Which swimming style is fastest

Faster than she had ever swum before. This gave Gillet another idea. They went to the local country club pool, where the lighting was brighter and Gillet could walk out to the edge of a diving board to capture video. Then they filled the tube with store-bought food dye, and Hyman corked the tube with her thumb. She jumped into the pool, released her thumb, and took off as Gillet filmed.

What they saw in the footage afterward astonished them. The dye swirled out to reveal huge vortices after each of her horizontal kicks. Gillet suspected that these miniature whirlpools, reaching 4 feet in diameter, propelled her forward. He also thought it was possible that when Hyman did the dolphin kick facedown, the bottom of the pool and the surface of the water interfered with these vortices and slowed her down.

Although these ideas remain debated to this day, the fish kick has continued to gather fans. Vortices are an inevitable consequence of moving through water.

Others help propel the swimmer forward. Atkison also believes that the fish kick is able to produce larger and more propulsive vortices when the swimmer finds herself in shallow waters.

While the dolphin kicker draws in the water for her stroke from the volumes above and below her body, which are limited by the pool surface and floor, the fish kicker draws in water laterally and relatively without restriction. However, the dolphin kick does not always suffer from these disadvantages. Swimming at a depth below 1 meter greatly reduces any surface turbulence and any difference in the volumes of water drawn, and Olympic and World Championship pools now are at least 2 meters deep.

The fish kick is also inherently more difficult. All that being said, though, once perfected, the fish kick may be hard to beat. But many are skeptical that will happen. She would love to see an underwater race incorporated into professional swimming, and believes that it will be intriguing in its own way. The butterfly is also the most tiring stroke, but provides and excellent workout. It is the second fastest competitive stroke, and at times, can reach a top spe ed faster than the front crawl.

To butterfly, start on your stomach facing the bottom of the pool. Bring you arms, at the same time, over your head. Push them into the water to propel yourself forward.

Then repeat. Your head will rise up and down above the surface of the water. Your legs should stay together and straight as you kick. This is a dolphin kick, which lo oks like the tail of a dolphin. These are the four main swimming strokes. If you are looking to learn to swim, start with breaststroke and the front crawl. If you are looking for a challenge, jump to the butterfly.

And if you'd like to develop your style, speak to our friendly swim staff and book into swim classes with us. Tips : Stretch your body out and float on your front, with your face in the water.

Keep your ankles floppy like flippers and alternate your kicks up and down. Legs should be long with toes pointed, with continuous kicks. Stretch out your arms in front. While there are many different swimming strokes, these five are the most common and probably what you or your child will come across in swim lessons. All of these strokes are worth learning, even as a beginner. To learn or improve these swim techniques, sign up for swimming lessons at Into the Swim. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

An Overview of Popular Swimming Strokes. We reserve the right to edit items for clarity and style. Please include a postal address, daytime telephone number and email address.

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