THE LIFEGUARD STORE STAFF WRITER Competitive swimmers race in a variety of different strokes. The freestyle and butterfly races are some of the most highly anticipated events at the Olympics. But, you don’t have to be a professional or competitive swimmer to enjoy the benefits of swimming. Learn about the benefits of different swimming strokes to help you decide how you want to do your laps in the pool. 1. Freestyle Freestyle is probably the most well-known of the swimming strokes. Here is what you need to know about performing this stroke and its benefits: Technique Freestyle is also known as the front crawl. When swimming this stroke, your body will be in a prone position on your stomach and face toward the water. Both your arms and legs will pull you through the water, while your torso remains stable. Your arms will move in an alternating fashion. One arm will arc up out of the water while the other is on the downswing, close to your torso in the water. Each arm will reenter the water at an angle, fingers held straight and together, to minimize resistance. While your arms pull you forward through the water, your legs will be hard at work
too. You will use the flutter kick to complete the freestyle stroke technique. The flutter kick is achieved by constantly moving your legs in a tight, scissor-like movement beneath the water. Your knees will bend slightly, but your legs will remain relatively parallel to the surface beneath you at all times. You can adjust the number of kicks per complete cycle of arm movement depending on how quickly you want to swim. Your legs are an important part of freestyle, but keep in mind that they provide just about 10 percent propulsion in the bodies of practiced swimmers. Freestyle often looks intimidating to inexperienced swimmers because it requires you to put your face in the water. Once you get used to putting your face in the water, adding breathing to the freestyle cycles is relatively easy. As one arm swings up and out of the water, you simply turn your face to the side and take a breath. As the arm comes down, lower your face back into the water. Some swimmers alternate sides when it comes to breathing while others stick to one side. Benefits You can burn hundreds of calories with just a half an hour of swimming freestyle. What are the biggest benefits of this stroke? Freestyle, favored by long-distance swimmers, is considered the most efficient stroke. Freestyle takes you farther than
