I love to swim, but it seems like most people don't really enjoy it much, especially after they grow up and become adults. I think this is because most people are taught that swimming consists of about four different kinds of strokes, all of which are optimized for speed in the water. If you look up swimming on the web, you'll find that, for the most part, swimming is seen as serious business, as you can see in this quote from infopedia.com,
"Swimming strokes should create the least possible water resistance; there should be a minimum of splashing so that forward motion is smooth and not jerky. The stroke most commonly used to attain speed is the crawl, standardized in Australia (hence sometimes called the Australian crawl) and perfected in the United States."
Serious business indeed! People worry about form, and can even take refresher courses to "improve their strokes." Bleah! But it doesn't have to be that way. Just because there are four ways of swimming in the Olympics doesn't mean there isn't a myriad of ways to move around in the water, some of which are relaxing and fun, others of which are strenuous and fun.
The most important thing to know about swimming is how to swim on your back. As long as you're not tiring yourself out windmilling your arms with the classic backstroke, you can swim on your back all day, breathing while you swim, resting as you putter along, you can even carry stuff on your tummy like an otter. You can backswim with only one arm, or with no arms, or with no legs, or even with your hands tied behind your back and your ankles tied together. You can backswim sideways, forward and backward.
Okay, this is just the same as you've seen before, except that there's no need to do it "correctly," I'll just be giving guidelines.
Lay back into the water, keep your back straight, face only out of the water. Your legs may start to sink, so you might have to pedal slightly to keep them up. You may have to adjust your breathing to keep stably afloat. As you breathe out, your abdomen will sink. If you take a deep breath in, your abdomen will come partly out of the water. To maintain bouyancy, only let out a little air, then suck some more in. You may not be able to do this for very long, but you can alternate between breathing this way, and bobbing up and down while breathing deeply.
And don't be afraid to put your head back. Your floatation will be more stable with your head tilted back into the water. But you don't HAVE to put your head back, it's just more relaxing.
So, now you're on your back, pedaling your feet a little. Pedal them some more, and you're moving! The straighter you keep your legs, the faster you'll move. But I'm not here to tell you how to go faster or how to perfect your form, other people do that better than I. I'm telling you it doesn't have to be perfect, that maybe there is no "perfect" when it comes to swimming. Locomotion is locomotion! Where are you going to, with all your efficiency, anyway?
At this point, classical teaching prescribes a very precise way to bring your hands up to your armpits, lift your arms out of the water, execute the stroke, etc., blah, blah, blah. But if you aren't racing anyone, why bother with efficiency? Free your mind and find different ways to swim.
This is one of my favorite ways of moving in the water. All you have to do is lay back, hold your arms straight and somewhat close to your sides, and rotate your hands under the water, as if waving goodbye to someone at your feet. You don't even have to do anything with your feet. Sometimes I even cross my legs at the ankles while doing propeller hands.
Sometimes when I'm backswimming, I flap my arms like wings. I keep them under water while doing this. It's not very efficient, because the upstroke slows you down, but the downstroke can be powerful, and it's two handed.
Arms as for Propeller Hands, but wave them up and down instead of rotating.
This is where you keep both feet together when you kick. It's fun to do and good exercise for your abs. People usually associate the dolphin kick with the butterfly stroke, but it doesn't have to be reserved for that.
From the backswimming position, put both hands to one side, then pull both down at the same time. Torso power from the resulting twisting motion makes this stroke feel very powerful. I usually do a scissors kick with this one, though I have a hard time coordinating which leg is supposed to be on top. I suppose I could do a Dolphin Kick. This stroke may in fact be the same as the back-double-trudgen, but I've found only one reference to that.
Sometimes, to get more of a workout, I sit up while swimming backwards with propeller hands and pedaling.
This is a slow and laborious way to swim, but it's fun because you go in the direction of your feet instead of your head. Just lay on your back like normal, but pull your cupped hands up to your armpits on the upstroke, then shoot them straight back down your sides on the downstroke.
A bit more difficult than rowing, because it seems easy to get unbalanced. Shoot your hands straight down your sides, then pull your hand back to catch the water, and then extend your arms out to complete the stroke. It makes you feel very graceful when you get it right.
Yes, you can pedal backwards. Just get into the normal backswimming position, legs straight out, cup your foot and bring it down quickly, then do the same with the other foot while the first foot is going slowly back up.
To swim sideways, just move both hands to the side at the same time. When I do this, I just push the water with the sole of the foot that most easily goes in the same direction as my hands. The other foot just dangles.
Sometimes it's fun to just lay on your back and spin slowly in the water, watching the clouds. All you have to do is a kind of spiral kick with one leg.
When I'm just puttering around in the pool, I most often use the dog paddle and the side stroke. The side stroke is graceful and smooth, and it's easy to transition from your side to prone position. I also use a slow, relaxed kind of butterfly stroke. I like to Corkscrew sometimes too. All of these are standard strokes described elsewhere. However, there are a couple of prone swimming strokes never mentioned.
Here we go with the backwards again. It's fun, though, because it takes skill, and it's unexpected. Get in the prone position, as if dog paddling, but arch your back more, so your feet extend as parallel to the surface as possible. Extend the arms forward and down a little, and do Propeller Hands. You could try some kind of flapping stroke, but Propeller Hands will be more steady, not causing you to bob in the water.
Standard dog paddling position, but Propeller Hands or double push to the side, and pushing to the side with one foot.
That's all for now. I'll add more during the Summer, most likely. I need to add some pictures.
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© 2003 Dale M. Greer, All rights reserved
