handle to help transport your essential items safely.
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