Why Learn Different Swimming Strokes?

Why Learn Different Swimming Strokes?

As you could probably guess, learning how to swim proficiently is one of the most important steps you can take in order to be safer in the water. According to the organization USA Swimming, formal swimming lessons dramatically decrease the risk of drowning—especially for young children. This fact highlights the importance of learning how to swim, and learning how to swim well! How can one improve their swimming even after mastering “the basics?” One recommendation that is particularly rewarding is learning new swimming strokes!

4 Reasons to Learn New Swimming Strokes

1. Swimming several different strokes works different sets of muscles. This allows swimming to be a more complete workout. Additionally, it eases excessive stress on any one set of muscles, thus reducing the risk of a swimming related injury.
2. Switching between strokes can decrease fatigue when swimming long distances.
3. Each stroke offers its own advantages. Freestyle is the fastest style, for example; whereas breaststroke offers better visibility. See the list below for more information on different strokes.
4. Learning different strokes adds more variety to your swimming routine and makes swimming more fun!

4 Basic Strokes to Learn

1. Freestyle.  As mentioned before, this is the fastest style, and one of the most common. In this style, the arms rotate with hard, above water stokes while the legs perform a flutter kick.
2. Breaststroke.  Another of the most popular swim strokes. The odds are good that when you learned to swim, you either learned freestyle or breast stroke. In the breast stroke, both arms make circles underwater rather than moving above water; which makes the style slower, but also much calmer.
3. Backstroke.  The name is pretty self-explanatory—this is a common stroke that involves swimming on one’s back. It is one of the most distinct style of swimming, and offers the advantage of working a different set of muscles from most other strokes.
4. Sidestroke.  This stroke, which utilizes underwater motion of one arm as the swimmer lies on his/her side, is the preferred method of lifeguards as it leaves one arm free to assist other swimmers.

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