Swimming Techniques Essay, Research Paper

Front crawl, or freestyle is both the fastest and the most efficient swimming technique. The ideal body position for the front crawl is having your body horizontal, with your body stretched out in a straight line. Your face should be in the water, except when you come up for air, with the water at about the hairline.

Look forward and slightly downward. The arm stroke for the front crawl is generally one arm pushing back, and the other arm coming from your side. In the front crawl, the arms provide about 80 percent of the propulsion, more than any other stroke. The best way to use your arms efficiently is in an elongated S-pattern arm pull. This gives you better propulsion on the water because you are always pushing against still water rather than water that is already in motion. There are five phases in the arm stroke: 1. Entry 2. Catch 3. Pull 4. Follow-through 5. Recovery. Two important things to remember when learning the stroke: 1. Keep elbows high 2. accelerate you hand speed until you have completed the follow-through.

The leg kick generally performed using this method of swimming is the ?flutter? kick. The flutter kick provides only about 20 percent of the propulsion. To do the flutter kick, move your legs up and down alternately in a steady, strong, constant motion. As you kick downward, bend your knee slightly and keep your ankle loose. As you kick upward, hold your knee relatively straight and raise your foot until your heel breaks the water surface. If you bring your feet too far out of the water, may make a big splash, and contributes nothing to the propulsion of your body. Your legs should only go twelve to sixteen inches below the surface of the water.

Breathing for the front crawl can be a bit provoking for people new to this style of stroke. Some people twist their heads from side to side with every stroke, causing their bodies to do too much unnecessary movement. The concept for breathing requires some coordination with the roll of your body. As your body rolls toward your breathing side, turn your head gently and take a deep breath. By doing this when you roll, you won?t need to lift your head out of the water. After you inhale, return your face into the water and exhale slowly as your body rolls toward the other side. Make sure before you turn to the other side, to exhale completely so that you aren?t trying to exhale and get air in a short amount of time.

Coordination of all of the components is pieced together as such. One arm enters the water as the other begins the recovery with a bent elbow. The legs kick up and down in a steady flutter kick throughout the stroke. After the catch is made, the S-pattern arm pull begins. The elbow is held high and the body has begun to roll. As the body rolls, the pulling arm passes under the chest and the elbow achieves its maximum bend. The other arm prepares to enter the water, directly in front of the shoulder. As the swimmer completes the pull with the follow-through, se begins to rotate hiser head to the recovering side to inhale. As the swimmer inhales, hiser body achieves its maximum roll. Hiser other hand enters the water to begin the next stroke.

The back crawl, or backstroke is one of the most peculiar of the four major swimming strokes. It is the only stroke that is done upside-down. The only downside to using the backstroke is that the swimmer cannot see where they are going, only where they?ve been.

The body position for the backstroke, the swimmer should adopt as streamlined a body position as possible. Try thinking of laying flat on your back in bed without a pillow. The ideal backstroke body position is the placement of the hips. Your hips should be a few inches below the surface of the water. If the hips are too low, your legs will drop and you will create an excess drag. If held too high, your legs will ride too high and much of the kick will be out of the water. The position of the hips is determined mainly by how you hold your head. Your head should be in such a way that the ears are barely submerged, and the waterline is about at the middle of your head and below your chin. Your head should be in an almost straight alignment with your body. To maintain this position, keep your eyes open and focus on an object about forty-five degrees above the surface of the water. If your head is too far back, your hips will rise and your legs will follow. If your head is too far forward, your hips will drop, causing a lot of unnecessary resistance.

The arm stroke for the backstroke has the same concept as the arm stroke for the front crawl. Using the first arm, then the other in a continuous, flowing, and almost rhythmic motion. It is important to push against water that is not moving. To do this with the most efficient results, your hands must describe the same elongated S-pattern as in the front crawl. As you start off the stroke, your arm is extended straight backward and your hand enters the water directly above your shoulder. It is important to remember to have your palm facing outward. A common mistake is having the palms facing inwards, which causes unnecessary resistance. As the arm enters the water, its momentum will carry it about eight to twelve inches below the surface before you begin to push backwards. Having a bent elbow and a natural body roll can greatly contribute to the execution of the backstroke.

The backstroke uses the same ?flutter? kick as the front crawl. Because you are swimming on your back, it is the upbeat, not the downbeat, phase of the kick that provides most of the propulsion for the swimmer. The kick not only propels you, but also stabilizes the body position. The most efficient kick to use is the six-beat kick ? six kicks of the legs for every complete cycle of the arms. During the upbeat phase, the knee should be bent with the toes turned slightly inward. During the downbeat, the knee should be kept straight. The good thing to the backstroke kick is that is natural and comes easily to most people.

Because the head is above water at all times, there is really no breathing method, other than to establish a consistent breathing pattern. Inhale and exhale once during each arm cycle. If your breathing is not consistent, you may start breathing too shallowly and start to pant.

Coordination of all the pieces is put together as such. The left arm enters the water at a point directly over the shoulder. The legs are kicked up and down in the flutter kick. The left arm sinks downward as the pull begins and while the right arm starts its recovery directly upward. The elbow of the pulling arm pushes backward and downward, while the legs continue their flutter kick. The pull ends with the palms pressing water toward the bottom of the pool, while the recovering arm enters the water in a line directly over the shoulder.