Swim Stroke 101

Ever watch Olympic swimmers and wonder how they can do that in water? While knowing your basic strokes won’t necessarily make you ready for gold-medal competition, it will help you become a better, and safer, swimmer.

According to USAswimming.com, the four competitive swimming strokes are freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. The stoke most commonly used in freestyle is the front stroke, most notably known as the crawl.

Crawl: Alternate stroking of the arms over the surface of the water and an alternating up-and-down flutter kick.

Backstroke: Alternate motion of the arms with a flutter kick (see above) while on the back.

Breaststroke: Simultaneous movements of the arms on the same horizontal plane. Hands press out from the breast in a heart-shaped pattern while the circular kicking motion mimics a frog.

Butterfly: Simultaneous recovery of the arms over the water combined with an undulating dolphin kick.

Think you have what it takes to master the strokes? Read more here.