How to Swim the Freestyle Stroke

Series Summary

Whether swimming in a backyard pool, a river, pond or the endless ocean, swimming is one of the world's favorite pastimes. Not only is swimming a great recreational hobby, it is one of the most efficient ways to exercise, both cardiovascular and muscle strengthening. Needless to say, with all of the benefits of swimming, it is a good idea to learn how to swim. In this free video series, an experienced swim instructor demonstrates how to swim. Learn how to swim the breaststroke, the backstroke and freestyle. Get tips on how to do flip turns for each type of swimming stoke and find out how to do swimming kicks like the eggbeater kick. Want to get the kids involved in swimming too? Find out how to teach children to swim with tips on teaching the survival float and child diving. Swimming is a useful skill and a fun activity that provides great exercise for all.

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Phillip Toriello, and this is how to swim freestyle. Swimming provides a wonderful opportunity to exercise, play and compete with the reduce level of impact on the body. Of the four front primary strokes, freestyle is the fastest. When swimming freestyle, it's very important to keep your body aligned. To do this you're going to want to keep your focused on the bottom line of the pool, keep your head down to allow your hips to float to the top, providing for a more hydro dynamic flow through the water. This will allow you to swim more smoothly and swiftly and a lot easier. The best thing to remember, as well, is when you're taking each stroke, go ahead and let your body twist or rotate while keeping your head focused on the bottom until it's time to breath. By standard, it's best to, perhaps, to breath every three strokes otherwise known as bilateral breathing. So basically, it would be one, two, three, breath, placing your ear on your shoulder and your cheek in the water. The components of your stroke include the reach, the catch, the pull, the push, and the recovery. It's a five step process, with which, if you take time will come really naturally. Just take it slow and practice often. The last portion of your free style stroke is the kick component, which can provide a lot of power or just help balance your body as you're going through the water. By principal you're going to be using pointed toes to provide a more extended flipper, if you can look at your leg that way, and straight legs. A small fast kick is better than a large wide kick, a large wide kick really does not provide that much propulsion, a small fast kick will propel you through the water helping you to keep your hips on top and get you across to the other side a lot smoother. For more questions or information please contact your local swimming expert."